People of HPA

Boarding was the best part of my experience at HPA. The friendships I made at HPA and the connections. I’m from the Big Island, but I boarded because I was from Hilo, and it was too far to drive every day. My friends from Robertson’s, I visited them either during high school or right after. Even now, when I travel, I reach out to my old boarding friends — guys from Japan, Korea, and Germany — I’ve visited all of them.”

HPA Olympics was my favorite. HPA taught me the importance of being able to compete — and Olympics is just one of those things, Song Contest was another. The ability to compete, the desire to win — if you can keep that fire within you, you’ll go great places.

When I first arrived at HPA, I was an international student from Japan. It was my first time communicating in English — I couldn’t speak any English at all — so my classmates and my roommates helped me a lot. And through that, I was really able to connect with people at HPA, and I believe that being able to communicate with people from around the world and embracing different cultures really helped me navigate life after high school.”

HPA was really the first place where I felt I had community and ʻohana, and I think it was the first place that actually saw me as who I was as an individual, and to be able to have that space at such a young age, I think really set me up for success later on.”

HPA creates this incredibly accepting and comfortable environment where you can test things you like and see what you’re interested in where you’ll still have a ton of support. Immerse yourself into those spaces, then take that mindset with you wherever you go.”

There’s a lot to it, but the only way to develop as a sports photographer in my eyes is to shoot and keep shooting … the only way to get better at your craft is to do it as much as you possibly can.”

We do not yet know the owner of the burial, but the construction features of the boat are unique and have changed our understanding of ancient Egyptian boats.”

I try to convey who the subject might be when they aren’t in front of a camera. I want my photos to depict an authentic person and experience. … a narrative that works against past assumptions or that creates a new understanding.”

Sharing the history and stories of the land and ancestors, and being able to give back and work the same land as them…it’s amazing.”

I want to completely eradicate the idea that people who speak pidgin are somehow not as intelligent as people who speak “standard” varieties of English, or that pidgin is somehow ‘less’ of a language in any way.”