A new face has been seen in B-building this school year; new Assistant Principal Lauren Kamikawa is now in charge of the middle school.

Kamikawa came from Nānākuli Elementary where she was the Vice-Principal. Prior to that she was the Vice-Principal at Waianae Elementary. She also worked at the Nānākuli-Waiʻanae Complex Area for two years as a Resource Teacher, and she was at Moanalua Elementary where she taught grades 1,3,6 and also was a Literacy Coach. 

Kamikawa also has a passion for hula — participating in the Merrie Monarch Festival 20 times.

Kamikawa’s goal for middle school is to continue making it a safe place for the students to learn and grow. 

“I always tell the students that my role is to keep them safe.  I wear many hats throughout the day, but my priority is student safety,” said Kamikawa

Some of the biggest challenges that she’d faced so far has been learning everything at once. 

“There are so many new faces, new names, new systems at a new school. It could be very overwhelming to tackle this all at once,” said Kamikawa “There were so many things coming at me at once. In order to overcome this, I reminded myself to take things in small chunks and to allow myself time to get to know students, time to get to know the staff, time to get used to new systems.”

For Kamikawa, one of the biggest rewards for her is to see growth and improvement within her students.

“Itʻs gratifying to be able to help students learn and grow — in classes, but also for life. I enjoy the work I do and helping the students with any problems they may have,” said Kamikawa.