The Pacific Buddhist Academy Board of Trustees recently appointed Joshua Hernandez Morse as its new head of school.
“As a founding member of the school, Josh brings a comprehensive understanding of how Pacific Buddhist Academy began, where it is at present, and its tremendous potential for growth and expansion,” said Leigh-Ann Miyasato, chairman of the PBA Head of School Search Committee. “Josh has been a tremendous asset to our community and we are impressed by his commitment to leading the school.”
A native of Oregon, Hernandez Morse graduated from the University of Oregon, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing.
A former Fulbright Scholar, Hernandez Morse was an instructor at Parker School in Waimea. Pieper Toyama, Pacific Buddhist Academy’s founding head of school and former headmaster at Parker, hired Hernandez Morse for his first year as an English teacher.
“The next five years are critical for PBA,” Hernandez Morse said. “We have so much momentum to build on — increasing enrollment, a major grant to our capital campaign. I am deeply honored and humbled to have been chosen to lead PBA, which has been a second home to me. I want to tell our story to as many people as possible so we can realize our dream of a new classroom building to grow into the future.”
Hernandez Morse has served in a number of roles at PBA, including assistant head of school, academic dean, athletic director, registrar and, most recently, founder and director of the school’s PeaceBridge Project, a program created to assist students in making successful transitions to college and the work force and become engaged citizens and ambassadors of peace in their communities.
“It’s important for all of us to guide the school,” Hernandez Morse said. “Students, parents, alumni, Trustees, teaching and non-teaching faculty — we all participate in the practice of our community, just as we work together to create opportunities for growth. For us, it’s about making our community a more peaceful place.”
Pacific Buddhist Academy is an independent, fully accredited, four-year high school offering teens of all faiths a student-centered, college preparatory curriculum that integrates peace education and Buddhist values such as gratitude, compassion and respect.
Situated adjacent to the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin on Pali Highway, a few minutes from downtown Honolulu, PBA is the first and only Shin Buddhist high school — and one of just four high schools of any Buddhist tradition — in the United States.
Since its opening in 2003 with just 14 students, PBA has graduated 126 students to date, all of whom have been accepted to universities and colleges in Hawaii, the U.S. mainland and Japan.
