Pacific Buddhist Academy dedicates expanded campus

The thunder of a huge taiko drum kicked off the dedication Friday of a new building and grounds for Pacific Buddhist Academy, designed to give the small high school and its students space to grow and flourish.

Founded in 2003, the school has just 70 students, and the campus expansion could allow it to double that enrollment while retaining the close teacher-student connections that are its hallmark, according to Josh Hernandez Morse, head of school.

The two-story structure includes 12,000 square feet of flexible learning space, with eight classrooms, including a science lab for microbiology and physical sciences, as well as studios for fine arts, music and filmmaking. It opens a new area for student use on the mauka side of Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin temple on the slopes of Punchbowl, along with the existing facilities on the Pali Highway side.

Senior Matthew Kodama, a taiko drummer and pianist, said he and other students are “super excited” about the new space.

“This is a huge step,” Kodama said. “It’s almost like a dream. It’s so different, everything’s so new.”

The $9 million capital campaign for the building relied on donations from Hawaii, Japan and beyond, including major gifts from the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation and the Jodo Shinshu Hong­wanji-ha community. PBA was the first Shin Buddhist high school outside Japan.

Monshu Kojun Ohtani, who heads the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji denomination that is based in Kyoto, traveled from Japan to Hawaii for the event.

“It is my hope that with the new building, Pacific Buddhist Academy will continue to provide young people with a Buddhist education focusing on the Jodo Shinshu teachings and that the effort will develop bright, young leaders for tomorrow, not only in the U.S., but also on a global level,” he said.

While Buddhist values are an important part of the educational program, the school welcomes students and faculty regardless of beliefs and does not seek to convert anyone to Buddhism.

“It’s a Buddhist high school, but a diverse student community is critical to our school’s mission of graduating students to be peacemakers in their communities,” Hernandez Morse said. “If you want to practice peace in the world, you need to be able to work toward a more harmonious interdependence with people who don’t think like you, who don’t believe the same things as you, who don’t eat the same food, who wake up with different goals than you do.”

Along with its commitment to peace, the high school is dedicated to college preparation. Virtually 100 percent of PBA graduates have been accepted to colleges and universities, Hernandez Morse said — “all but one,” who chose to become “a third-generation Marine.”

Students at PBA take two core classes at a time, with three “cycles” per semester, Kodama said, allowing them to dive deeply into each subject.

“The teachers are really passionate,” Kodama said. “It transfers over to the students as well. I think a lot of the students here really enjoy learning, enjoy going to class. It’s pretty fast-paced; it’s intensive. We can focus.”

Hernandez Morse maintains that teens thrive in a small school environment.

“Sometimes teenagers have their elbows out like they don’t want you in their business,” he said, “but that’s not true. They want adults to be close with them. They seek adult counsel even if they pretend like they’re not listening sometimes. They want to know that their teacher cares about them. And that’s the kind of environment that we strive to provide.”

Reflecting the Buddhist approach, the new building opens to the natural world. Architect Jonathan Sim, associate with Rim Architects Hawaii, said it was designed to blend into the residential neighborhood and incorporate the flow of air.

“The silhouette is very traditional, but it’s broken up to allow for wind flow, air flow, light, the philosophies of Buddhism but also sustainable philosophies in its function,” he said. “You have a lot of natural light even in the darkest areas. Every one of the classrooms has a significant amount of natural light.”