Liholiho, Royal
and Momilani get
academic awards
Liholiho, Momilani and Royal elementary schools have been chosen as Hawaii's 2003 Blue Ribbon schools and will represent the state at the national level of the awards program.
Frito-Lay of Hawaii, which sponsors the Hawaii Distinguished Schools Program, awarded $3,000 to each school. The winners were selected from 24 nominated statewide based on academic performance.
Pearl City's Momilani was also named a Blue Ribbon School in 1996-97. About 70 percent of its students choose to come to the school from outside its district boundaries. Royal School, Oahu's oldest school, is downtown. Liholiho is in Kaimuki.
"These schools are models of excellence from which others can learn," said Patricia Hamamoto, superintendent of the state Department of Education.
The schools will compete in on the national level of the No Child Left Behind -- Blue Ribbon Schools Program in Washington, D.C.
Elementary schools named as distinguished were Aikahi, Ewa Beach, Ewa, Heeia, Hickam, Koko Head, Kuhio, Manoa, Mililani Mauka, Mililani Uka, Niu Valley Middle, Pearl City, Pearl Ridge and Sunset Beach on Oahu; Haiku and King Kamehameha III on Maui; Eleele and Hanalei on Kauai; and DeSilva, Holualoa and Waiakeawaena on the Big Island.
