Posted on: Thursday, September 16, 2004
OUR SCHOOLS | KO'OLAU BAPTIST ACADEMY
Shared values strengthen institution
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer
KANE'OHE — At Ko'olau Baptist Academy everyone knows your name, kids study the Bible every day, expectations are high and there's a waiting list of prospective students.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Students say they feel safe there and they like the Christian education with its emphasis on morals.
"It's hard to see someone hating somebody," senior Chad Hilweh said. "There's always a positive attitude in this school."
The success of the students and school is based on shared values, said principal John Goodale. Most of the students come from the church families, but anyone willing to abide by the school's principles is welcome, Goodale said.
"What we believe as a church, what we believe as a school and at home, those important things we all agree on," he said. "I think it strengthens the institution and ends up working together, on the same page, heading in the same direction."
• What are you most pleased with? Devoted faculty, students with good values and supportive parents. • Best-kept secret: Tuition is less than $3,000 a year. • Everybody at our school knows: Pastor Thomas Bowlin, who is retiring after 14 years for health reasons. • Our biggest challenge: Obtaining the necessary permits for $1.8 million in building projects that will be designed and built by volunteers. • What we need: More classroom space. • Projects: A 5,400-square-foot, two-story classroom building with four rooms, a 3,500 square-foot multi-purpose building with kitchen, landscaping and more parking. • Special events: A Day of Thanksgiving where all students perform some community service, a three-day camp at the end of the year for seventh- to 12th-grade students and a field day for younger students to wrap up the school year.
To get your school profiled, reach education editor Dan Woods at 525-5441 or dwoods@honoluluadvertiser.com.
The small, private K-12 school sits on 2 1/2 acres of land with Ko'olau Baptist Church, just below the street at the intersection of Kahekili and Likelike highways.
Ko'olau Baptist Academy sophomore John Pobuk and seniors Tiara Kaawa and Kardyn Fores.
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| AT A GLANCE
WHERE: 45-633 Keneke St., Kane'ohe PHONE: 233-2900 WEB SITE: www.koolaubc.org PRINCIPAL: John C. Goodale SCHOOL NICKNAME: Na Ali'i SCHOOL COLORS: Royal blue and white HISTORY: Founded in 1974 as Windward Christian School with 30 students meeting in an A-framed converted real estate office. The school's named changed to Ko'olau Baptist Academy about four years later and now has one class per grade level, with a limit of 21 students per grade. COMPUTERS: 16, all in a lab. ENROLLMENT: 212 |
