Hualalai Academy

Small school with individual attention & a wonderful environment. Our experience started with Miss Sharma in admissions & she definitely takes her role seriously & personal, as my daughters continue to go to the office just to visit her. Mr. Sutherland & Miss McCord (lower school) have been wonderful for my daughter with a personal, caring approach. Theater/ drama program is wonderful & my daughters favorite! Daughter in upper school has had a wonderful experience & has been blessed to explore so many new experiences through the adventure Friday program & Mr. KilKinny, who also is such a student advocate! Mrs. Goodale made science interesting, challenging & definitely college prep. My daughter was not a fan of science until she had this teacher. My 7th grader loves her Math teacher Mr.Saks. The Head of School has been wonderful, he's a very nice, caring man who's door is always open. The school has gone through some changes & adjustments & in my observation has handled things appropriately & through proper channels needed to make this school the wonderful nurturing environment that it is. There are many wonderful teachers here & it has been a blessing for my two girls!!
—Submitted by a parent

There are no words that can express how happy we are with Hualalai Academy.My son loves to get to school early so he can have playtime building stuff and playing with puzzles . Its nice to see his teacher interacting with the students as they all played together.I have seen a huge improvement in my sons attitude about wanting to go to school and being excited to be there. He came from a local public school that has 25-28 students in each class, he was not going to get the proper education there as he will now at Hualalai Academy. Im just so happy we made this move sooner then later. :)
—Submitted by a parent

This is my child's fourth year at Hualalai Academy, he is is a high school senior. The attention he receives and the academic rigor are outstanding. It is a wonderful opportunity to have this small school option here in our community. He was not looking forward to the HUGE high school experience. All too often people think bigger is better, well we've found it's not. Besides the challenging and personally tailored college prep curriculum Hualalai Academy also offesr electives in art, music, theatre, year book, video production and more. An added bonus in this small. unique environment is that nearly the entire high school is actively involved in the team sports offered: cross country, paddling and volleyball. If students are not playing they are there to cheer them on along with parents and staf,f and best of all EVERYONE PLAYS, no benchwarmers! If you're looking for an alternative to the big public school system I highly recommend you check out Hualalai Academy.
—Submitted by a parent

I attended this school K-12. Hualalai Academy has amazing teachers which are not only knowledgeable but also extremely caring of their students futures. Having smaller class sizes allows for a large amount of individualized attention, which is not always the case in other schools. The course offerings there are very diverse and unique. After graduating from Hualalai Academy I found that I was more then adequately prepared to go on to college and continue on my way toward a bright future.

Such a disappointment. Once a great school that has declined rapidly mostly due to poor leadership. Classes have been combined,staff cut, and many programs which made the school special, eliminated. Class size increases as does tuition while test scores and enrollment decline.
—Submitted by a parent

A great private school that offers academic and outside hands on curriculum for the student to participate in off campus. Annual trips and events for the students to participate outside of the classroom. A great investment for your child to get a college bound academic at Hualalai. We are pleased of our child who has excelled in the academics, music, physical education, and the great citizen he has become through Hualalai's teachings and curriculum. I recommend highly Hualalai Academy as a great private school to attend.
—Submitted by a parent

I didn't realize how good teachers could be until I encountered some in my children's classes at Hualalai Academy. And this is from an individual that was in educational institutions until the early 30's. The ancillary programs are exceptional, especially with today's tight finances. Hualalai Academy is not only a great place to send your children, but a great bargain for the tuition price. There isn't a comparable school on the Big Island.
—Submitted by a parent

I have been so very pleased with Hualalai Academy. During a time when there seems to be such a mess in the public schools, it is nice to know the students at Hualalai are well taken care of. The students are taught in a way that relates their learning to real life. The teachers obviously care for their students, and with the small class sizes, no child is left behind.

Our son has attended Hualalai Academy for his three years of middle school. We have been very pleased with his academic, social and athletic experiences at Hualalai. Besides receiving a solid foundation in academic subjects - especially in the areas of math and science - he has experienced a wide variety of fun and educational activities: snorkeling, scuba diving, camping, racket ball, theater, robotics, video production, science fair and canoe paddling. He has served on the student council where he learned to help organize events and he has volunteered many hours doing community service work. There are some excellent teachers at Hualalai. My son loves to debate ideas and challenge his teachers. This school allows for that. It's particularly nice for the boys that many of the teaching staff are men. My son has performed extremely well each year on the Stanford Achievement Test even though the school does not "teach to the test." There are a lot of talented and nice kids at the school and parental involvement is amazing. If this school was a public charter school, it would have a waiting list of hundreds.
—Submitted by a parent

This school for the tuition it charges is academically weak. The curriculum offered is not challenging enough for kids that excel. They do not offer accelerated or honor's programs to challenge these type of kids. They seriously need to revamp the staff and the curriculum or their enrollment is just going to continue to massively decline.
—Submitted by a parent

This is our first year attending this school. The staff and teachers are friendly and our child has had a really nice experience. The P.E. program has been great and the science fair was very exciting. I have to say the only negative is the music program is basically non existant and the art program needs much more funding. We hoped that she would receive the enrichment that lacks in public schools and have not had that this year, however, we can't be any more grateful for the small class size & attention she receives. She's gone from a C student to an A & B student. We will enroll her again and hope that the music and art programs will grow.
—Submitted by a parent

Hualalai Academy used to be a great school. They have lost most of the personal touches that made it a great school.
—Submitted by a former student

Hualalai Academy has been a great place for the students and parents in our family. It's a community of caring teachers, staff, students, and parents, and offers an excellent education with an eye toward technology and using the school's environment (the Island of Hawaii) as a part of the classroom experience. Growing into a K-12 school (now K-10). Highly recommend it.
—Submitted by a parent