KILAUEA — Namahana School on Tuesday announced it is beneficiary of Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg through the Chan Zuckerberg Kauai Community Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation award for the Kauai charter school, which is scheduled to open in the fall 2025.
The award includes a cash gift of $750,000 and a set of state-of-the-art mobile facilities, which are valued at $800,000.
“This gift is especially impactful for us,” said Namahana Education Foundation Chief Development Officer Bridget Thorpe. “It pushes Namahana School’s pre-opening fundraising total to $6 million, including $5.3 million toward a $10 million capital campaign to construct the middle school.”
A Namahana School release said North Shore families must shoulder commutes of up to three hours each day, often by bus, to Kapaa or beyond to get students to school. This experience is often compounded by rush hour traffic and road closures due to extreme weather or infrastructure repairs.
The overall commuting experience can interfere with children’s personal and academic well-being. Given these obstacles, many families have come together to support the new facility for North Shore families.
“We are impressed with the remarkable level of community support Namahana School has garnered over the years,” said Chan through the award announcement. “We are proud to contribute to this effort to give Kauai’s North Shore the tuition-free, public middle and high school that its children and families deserve.”
Namahana School, described as the first public post-primary school for the remote rural communities of Koolau and Halelea, is preparing to welcome its first cohort of students in grades 7 and 8 in the fall 2025. The school will add a new grade each year until reaching its full capacity in 2030.
“This gift is a powerful vote of confidence for our startup enterprise, because it demonstrates that Namahana’s mission is compelling enough to resonate with philanthropists and visionaries at this scale,” said Namahana Education Foundation Executive Director Melanie Parker.
“While we cannot move this project forward without the full support of our local community, we also believe that Namahana’s aspirations are global in reach. Because of Priscilla’s experience in education, she understands the complexity and responsibility of such an undertaking, and we are deeply grateful to her and Mark for believing in Namahana’s potential.”
