2021 Annual Report

In a time of emergency need for our students, Punahou sent out a call for help. Our donors came to the rescue! Punahou received over 10,000 gifts – the highest number in the School’s history.

Students featured in this year’s Giving to Punahou illuminate the impact that donors have made as the School navigated the unpredictable and challenging terrain of the pandemic this past school year.

Despite countless pivots and an abundance of safety measures in place, students from kindergarten through the Academy recognize the monumental efforts that allowed them to return to campus last fall, attend class in-person, participate in various activities and resume School traditions in reinvented ways.

Our donors played a consequential role in making all of this happen by generously supporting everything from financial aid for families economically affected by COVID-19 to funding professional development for faculty and safety equipment across the campus. The result: a school year like no other that bonded our Punahou community with a fierce resilience and allowed our students to carry on amid adversity.

“We are so grateful to everyone who supported the School this past year. They were true heroes, as we rose to the challenge of COVID-19,” said Noelehua Lyons ’91 Archambault, Vice President for Institutional Advancement. “Through their first-hand stories about their school year, it’s clear our students recognize everyone, from faculty and administrators to parents and donors who enabled them to make it through the school year together.”

From the President and Chair of the Board of Trustees

We have just completed one of the most challenging years in Punahou’s history. At the outset of the pandemic, we expressed our hope that we would emerge from this crisis as a stronger and better school, and together we have been able to do just that. As we celebrated the Class of 2021 at the close of the school year, we were able to reflect on Punahou’s tremendous potential, and what we had accomplished together. Though they had certainly experienced loss over the course of their senior year, our graduates spoke of the opportunities they seized, the friendships they deepened and the futures that Punahou enabled them to pursue.

The generosity and support of our Punahou community during these uncertain times has truly been heroic. We had the ability to deliver a fulfilling educational experience for all of our students safely, and we weathered economic instability and managed our costs to ensure that all of our employees remained with Punahou. Thanks to our incredibly supportive faculty and staff, parents, alumni and friends, we met the financial needs of our families and are setting the foundation for a bright future for our School.

Mahalo for all that you have done to make Punahou the vibrant, caring and innovative community that we are.

Mike Latham ’86
President, Punahou School

Mark Fukunaga ’74
Chair, Board of Trustees 2020 – 2021

Punahou School - Giving

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