Academy of the Pacific
Coordinates: 21°19.908′N 157°51.29′W / 21.331800°N 157.85483°W Academy of The Pacific was a private, nonsectarian co-educational high school in Honolulu County of Hawai’i, United States. In 2013 the AOP Board of Trustees announced that the school was shutting permanently.
Enrollment
The Academy had a ratio of 15 students per class. The academy had 100 students, both young men and women.
History
- 1961 — Honolulu Junior Academy was founded by a committee of educational and community leaders. Although many of the founders were Quakers, the school has never had official ties with any denomination. Classes began in two rooms at the Richards Street YWCA under Principal Kate Kortschak. Lyman Conant was first Chairman of the Board of Trustees, with Dr. Hugo Kortschak assisting in setting a strong academic foundation for the young junior high school.
- 1965 — Classes moved to the George Q. Cannon mansion in Nuuanu, directly behind the Korean consulate. Juniors and seniors were enrolled for the first time. The first edition of Holomua was printed. William Aiton and William Hodgins led trustees through this period.
- 1971 — The search for a permanent campus went on as HJA moved to classrooms rented from the Community Church of Honolulu.
- 1975 — Dr. Dorothy B. Douthit succeeded Janet Wyatt as president/principal. David Baker and Charles M. Cooke IV directed a new period of growth. Dr. John Henry Felix took the helm in 1977.
- 1979—Pac-5 really becomes "Pac-6" as HJA joins the ILH. Students ask, "Why are we the Junior Academy when we graduate seniors?"
- 1981—Out goes "Junior" and in comes a new name — ACADEMY OF THE PACIFIC — announced by Dr. Felix at the Twentieth Anniversary Celebration at McCoy Pavilion.
- 1982 - Victoria Lee gives AOP her Alewa property and the Trustees vote to buy the John Mason Young estate and turn the entire knoll of Pu'u-o-Hoku into a village for learning.[1]
- 2013—The AOP Board of Trustees announces the academy is shutting.
Academics
Students at all grade levels took courses in math, language arts, social studies, and health or science, meeting the minimum graduation guidelines established by the Hawai'i Department of Education. AOP students were encouraged to exceed those requirements and to earn an Honors diploma.
Athletics
More than half of the student body participated in one or more inter-scholastic sports. The academy fielded teams in basketball and boys' and girls' volleyball, and was a member of the PAC-5 consortium of schools that fields joint teams in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) sports.
Works cited
- "American Dream Realty." Real Geeks, 26 Mar, 2009
- "A Village for Learning". Academy of The Pacific, AOP Online, 22 April 2009.