Damien Memorial School, located in one of Honolulu’s poorer districts, dedicated on Dec. 11 the first of three new buildings in the largest expansion project in the school’s 53-year history.
The $3 million, 25-foot-high, 5,300-square-foot Clarence T.C. Ching Athletic Building will be a multipurpose athletic facility with space for wrestling, judo and weight training.
The structure is the first of three in the school’s $15 million project, which will also include an expansion of the parking lot and an upgrade of the football field and track.
Damien Memorial’s “E Hoopaa” capital campaign was initiated several years ago when the school was struggling with enrollment. But the last three years has seen enrollment nearly double from 360 to 685, after the 2012 transition to a coed campus.
According to Damien president and CEO Bernard Ho, the next structure to go up will be a music building with upgraded music practice rooms, improved acoustics and additional storage areas for instruments and equipment.
The final building will be the Student Services Center, which will house a library with state-of-the-art technology, additional classroom space, counseling offices, health room, administration and conference meeting spaces.