Waiākea High School marked 50 years in Hilo with a week of events that brought students, alumni and families into the celebration. The anniversary ran from Sept. 25 through Oct. 3, and the school and its foundation scheduled a family night for Oct. 2, with a gym program and outdoor market.
The celebration unfolded after late-September storm weather disrupted some plans. Hawaii News Now reported that Principal Kelcy Koga supported canceling the homecoming football game and an alumni event for safety. After the threat of a direct hit eased, the anniversary events went forward. The milestone remained on the calendar even as individual plans had to change.
The Waiākea High School Foundation listed Friday, Oct. 2, as the date for ‘Waiākea Family Fun Nite,’ a centerpiece event in the anniversary week. Its schedule placed a Nite Market in the gym parking lot beginning at 4:30 p.m., followed by a ‘Homecoming Hana Hou + 50’ program in the gym at 5:30. The foundation said the market would bring local food vendors, inflatable carnival games and mini bumper cars to the school grounds, with children’s activities free for kids.
The gym program was planned to connect generations of Warriors. The foundation’s announcement listed encore homecoming performances by students, presentation of the 2026 Homecoming Court, mascot and shield performances, and a special alumni dance, cheer and music program. It also included inductions into the school’s Wall of Fame. Eleven people were named for recognition, among them Ken Yamase, Tommy Correa, Donna Tanabe, Tamarah Binek and Kellie Iwasaki, alongside other honorees.
The foundation described Family Fun Nite as a culminating celebration, while its calendar also listed a Class of 2028 fundraiser golf tournament for Oct. 3. That schedule placed the family gathering among a wider anniversary week, rather than making it the only event on the calendar.
The foundation’s calendar showed how plans shifted across that week. Its listings included a Comeback + Giveback Day, a Taste of Waiākea, academy presentations, a volleyball game, guided campus tours and a fundraiser golf tournament, alongside the homecoming football game. Hawaii News Now reported that storm weather led organizers to cancel the football game and an alumni event. The school’s announcement dates the anniversary Sept. 25 through Oct. 3. Those records describe the planned week and its changes, without implying that every listed event took place.
The school’s early identity was also reflected in the planned program. Waiākea’s first freshman class selected Warriors as its mascot; the Oct. 2 schedule returned that symbol to the stage through current student homecoming performances and presentation of the court. The foundation also listed alumni dance, cheer and music performances. The plan paired the school’s long-running traditions with students enrolled today.
Waiākea opened in 1976 with 17 teachers and 400 students, Hawaii News Now reported. The school’s first freshman class chose Warriors as its mascot. The name Waiākea, translated as ‘broad waters,’ comes from the local ahupuaʻa, the report said. Those beginnings give the 50-year mark a local frame: a school that started with 400 students became part of the community’s story across generations.
Koga told Hawaii News Now that the school was celebrating its contributions to the community and graduates who remain proud to be Warriors. The station also spoke with alumna Kuʻualoha Taylor, a former KGMB broadcast meteorologist, who recalled the campus quad, time spent with friends and relationships that have lasted since high school.
Those memories are the kind of history a school can carry in both formal honors and ordinary recollections. A Wall of Fame recognizes people chosen for distinction; an alumna remembering the places where friends gathered points to the smaller experiences that make a campus familiar. Together, they connect a public anniversary to the people who lived it.
The anniversary week showed how a community event can adapt without losing its purpose. Weather forced changes to parts of the homecoming schedule, but Hawaii News Now reported that anniversary events went forward after the storm threat eased. Family Fun Nite was planned to include student performances, alumni recognition and a market for families. Fifty years after its first classes, Waiākea High marked the milestone by inviting its generations back to the same campus.
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