Established n 1971, Pearl City High School is a public, secondary, co-educational, college preparatoryhigh school that is part of the Hawai'i Department of Education, governed by the Board of Education. During the school's first year of operation, only buildings A and B existed.[2] The school has since expanded, with the C to F, K, L and M buildings. Most buildings have three or four floors, making Building F the only single floor building, with two rooms for its natural resources class and weightlifting room.[3] The sculptures Moon Beyond the Fence by Satoru Abe and Kua Kua Lua by Donald M. Page are on the campus.[4]
As a school under the Hawaii Department of Education, Pearl City High School follows the Hawaii Common Core standards.[9] The school is ranked 7th in the state of Hawaii, and earned a bronze medal in U.S. News & World Report's annual ranking.[10]
Pearl City High School has an AVID program which supports students who intend to go to college. Extra-curricular activities include DECA, Mock Trial, the Math Team, the Robotics team and the Science Olympiad.[11]
Charger Band
Pearl City High School is most noted for its music program, earning its reputation under the direction of the band director Michael Nakasone.[citation needed] The "Charger" Band is currently[when?] under the direction of Chadwick Kamei, Christopher Otsuka and Christopher Lopez.[12] During the freshmen band class, many directed studies students sharpen their skills by directing incoming freshmen while the director of bands supervises or finishes work. The choir, piano and Wind II class, or the intermediate class for students who do not make it or want to go into Wind I, is directed by Chris Otsuka, who was a band student in the early 2000s and later a band director at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Chris Lopez directs guitar, musical studies and drum line.
The school has a Music Performing Arts Learning Center specially created by the Hawaii Department of Education to increase and broaden the abilities of students who are interested in music and performing arts. Students are eligible to transfer from their school to Pearl City High School if they are active in one of the Learning Center programs.[13]
The Symphonic Winds returned from a performance at the 2009 Hamamatsu Wind Band Conference. Under Chadwick Kamei’s direction, the band has worked with guest conductors and musicians including Jerry Junkin, Barry Kopetz, Thomas Leslie, Tad Suzuki, Wataru Hokoyama, Grant Okamura, Thomas Bingham, Todd Yukumoto and Michael Zonshine.
