The sound of the bells ringing from Davies Memorial Chapel has returned as a steady and familiar rhythm on campus, setting the school week off on the right note each Monday morning throughout the semester. Since the bells were officially raised again in October, their sound has become more than a marker of time, but an invitation to pause, gather, and reflect in a space that has long been central to life at HPA. Alumni—some of whom now work on campus—have been invited back to ring the bells, returning to the Chapel to reflect and reconnect.
Designed by renowned Hawaiʻi architect Vladimir Ossipoff, Davies Chapel has served for decades as both a physical and spiritual anchor on campus. Thoughtfully integrated into its surroundings, the building reflects Ossipoff’s signature approach—one rooted in simplicity, openness, and a deep respect for place.
For many alumni, the bells carry an emotional pull, drawing them back to campus and into memories shaped within the Chapel’s walls. Assistant Head of School for Advancement Hannah Hind Candelario ’01 remembers the space as one of the most formative gathering places of her time at HPA.
“I remember hearing some of the most grounding and connected student and adult speakers in this space,” Candelario said. “It’s where you begin to see the faculty and staff you work with not just as teachers, but as humans. They share something personal—something that helped them grow or challenged them—and it’s incredibly vulnerable. You connect in a deeper way, realizing that someone you may only know as your math teacher is also a parent, a world traveler, a poet. It breaks down walls.”
That sense of meaning is shared across generations of HPA families. Candelario’s father, alumnus Robby Hind ’66, was a student when Davies Chapel was still taking shape on campus. Today, he sees it as a space that offers comfort and connection.
“I’m so happy to have this building and this setting being kind of a place where people can come and visit, have meetings, and be a center for the campus,” Hind said. “It feels like it’s a safe place.”
For Director of Admission Tiare Police ’86, the chapel once shaped the daily rhythm of campus life.
“One of the things I value most about the chapel is that when I was here in the mid-80s, it was really our only gathering space,” Police said. “We came here every morning, Monday through Thursday. The bells would ring, and we had to be inside by 8 a.m. The faculty would speak to us, and those moments were incredibly meaningful. This was where we saw each other every day, where we connected with our teachers and with the broader community.”
Today, Davies Chapel continues to serve as a gathering place for students of all faiths, traditions, and beliefs—a space where reflection is shared, voices are honored, and the community comes together on common ground. That spirit is especially present during the Senior Speaker Series, when soon-to-be graduates step forward to reflect with gratitude on their journeys at HPA before moving on to college and beyond, adding their voices to a tradition shaped over generations.
Like Hind, alumnus Tioni Judd ’62 did not have the chapel as a gathering space during his time on campus. Yet while visiting the building, Judd reflected on how the meaning of moments—formed in spaces like the chapel and carried across campus—often reveal themselves with time and distance.
“To be at a school like this, with the curriculum it offers, is something you don’t fully appreciate until later,” Judd said. “It’s often not until you’ve gone off to college—or even beyond—that you start to remember the little things that made this place so special.”
As the next generation of Ka Makani experience the renewed traditions of the Davies Chapel and its bells, they create new memories that will carry them forward and connect them to those who came before.
Alumni — Interested in returning to ring the bells? Contact poleary@hpa.edu.