There was always the vision that LĪPOA would someday become a thriving live-work community. But a generation ago when it was all being dreamed up, no one imagined that LĪPOA would one day become the home of multiple groundbreaking educational institutions dedicated to nurturing the future of Maui’s keiki.
Now, when parents arrive to work at the dozens of businesses within LĪPOA, they have two of Maui’s most in-demand educational offerings to send their children: Kihei Charter School and Hawai‘i Technology Academy, both of which serve students from kindergarten through 12th grade with enterprising and innovative curriculum.
“You’re trying to look past the horizon … not just to the horizon,” explains Gene Zarro, a founder of Kihei Charter School and CEO of South Maui Learning Ohana, the nonprofit dedicated to fundraising and supporting the school. Gene was one of the visionaries behind the school’s creation almost 30 years ago, at a time when parents were just beginning to advocate for a high school in Kihei and charter schools weren’t even legal in Hawai‘i. He was among a group of parents who successfully lobbied legislators to change the law, paving the way for Kihei Charter School.
The school began in 2001 with just 50 students in Kihei Youth Center. Almost 25 years later, the school now calls LĪPOA home — in a 70,000-square-foot campus with sweeping views from Haleakala to Mauna Kahalawai, where its 685 or so students can participate in cutting-edge programs including media production,
robotics and a trade school that teaches carpentry, engineering, drafting and plumbing.
But Kihei Charter isn’t the only state-of-the-art school in LĪPOA. Just a couple blocks away, Hawai‘i Technology Academy moved into its newly designed space in 2024, a bright and colorful campus that boasts a student lounge, Makerspace equipped with everything ranging from 3-D printers to sewing machines, and a Mindful Nest, filled with bean bag chairs, weighted blankets, plush toys, and even a mini trampoline for students needing to decompress.
Allison Trapp, the campus director, explains that with only 200 students and class sizes that never top more than 24, teachers are able to offer highly specialized education, carefully nurturing the students running into difficulty or advancing those who can handle classwork that’s grade levels ahead — or even a concurrent associates degree at University of Hawai‘i Maui College. “I currently have two seventh graders,” Allison says, “that are taking high school math because they’re able to handle the work.”