Aloha and welcome to the Kamehameha Scholars Website! This website is your first source of information to learn about the Kamehameha Scholars program and what we offer our high school participants.
Kamehameha Scholars is a nationally acclaimed college and career counseling program that provides students in grades 9 through 12 with post-secondary planning, year-round workshops, and interactive lessons grounded in the Hawaiian culture.
The mission of the Kamehameha Scholars program is to support Native Hawaiian students in achieving a higher education degree or training certification, entering the career of their choosing, and cultivating their ability to be servant leaders. The program is a supplementary educational enrichment program with a focus on college and career guidance. Students will discover and assess their skills, interests, and values and explore matching post-high institutions and career options to develop plans for their future. Kamehameha Scholars is a year-round program, beginning with an introduction to the program for new scholars during the summer prior to their first year in the program. Workshops and other guidance activities are held during non-school times—primarily weekends, evenings, and school intersessions—at various times during the school year.
Scholars accumulate points for attending program activities and completing required assignments during the course of their enrollment with Kamehameha Scholars. Those points are translated to dollars, and each scholar who remains in our program through high school graduation will receive a merit scholarship to be used toward his or her post-secondary education or training program if they enroll in that program during the year immediately following their high school graduation. They may also continue to receive counseling and guidance services from a Kamehameha Scholars counselor throughout the first year of their post-secondary education if desired.
Through enrollment in the Kamehameha Scholars program, our scholars have the opportunity to gain skills that will help them be successful in high school, college, and beyond; they will be able to effectively plan and implement their plans for life after high school; they will be offered real-world experiences while learning more about college and careers; and they will make friendships that will last a lifetime. But our Scholars are also held to high standards. Scholars are expected to attend workshops, complete assignments, and maintain a minimum GPA of 2.0 at their schools in order to remain enrolled in the program.
Students enrolling in grade 9 or 10 in the upcoming school year, who reside on the islands of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Kauaʻi, or Maui and who are not currently enrolled full-time at a Kamehameha campus, are eligible to apply for our community program. Applications will be available each Spring for the following school year. For more information, please call the Kamehameha Schools Admissions Office at 808-842-8800 or toll free at 800-842-4682 ext. 8800.