By Lisa Dahm
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Faith and resilience are the keys to overcoming challenges for Tonata Lolesio, principal of Sacred Hearts School in Lahaina.
Through the aloha of a strong and supportive community, the students, families and staff of the preschool-through-eighth grade campus have wrapped up their second year at their temporary Kaanapali campus, where they have embraced their hardship and are flourishing.
“We’ve seen children thrive, not just academically in math and reading, though our math and reading scores this year have exceeded state standards,” Lolesio said. “The most important thing for us as a Catholic Church, is seeing how they thrive socially, emotionally, spiritually. That has been very apparent.”
This spirit is no small feat for the longtime educator, who first navigated the school through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, then faced the devastating 2023 wildfires that swept through Lahaina and Upcountry Maui alongside the school and wider community.
Sacred Hearts School was mostly destroyed in the deadly Aug. 8, 2023, blaze — even though its mother parish, Maria Lanakila Church, next door was miraculously spared. Students, staff and faculty spent the 2023-24 academic year on the grounds of Sacred Hearts Mission Church up the coast in Kapalua.
“I look back and I think if it weren’t for us working so hard during COVID to be back in person for those students, because we know that they learn the best in person, not on screen — we really wouldn’t have become so close,” Lolesio said.
‘Very happy’ students
After a year at the mission church, Sacred Hearts School moved to its current site overlooking a golf course at the Kaanapali Resort as plans to rebuild in Lahaina take shape.
“Our children are very happy, and they’re able to articulate their feelings with one another to serve their school community and the community around them,” Lolesio added. “We’re really grateful for that part of our faith helping to sustain us.”
In the 2025-26 academic year, the school had 167 students and 25 faculty and support staff. Lolesio said the Kaanapali Resort community has been instrumental in assisting them, offering encouragement with incentive opportunities and even ice cream.
“They’ve been so welcoming,” she said of the Kaanapali community. “We have this Happy Hearts program where students who live out our school-wide learning expectations are rewarded with a Kaanapali trolley trip around the area. They never get tired of it.”
Lolesio also described the generosity of other stakeholders in the Kaanapali area.
The nearby Hyatt resort, for example, welcomed Sacred Hearts School students to learn about the wildlife sanctuary there, specifically the endangered African penguins. Students have also visited a wildlife exhibit at the Whalers Village retail center.
Businessman Rodger May, who owns the property on which the school’s temporary campus sits, has even designed a pickleball court and is the volunteer pickleball coach for students.
May put his plans for the site on hold so the school can operate there until it’s ready to return to its Lahaina home.
Lolesio said the school community is already gearing up for the next academic year. Programs such as the Hearts Student Council and the Parent-Teacher House Guild will return so they can continue to thrive in Kaanapali.
“We can learn in a temporary location, but it’s the people, it’s the students, it’s the families, it’s the faculty and staff — we’re the ones who create the school community, and we’re the ones who continue to believe that God is truly present to us each and every day — and in all of our needs, and all of our dreams and goals,” Lolesio said. “We want to continue to be a beacon of hope for a community out here, for our families who value faith-based education.”
Lolesio said she is also thankful to Michael Yee, asset operations manager for the Diocese of Honolulu Land Asset Management Office, who guided the school as it sought a temporary campus and was key to setting up the Kaanapali site.
“He is an answered prayer, the right man for the right time for the right situation, and so I’m just extremely grateful,” she said.
Plans for the future
According to Yee, the school has a master plan for its new Lahaina campus and is in the design phase. Plans include expanding enrichment classrooms, a larger cafeteria, improved air conditioning and potentially an enclosed gym.
“Our goal for the school was not to just build what we had before but to build a school that would serve the community well long into the future,” Yee said. “The facilities that we had were built decades ago for a time that worked for them at that time. Today, it’s common to see schools with enrichment classrooms to support STEM robotics on top of classrooms for music and art.”
The hope is to begin construction next year after the permitting and public approval processes.
Yee said that the big fundraising goal for the school is to add enrichment classrooms, and a larger cafeteria that will accommodate the whole school. They also hope to install an air conditioning system rather than rely on individual units.
“At the end of the day, the goal is to have a school that has the facilities to enhance the first-class education that the school currently offers — a quality Catholic education in which students excel long after they’ve left Sacred Hearts School,” Yee said. “We want to build upon that and make sure that this is here for the parents who are looking for it.”
Shining the light of faith
On Lolesio’s office wall is a framed picture of St. Marianne Cope. The school’s hall, which burned in the fire, was named after her.
Beneath the saint’s portrait is a maxim the saint often quoted, from French author Francois de La Rochefoucauld: “Nothing is impossible: There are ways that lead to everything.”
“That for me is profound because she trusted in God’s power and providence to provide; so it is,” Lolesio said. “We knew that if we just put the work in and remain faithful, God will help us succeed, because God is not calling us so much to be successful, but to be faithful.”
Lolesio recalled a prayer Msgr. Terry Watanabe, pastor of St. Anthony Church in Wailuku, shared during the Kaanapali campus’ blessing ceremony on Aug. 4, 2024. In the Scripture reading from Matthew, Jesus tells the crowds after the Sermon on the Mount that they are the light of the world — to put their lamp on the lampstand and let it shine for everyone.
“We’ve become that kind of beacon of light that continues to shine hope, faith, and resilience out here in West Maui, and within the Kaanapali community,” she said.
Lolesio said the invaluable support that has kept the school thriving since the wildfire has come from all over, including other islands and the mainland. She said she hopes the school’s faith story will continue to inspire Catholic schools in the state and beyond.
“This is how our Catholic faith looks,” she said. “We don’t give up — we continue to trust and serve and love and bring hope, and it has been very well for all of our souls to do that.
“This is their safe space, and they just can’t picture themselves apart from this family of faith that has helped carry them through some of their most difficult times.”