Recent donations to its Great Minds Capital Campaign are helping Assets School make great strides towards its $10 million goal.
In late August, a $3 million gift from nonprofit The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation was made to the capital campaign; it was the largest donation in the school's history. Days later, former Assets parent Dexter Mar announced another $500,000 donation to the Great Minds campaign to name the Radiant Star Preforming Arts Studio in honor of his late son, Zachary, a 2008 graduate of the school, and late wife, Faye Fujisaki Mar, who was a Broadway and off-Broadway dancer.
Linda Jameson Myers, vice president of institutional advancement at Assets, told Aloha State Daily that the main purpose of the capital campaign, which kicked off about two years ago, is to build permanent structures, classrooms and buildings for students.
"For 34 years, our children have been learning out of trailers, and that's because we didn't own the land," she explained. "We acquired the land in 2013 and now we can actually create permanent buildings. This will be the first time our students will have permanent classrooms for music, drama, art and robotics."
According to an announcement late last month, the $3 million gift from the Ching Foundation will create the Clarence T.C. Ching Neighborhood, a cluster of "permanent, purpose-built spaces for music, art, drama and robotics/engineering centered around a courtyard at Assets' K-8 campus."
The Clarence T.C. Ching Neighborhood will include more than 6,000 square feet of classrooms, as well as a 1,600-square-foot courtyard, teacher spaces and a covered outdoor lāna‘i, the announcement says, noting, too, that the Great Minds Capital Campaign also includes the 3,000-square-foot Donald C. Brace Library, which was named by former Assets parent and Trustee Karen Scheid in honor of her late grandfather.
Nearly three rows of longtime temporary trailers will be removed for the project and Assets will donate the structures for continued educational use, the announcement noted.
Assets says that construction will begin this fall and is expected to be finish in summer 2027. G70 is the architect and project manager while Allied Builders System is the general contractor.
The Radiant Star Performing Arts Studio will be part of the Clarence T.C. Ching Neighborhood.
"Our students have always deserved spaces that reflect their brilliance, creativity, and potential,” Ryan Masa, head of school at Assets, said in the announcement. “The spaces we provide also tell students how much we value them. We are incredibly grateful to the trustees and executive director of The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation for embracing our mission and making this next chapter possible. The Clarence T.C. Ching Neighborhood will give our students purpose-built spaces to create, perform, collaborate, and discover strengths they may not yet know they have.”
Assets, which serves students in kindergarten through 12th grades, was founded in 1955 and specializes in educating keiki who are gifted, dyslexic or have other language-based learning differences.
"My wife Carolyn and I firmly believe that without the education and experience at Assets, our son would have had a significantly difficult time being 'mainstreamed' into a private high school and college,” Robert Fujioka, vice chair and secretary of The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation, whose son attended the school, said in the announcement. “We are eternally grateful to the teachers, administrators, and counselors of Assets for supporting our son’s education. The Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation understands the importance of having a school in Hawai‘i that specializes in educating dyslexic and gifted children. We are proud to be the lead donor to the Great Minds Capital Campaign and hope this gift inspires others to support this life-changing school.”
Myers says that so far, the school has raised about $5.3 million toward its $10 million campaign.
"We're very lucky to have the support of so many people in the community," she says.
But there's still a ways to go; Myers says that $4.7 million is still a "significant amount to raise, and it is going to take the community and people passionate about helping children who are dyslexic and gifted or learn differently to really reach out to me."
There are about 250 students across the school's two campuses and Myers says the school offers year-round admissions. The K-8 campus is found at 1 ‘Ohana Nui Way in Honolulu while the high school can be found at 913 Alewa Dr. in Honolulu.
To learn more about the Great Minds Capital Campaign or support the project, visit here.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
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