KAPA‘A — Rich Wacker, president and CEO of American Savings Bank, presented Daniel Hamada, Kapa‘a High School principal, a check for $10,000 on Friday. Kapa‘a High School for a second year was named recipient of the American Savings Bank’s Bank
KAPA‘A — Rich Wacker, president and CEO of American Savings Bank, presented Daniel Hamada, Kapa‘a High School principal, a check for $10,000 on Friday.
Kapa‘a High School for a second year was named recipient of the American Savings Bank’s Bank for Education award after accumulating the highest number of customer designations among schools in Kaua‘i County.
Awards also went to Konawaena High School in Hawai‘i County, Maui Adventist School in Maui County and Farrington High School in Honolulu County.
“American Savings Bank is proud to have awarded a total of $224,370 to 205 public and private schools across the state under the Bank for Education program,” Kaulana Park, the bank’s senior vice president and director of community and business development, states in a news release.
“Between Sept. 16 and Dec. 15, customers opening new accounts could designate a participating school which could receive up to $40 when a customer opened a new qualifying personal bank account and conducted the necessary transactions.”
In addition to the $10,000 prize for the county winners, ASB awarded $50,000 to schools receiving the most designations in its enrollment category.
Those winners included Kamiloiki Elementary School, Our Lady of Good Counsel and St. Louis School.
Kapa‘a High School, in addition to its $10,000 award, also received $340 from bank customer transactions and designations — the most on Kaua‘i, according to the ASB website. Some of the other Kaua‘i schools earning funds under the ASB Bank for Education program included Kapa‘a Elementary School ($130), Island School ($60), Koloa Elementary School ($80), ‘Ele‘ele Elementary School ($50), Olelo Christian Academy ($40), Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School ($20), King Kaumuali‘i Elementary School ($170), Kalaheo Elementary School ($150), Kaua‘i High School ($140) and Waimea High School ($100).
Daniel Hamada, principal of Kapa‘a High School, said last year’s prize was used to help students transition from heavy textbooks and into more paperless leaing, utilizing devices such as iPads. Funds were also used to help re-wire the school, a project which is currently under way, to improve the wireless environment to enhance the move to electronic learning devices.
He called on student representatives of each class to demonstrate student-created projects, led by David Morales, a Kapa‘a English teacher and the school’s technical director.
“Students use smart phones on a daily basis for a multitude of tasks,” Hamada said. “It is important to try and stay one step ahead of the game when there are so many changes taking place in education.”
Visit www.asbhawaii.com for more information.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
