State education officials yesterday launched a statewide effort to get thousands of high school students to pledge to earn a new voluntary diploma that requires a more rigorous course of study than the traditional Hawai'i diploma.

The campaign, created by the Hawai'i P-20 Partnerships for Education, encourages students to graduate with a voluntary Board of Education Step Up diploma, which officials say will better prepare students to succeed after high school, whether they attend college or enter the workforce.

The first students who could opt to earn the new rigorous diploma are in the class of 2013, and are now high school freshmen.

The regular diploma will still be offered.

Joshua Labajo, a freshman at Waialua High and Intermediate School, attended the announcement with some of his classmates. Together they pledged to try for the diploma. Labajo said he wants to be an engineer and hopes the advanced diploma will prepare him for college study in that field.

"Attaining the BOE diploma will show others that I am dedicated to my education. In my opinion, I think all students should step up and take the challenge to get the BOE diploma," Labajo said.

The campaign announcement, which occurred at Washington Place, included state Board of Education members, schools Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto, University of Hawai'i president M.R.C. Greenwood and Hawai'i P-20 executive director Tammi Chun.

Hamamoto noted that students who earn the recognition diploma, which requires college preparatory coursework in math, English and science, will be more likely to enter college and more likely to complete their college degree on time.

"The recognition diploma opens up more opportunities for scholarships both in-state and out of state. It will provide opportunities to bypass placement in college courses. ... Our goal with this diploma is that when our students graduate and get a job or enter college or a university, there is meaning and weight behind the courses they took," Hamamoto said.

Greenwood said students who earn the recognition diploma with a minimum grade-point average of 3.0 will receive automatic acceptance to a University of Hawai'i campus. Hawai'i Pacific University and Chaminade University have offered similar guarantees.

"It's estimated that by 2014, 90 percent of the fastest-growing careers will require some post-secondary education," Greenwood said.

Hawai'i P-20's goal is to get 75 percent of incoming public school freshmen statewide to pledge to earn this diploma.

In math, students would take four credits instead of the three required for a regular diploma and would need to complete algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2 and an algebra 2 end-of-course exam. For English, students would still earn four credits, but would need to complete a semester of expository writing. In science, students would still need three credits, but two of the credits should be chemistry, biology or physics. Students must also complete a senior project.