History
Hualalai Academy is a co-educational, K - 12th grade, private school founded in 1996. Although our school started in 1985 as a satellite campus of Hawaii Preparatory Academy, it became independent of HPA in 1996. In January of 2000, Hualalai Academy moved to its current fourteen-acre campus, located three miles north of Kailua on the slopes of Hualalai.
Hualalai Academy serves the community of West Hawaii and draws students from families that live as far as 50 miles north and south of Kailua-Kona. Student enrollment has grown from 52 students in 1996 to a current enrollment of over 190 students. Along with enrollment, the diversity of the student population has continued to grow and to reflect the wide range of socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds of families in West Hawaii.
Honoring its natural environment, our school was certified as a wildlife habitat by the national Wildlife Federation in 2007. Undeveloped sections of our property provide the four basic elements for wildlife to thrive, and trails through these areas allow our school to connect its learning experiences with nature.
Our School Legend
The school colors were derived from the ahupua'a, which is the pie shaped section of land from the mountain to the sea. Up in the mountains, are the green maile leaves we use for leis and the gray and silver mists. Down by the shore is the teal blue of the ocean and the navy blue of the deeper water.
Our logo shows the outline of Mount Hualalai with a rising sun behind it. Hualalai was the wife of Hawaii, the navigator who discovered Hawaii with his Polynesian explorers. Hualalai gave birth to many sons, and when she died she was buried at the foot of the mountain that was named in her honor. Her name means "swelling" as in pregnancy. We felt that we too were giving birth to a new dream, a new school. We chose that name not knowing that one day we would be nestled securely at the foot of the mountain.
Since 1996, we have been an established member of the Kona community, surrounded by the beauty of our Hawaiian ahupua'a. Our job now is to maintain the positive nature of the work that has been done, the quality of our education, and expand our facilities to offer the Hualalai Academy experience to more children.