With a project-based curriculum rooted in Indigenous cultural values, Mālama Honua Public Charter School in Waimānalo aims to empower local K-8 students to become responsible stewards of their community and beyond.
And they recently won an award for it, including a $20,000 grant.
Mālama Honua was recognized in The Educational Innovation Award category this year by national nonprofit Building Hope, which has supported over $1 billion in the development of school facilities.
“For four years Building Hope has been proud to create a space where charter leaders and the charter community may connect, innovate and fuel the future of education. It is a transformative gathering of minds and missions,” said Building Hope President and CEO William Hansen in a statement. “Every IMPACT grant winner is a blueprint for what is possible in education when vision and action meet. All of us at Building Hope are inspired by their dedication to uplifting students and communities through high-quality, empowering, innovative and engaging education.”
The 2025 IMPACT Award winners represented 10 different states from across the country.
Mālama Honua School Director Denise Espania told Aloha State Daily that the application process is rigorous, but worth it.
“The award itself is not just one and done – it is an opportunity for collaborating with like-minded individuals that have been doing really amazing things in their communities. … Now we're part of this cohort that we'll get to meet again and visit different schools around the nation. The other award winners are the most inspirational group of schools recognized in areas like leadership, student empowerment and community engagement.”
Mālama Honua was the only Hawaiʻi school to win this year. According to Espania, Honolulu-based SEEQ: The School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability won the top award for Education Innovation last year, and Mālama Honua was recognized as a semi-finalist.
The Educational Innovation Award “is given to schools that understand innovation is creating new, fresh, and out-of-any-box programs and services for students, true growth and innovation require risk-taking and focused determination to achieve, and nothing is impossible,” Building Hope said.
When asked what makes Mālama Honua stand out in innovation from the rest, she said, its connection to the worldwide Voyage of Hōkūleʻa (celebrating 50 years) and sister canoe Hikianalia.
“We care for the earth, like our namesake since 2014, and ware dedicated to developing the mindset of the navigator – the physical skills of waʻa and the legacy of Polynesian voyaging as our foundation and compass.”
She continued, “We really want students – our next set of leaders – to have a confident culture identity; know who they are and where they come from, so that regardless of where they go in life, regardless of what career they go into, they have a foundation. That they can always be stand tall and proud of."
“We want them to be people who understand civic responsibility, right? So, that they want to give back to the community, that they are strong communicators and collaborators, that they know how to do and engage in ethical problem solving in doing what's pono, or right, making sure that they feel confident to take risks and if they don't do it, then who will?
“We want them to be able to be environmentally aware and pay attention to both land and people because they understand their genealogical connections to the place and space, to make the best decisions.”
As for the $20,000 grant, Espania said that will go toward the school’s capital campaign to unify its three campuses into one.
“Over the next couple of years, we’re looking to consolidate, finalize plans and push forward to build out a singular K-8 campus,” she said. “We are in the quiet phase now, but already have plans for a community hub, or multi-purpose gathering space, with a commercial kitchen space to prepare food grown on the property.”
In collaboration with Bishop Museum, Hiʻohia Publishing and other organizations, Mālama Honua is fundraising through a project sharing moʻolelo from Waimānalo kūpuna.
“Community is so important to us.”
Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros can be reached at kelsey@alohastatedaily.com.
