The gym at Hilo High School will not be renamed following a vote by its School Community Council.
“On Nov. 14 we had our (School Community Council) meeting, and it was voted to leave it as Hilo High School Gym,” confirmed Hilo High Principal Jasmine Urasaki. “Personally, I always felt it’s Hilo High School, so it would be Hilo High Gym, but I do understand the time and years that many people put into our school.”
A majority of the 13 SCC members, 77.8%, voted anonymously to keep the name Hilo High School Gym, while 22.2% dissented, favoring a name change.
Testimony at the meeting was provided by four speakers advocating for renaming the gym after former Hilo High basketball coaches Al Manliguis, 92, and his late brother Larry, who passed away in December 2007.
“A lot of community supporters were for the change,” said Urasaki. “But, like everything else, there were some supporters who did not want the change for various reasons.”
The pressure for a name change increased during the 2022 legislative session, when a group of advocates pushed for a concurrent resolution “urging” the School Community Council to rename the gym after the Manliguis brothers.
The measure was postponed in May.
“We heard a lot from the public, we got letters and petitions, and we looked at that, and we thought about our students now and voted individually,” said Urasaki. “Our school is 116 years old now, so there’s a lot of legacies, and our school is filled with tradition and history being so old that it’s also nice to recognize there are people that put in so much time into our school and our children.”
Hilo-Waiakea Complex Area Superintendent Esther Kanehailua confirmed with the Tribune-Herald that because the vote was to keep the name the same, the decision by the SCC is considered valid, and no further steps are needed.
“If they were going to change the name, then it would come to me (for approval),” said Kanehailua. “But because they voted to keep the name the same, it doesn’t go any further.”
Urasaki is focused on the future, looking forward to Hilo High’s transition into an academy structure, which will prioritize career-based education for students.
“We’re moving into the academy structure, and hopefully this will allow our students to have a better idea of what they want to do in the near future,” she said. “We want to form partnerships with our community members so our students can get out into the workforce and maybe do internships with them, and have our community help our students in those areas.”
This year, Hilo High launched its freshman academy, and next year the school will be adding three career academies for the remaining grade levels.
“We’ll still be addressing the standard curriculum, but it will also be geared towards their program of study and the careers they choose,” she said. “It’s just a little different structure, with the goal of having our students explore their future possibilities.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com.