CONTINUING WITH EXCELLENCE
Joshua Clark became director of admission at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy (HPA) in 2006. Before moving to the Big Island, Clark was director of international studies and enrollment at Gould Academy in Maine; earlier, he served as associate director of admission and director of financial aid at The Orme School in Arizona. Clark heads a team of admission staff that tends to the enrollment of nearly 600 students in grades K-12 on two campuses; half the students in grades 9-12 board. The middle school also has a smaller boarding program for grades 6-8. The diverse, multiracial student body at HPA draws from the Hawai‘ian Islands, 15 other states and U.S. territories, and 15 other countries.
When invited to tell our readers about the Academy, Clark took a few moments to edit his thoughts; clearly, he had a lot to say. “Let’s assume your readers will know the advantages of a boarding school in general,” he suggested. “I will speak about our unique location, and the opportunities and advantages we offer in particular.
“We want our students to experience Hawai‘ian culture, of course, but also gain a global education. We are able to give them good exposure to Hawai‘ian history in a context where they are learning with students from around the world.”
Clark erupts with Hawai‘is natural educational opportunities: “Compared to mainland boarding schools, HPA offers some spectacular advantages. The Island of Hawai‘i has 11 of the planet’s 13 climate zones. Within a 30-minute drive on the leeward side of the island the environment is desert-like with annual rainfall of 10-12 inches. Travel to the other side and you are in a rainforest with annual rainfall of 150-180 inches. Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world measured from base to peak, and Mauna Loa is the world’s largest mountain. We have microclimates because of the way the volcanoes are set, resulting in tremendous diversity: 90% of the native flora and fauna is found only in Hawai‘i.
“The Big Island is home to two of the world’s most active volcanoes. This area can be explored through Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. It is possible for students to walk on land that is younger than they are.
“People from all over the world come here to study. The biological opportunities are huge. We are only three miles from the W.M. Keck Observatory. The scientists who work and study at the observatory send their children to HPA, so we have many opportunities for those parents to work with our students, public lectures for our students to attend. We offer cutting edge opportunities in science, it really is amazing.
“Another strength of the school is our active environmental movement. Hawai‘i has a unique combination of several alternate energy resources: annual solar radiation on par with the Sahara Desert, some of the strongest trade winds in the state, and access to local resources such as geothermal, ocean thermal and tidal energy. Our school mascot is "Ka Makani," which is Hawaiian for "the wind." HPA students are engaged in ongoing student experiments with wind generation, using the latest in wind turbines, photovoltaic cells, solar thermal panels, biofuels and hydrogen fuel cells. HPA will break ground in the fall of 2008 on an energy laboratory for energy research and monitoring at HPA, which will be one of the premier energy research facilities in the world. We have a goal to make the HPA campus energy neutral by 2012.
“And that’s just above the water.
“We offer excellent opportunities in marine science as well, with scuba certification leading to marine science opportunities such as coral reef studies. For the last 21 years, we have worked on sea turtle research in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Hawai‘ian green turtle is listed as a threatened species; it is illegal even to touch them. Yet HPA students are allowed to work with these turtles under the supervision of NOAA scientists and the Director of the HPA Sea Turtle Research Program. Our students capture, measure, weigh and tag them prior to their release. Our students have gone all over the world and presented their research at the International Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Ecology where they were the youngest alongside professional scientists—our students have amazing opportunities.
“Complementing the scientific opportunities at HPA is the school’s use of technology. For each of these projects, students gather data, interpret it, learn to utilize instrumentation long before they get to the university. Students have an advantage at college because the technology is already familiar.
“Of course, there is the rest of the curriculum, which is also excellent, and the recreational and athletic opportunities range from scuba to canoe paddling to swimming and riding. We have some of the most beautiful golf courses in the world on this island. Underlying it all is HPA has excellent, passionate faculty who can draw passion from the students.”
Clark added one final tactical benefit to the list: “When competing for entrance to highly selective colleges, our students might have an advantage. As the only traditional boarding school in Hawai’i, universities visiting Hawai’i always have HPA on their list to meet with our students. We receive in-depth visits from 60-80 colleges and universities each year. It is usually the Director of Admission who visits, and so we cultivate long-term relationships with these colleges and universities. Our process is very efficient.”
When asked to reflect upon his experience using PORTAL, Clark ticks off several points.
“At my first school, the admission office used a database known as ‘the industry standard.’ It was a nightmare. Any changes or customization had to be done by the company at the beginning. There is a clear advantage to using FileMaker. The more you learn about FileMaker, the more you can do yourself. You don’t have to wait for inRESONANCE to do it. I can create my own customizations. I have the ability to manipulate the data, to do different searches, to produce information the way I want it instead of waiting for someone else to do it for me. I can save time and expense.
“When I was at Gould Academy, I did a lot of customizations because I was working with international students. I had to track immigration, passports, visas. Using FileMaker, all I had to do was one search to keep informed. Before that, I had created fields in PORTAL to track financial aid. iR now sells a Financial Aid module, and I have to say it is better than the one I made.
“Another important theme is that Kevin and Susan McAllister of inRESONANCE come out of schools themselves. They know the information you want to track and the terminology you need to use. This behind-the-scenes knowledge is a tremendous advantage.
“Which leads me to one further observation about the advantage of using iR solutions: in my experience, any time you move to a new school, you have to learn a new vocabulary, a new protocol. When, as a user of inRESONANCE solutions I moved to another employer that also used iR, I discovered that there was a standardization between the two schools; we were speaking the same language. Everyone shared common protocols and processes. Behind the design of iR’s solutions is the common starting point: ‘Let’s do it right.’ iR brings a wisdom of experience from having worked with so many schools. Their solutions are standard, efficient, and productive.”
Learn more about Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy.