Malama Honua Public Charter School

Our founders, Nainoa Thompson and Robert Witt, envisioned a school whose mission was to create leaders who embodied the attributes of The Mind of the Navigator. A school whose foundation and culture would live and practice the values and lessons gained from the World Wide Voyage to Mālama Honua. Guided by our Core Values, we keep the keiki at the center of our decision making, striving to develop learners who can set, plot, and successfully navigate the many voyages they will have in life while being grounded and confident in their cultural identity.

Today’s local, regional, and global society demands not only the acquisition of academic skills, but the development of values and characteristics that will lead to compassionate, insightful, and courageous problem solving. We want our learners to be confident and know how to persevere, knowing that if they take a wrong turn, they can right their waʻa and accomplish what they set out to do. We believe that our keiki must be the leaders who help to address the complex and immediate problem solving necessary to ensure that we not only care for island earth, but unite communities around the world to improve the health and well being of all people. Individual and societal success will require cultivating in young people a sense of mālama, astute observational capabilities, and the ability to gain and apply ever-changing information in creative ways.

Mālama Honua Learning Center Public Charter School will therefore be a school that accepts responsibility for the “self-actualization” of every student whose understandings, dispositions, and capacities in today’s world must include: (1) analytical and creative thinking and problem-solving; (2) complex oral and written communication; (3) leadership and teamwork; (4) digital and quantitative literacy; (5) global perspective; (6) adaptability, initiative and risk-taking; and (7) integrity and ethical decision making within the context of an empathetic and caring outlook. We prioritize ʻohana and community involvement and strive to create a school where as a “village” we lead, learn and act with compassion, continuously educating ourselves while facilitating the education of our keiki.

Our Guiding Values

• Mālama: To care for
• Aloha: To love
• ʻImi ʻIke: To seek knowledge
• Lokomaikaʻi: To share with each other
• Naʻau Pono: To nurture a deep sense of justice
• Olakino Maikaʻi: To live healthy


Our Promise

Mālama Honua Learning Center PCS promises its students, educators, parents, community and investors that:

The school will be a sacred place. It will be a safe place where all are accepted and affirmed –- both as learners and people. It will be a place that honors culture, invites the critical exploration of knowledge and heartens a culture of compassion.