Mānoa Academy provides dual-credit opportunity for KS Kapālama students

Mānoa Academy students earned college credits in English and political science during their KS Kapālama summer school session. KSK English kumu Ka‘imi Kaiwi (top, center) led study sessions to help the haumāna bridge their learning experience to align with college-level expectations.

Jul. 22, 2016

Contributed by Pakalani Bello

The Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus and the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa College of Social Sciences partnered this summer in a six-week, dual-credit, program called the Mānoa Academy for Social Sciences. In the academy, 12 KS Kapālama students participated in English 100 and Political Science 110, earning six college credits.

The program, which ran Monday through Friday, 7:35-11:45 a.m., from June 13-July 22, integrated ENG 100 (Composition I) and POLS 110 (Intro to Political Science) to bridge the content and writing skills. The nine KS Kapālama juniors and three graduates from the class of 2016 met four days a week on the KS Kapālama campus and one day at UH Mānoa, with the nine juniors also earning high school credit.

The classes are taught by ‘Umi Perkins (POLS 110), a KSK teacher and UH lecturer, and Norm Thompson (ENG 100), with KSK English teacher Ka‘imi Kaiwi providing study sessions to assist the high school students to bridge their learning experience to align with college-level expectations.

“The Mānoa Academy has been a pioneering effort to create new and exciting possibilities for our haumāna to be exposed to a college-level experience,” said Debbie Lindsey, KS Kapālama interim poʻo kula (head of school).

“Thanks to the creative planning of Dr. Denise Konan’s team and our Summer School Program Director Kela Park’s promotion and support, we were able to institute the Mānoa Academy, a partnership of learning, to increase our students’ educational, as well as post-secondary, experiences. I must also credit our previous Poʻo Kula, Earl Kim, for his vision and commitment in championing this project to our campus. Programs such as these will allow us to assist students in being better prepared for post-secondary success and college completion. We look forward to continuing this partnership along the expanding future options.”

The academy is part of the Hui Ho‘opili ‘Āina partnership between KS and the University of Hawai‘i, aimed at increasing Hawaiian student success at the post-secondary level. All fees and tuition for this initial semester were paid for by Kamehameha Schools. Participating early college students who successfully completed the courses in the academy also had a chance to gain early admittance to the University of Hawai‘i.

“It has been an honor to launch the Mānoa Academy of Social Sciences with Kamehameha Schools Kapālama campus as our lead partner,” said Denise Eby Konan, dean of the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

“The academy provides Kamehameha students with the opportunity to get an early start on their academic journey at the university by taking highly relevant courses for dual credit that satisfy both high school and UH Mānoa graduation requirements. We’re excited to be part of this bold, new effort to engage students and improve college readiness and attendance, and commend the individuals who have stepped up to be part of the Mānoa Academy’s inaugural class. They are outstanding, inspirational and are poised to become the next generation of leaders.”

“Hoʻomaikaʻi to our students who successfully completed this program,” added Lindsey. “And we look forward to a continued partnership for many years to come.”

The Mānoa Academy is one of the many dual-credit and enrollment opportunities started at the KS Kapālama campus recently, to add to an already large amount of offerings in advanced placement classes, which can also yield early college credit. In the fall of 2015, KSK offered PACS 108, Introduction to Pacific Island Studies, in partnership with Kapi‘olani Community College, with students receiving college credit. English 100 was also offered through KCC as a blended learning course with teachers and online components in the spring of 2016, and Political Science 110 will be offered in the spring of 2017 through UH Mānoa with ʻUmi Perkins again teaching the course.

KSK will also offer Japanese 3 and 4 in partnership with Hawaiʻi Pacific University in the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2017, as dual-credit offerings, with students having the opportunity to earn four college credits each semester.

We’re excited to be part of this bold, new effort to engage students and improve college readiness and attendance, and commend the individuals who have stepped up to be part of the Mānoa Academy’s inaugural class. They are outstanding, inspirational and are poised to become the next generation of leaders.
Denise Eby Konan, Dean of the UH Mānoa College of Social Sciences

UH professor Norm Thompson leads the English 100 section of the Mānoa Academy, allowing students an opportunity to take a college-level course in a high school setting.