ASC Honors Founder Steve Hirakami

Celebration of Life Information Below

In the Summer of 2001, Steve Hirakami attended a UH Manoa Family Community Leadership workshop that ended with a visioning exercise where he drew a picture of the school campus he dreamed of. It was a powerful vision that he would work toward throughout his career as a school and community leader. The Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science Public Charter School (HAAS) opened in September of that year with 107 students that gathered in the open-air pavilion at Puna New Hope Church, and Steve as the first Director, a position he held until his passing in 2025.

In 2003, the Arts & Sciences Center (ASC) was formalized as a 501c3 to ensure that motivated individuals working together could manifest the efforts and resources to support community-based learning as exemplified by HAAS. Led by Steve, dreams such as permanent buildings, electricity, a kitchen, transport vans for students, and more became realities.

HAAS has grown to serve nearly 800 K-12 students, with more on the waiting list. Many of these students attend school on ASC’s 24-acre main campus in Pahoa, where in partnership with HAAS, efforts are being made to consolidate HAAS satellite sites and create new spaces, including an event space, cafetorium, theater, labs, workshops, and more. The gardens that Steve proudly guided and supported through his career are where HAAS students now grow food that is purchased and served in the USDA Garden to Cafeteria program! 

Steve exemplified public service by volunteering on public commissions, including the Hawaii County Water Supply Board and Fire Commission. He was also the first Executive Director of the Charter School Administrative Office (now called the Charter School Commission). He believed that if you put students first, everything else would fall into place. His work will continue to radiate far and wide like the big waves he loved to surf. “Aloha In Education” is a part of his legacy that will endure in and beyond HAAS & ASC.