{"id":10890,"date":"2025-05-01T09:50:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T19:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=10890"},"modified":"2025-11-13T08:32:23","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:32:23","slug":"2025-kapa%ca%bba-high-senior-makes-history-with-dual-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/2025-kapa%ca%bba-high-senior-makes-history-with-dual-graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Kapa\u02bba High senior makes history with dual graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Veronica “Bonnie” Nagahisa is making history this May. On May 3, she will graduate from Chaminade University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Just three weeks later, on May 23, she’ll walk the stage again, this time at Kapa\u02bba High School to receive her high school diploma, becoming the first student on Kaua\u2018i to achieve both at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor most students, earning a high school diploma is the goal. But for Bonnie, it was just the beginning,\u201d said Kapa\u02bba High Principal Tommy Cox. \u201cShe\u2019s a great example for our students \u2014 showing them that nothing is impossible with the opportunities available at Kapa\u02bba High.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagahisa\u2019s college journey began quietly after eighth grade, when she started taking online courses at Kaua\u02bbi Community College. Her mom, Kimi Nagahisa, an Early College counselor at Kanu o ka \u02bb\u0100ina Charter School, helped guide her through the process. \u201cShe\u02bbs the best big sister, balancing high school commitments, volunteering, working four days at a musubi truck, and helping me so much,\u201d Kimi Nagahisa said. \u201cWe try our best to mold and raise our kids but in many ways, they teach us patience, grace, and kindness. I am just so proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of her sophomore year, Bonnie had completed both her high school and associate degree requirements. Still \u201csuper young,\u201d as she put it, she enrolled full-time at Chaminade University \u2014 continuing remotely from home \u2014 to pursue her bachelor\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many high school students throughout the state participate in the dual credit program where they can matriculate from high school with an associate degree, which in turn can lower the amount of classes they need to take and pay for to attain a bachelor\u2019s degree. According to \ud558\uc640\uc774 P-20<\/a>, 52 HIDOE students received an associate degree as a graduating high school student last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite her demanding schedule, Nagahisa stayed active at Kapa\u02bba High, taking electives and study halls to stay connected with friends and campus life. She was a National Honor Society member and a regular at volunteer events like Relay for Life, Toys for Tots, and campus beautification. She also made time to support nearly every school sporting event. \u201cStaying engaged and showing school spirit was important to me, even with a full plate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her advice to others: \u201cMaintain balance the best you can. It\u2019s the foundation for everything good in life. That balance looks different for everyone \u2014 the key is to find what works for you, especially when chasing big goals. At the end of the day, whatever you’re striving for \u2014 big or small \u2014 it\u2019s essential to make space for joy, peace, and connection. Those things help ease the stress that often comes with pursuing your goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up for Nagahisa: the online Master of Arts in Teaching program at Chaminade University, with a concentration in secondary education. Her goal is to inspire future students, just as she\u2019s inspired so many already.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, she\u2019s savoring her final moments as a high school senior \u2014 one who\u2019s already achieved something extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Veronica
Credit: Brent D. Armstrong<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Medium
Nagahisa proudly holds her Chaminade University diploma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Medium
Nagahisa with grandpa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Veronica Nagahisa poses with her family after the Chaminade University graduation on May 3.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":10989,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"10412,9867,10227,893,10994,16644","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/nagahisa-feature-1024x614.jpg",1024,614,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Stanley Lee","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/author\/stanley-leek12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":305,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":305,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 20:39:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ko\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}