Punahou, HI - Obama Presidency Oral History

...there, he started wearing all my Punahou shirts and all my Punahou hats an...

...all my Punahou shirts and all my Punahou hats and stuff like that. But that wa...

...do I get? I stumbled into a position at Punahou and I went there for the interview an...

...typing, accounting, all that at Punahou for 25 years, and she just resigned. S...

...Oh, we competed with Saint Louis, Punahou , Kamehameha. Oh, my gosh. All thes...

...All right. So I wanted to switch now to Punahou . You want to take a water break? I'...

...already told us how you started at Punahou . You were in relation to Presiden...

...four years. Because according to the Punahou system, they wanted the students t...

...to chapel together once a cycle and the Punahou schedule, the cycle was an A through ...

...of new kids, you know, kind of knew to Punahou , new to the islands. But most of them...

...any issues growing up while he was at Punahou at all? No, I didn't, because he wa...

...in retrospect, how how do you think Punahou contributed to the man that he became...

...we tried to do and I think that's what Punahou provided for Barry--as well as ...

...growing up, I knew very little about Punahou school. Except it's a nice school i...

...were all the rich people. They went to Punahou . Those kids went to Punahou. We playe...

...went to Punahou. Those kids went to Punahou . We played with them at the park, bu...

...that's the perception I had of Punahou . But when I started teaching there, ...

...that's great. And I like to think that Punahou contributed that to him. Besides givin...

...but by the time I started teaching at Punahou I think that was kind of, you know, i...

...community service. So Luke Center at Punahou , which is adjacent to the chapel...

...police officers, you know, they went to Punahou . But they chose to be firs...

...no, I wasn't. I was still working at Punahou so we were to be apolitical--is tha...

...ran for office, I was still working at Punahou . So, you know, I didn't take ...

...to get there was to run. So I ran from Punahou down to Monserrat service, which is a...

...for Marcus Mariota, but he didn't go to Punahou . That's not the point. He's fro...

...think Hawaiʻi has fit into--or how has Punahou been influenced by having Presiden...

...overboard and put everything out there. Punahou school is proud of its graduates, thei...

...And I think that's the tact that Punahou school would like to take, too--in ho...

...and political issues. Overall, how did Punahou help position Obama for college an...

...Okay. Well, the only thing I knew about Punahou was the carnival that I attended a fe...

...race and ethnicity had been a topic at Punahou for many, many years and that Punaho...

...Punahou for many, many years and that Punahou in fact had a history of educatin...

...talking--we're looking at--at Punahou they have a chapel and it's ver...

... Well, what do you think about Punahou at the time--was it more distinguishe...

...compared to his classmates because Punahou of course, makes a big effort on tryin...

...saying [laughs]. Do you think that Punahou help position him for later, going o...

...But I don't think he came out of Punahou thinking he was a great scholar. ...

...going on. I don't think he came out of Punahou thinking, "I've got a great education...

...like me from the, "bottom rung" of the Punahou student body in terms of privilege. Ca...

...to how this adversity, even within the Punahou campus, may have shaped his politics? ...

...I think at the time--I mean, going to Punahou , you would think "Oh, I'm privileged...

...think "Oh, I'm privileged, I'm going to Punahou ," but I don't think he had that in hi...

...I don't get any sense of that. But at Punahou there was a lot of talk abou...

...of-- He said something nasty about Punahou school, too. He said, yeah...

...Punahou school, too. He said, yeah, Punahou --he's not really a Punahou kid o...

...said, yeah, Punahou--he's not really a Punahou kid or something like that. Or they'r...

...to people is that there were only, at Punahou – and reading his book, Dreams of M...

...he talks about being – the racism at Punahou , he talked about that in his book. ...

...I remember when I was at Radford, Punahou was predominantly a haole school. Yo...

...a single family home. Everybody else at Punahou , their families were in single famil...

...the time, totally different, but not at Punahou . And so it was like shocking. And s...

...to his senior prom who didn't go to Punahou . Ah, [laughs] not as muc...

...but I interviewed all the Black kids at Punahou because – one of them that was really...

...your parents to let her drop out of Punahou and transfer to – was it Kaiser? Yeah...

...come up to her, "How did you get into Punahou ?" Because the stereotype is Blac...

...and her and they finally let her leave Punahou to go to Kaiser. But she said th...

...being racially picked on by the kids at Punahou really she still carried with her t...

...– the class of 1979 had the reunion at Punahou she came to Hawaiʻi and a couple of th...

...Francisco and she was a cheerleader at Punahou . So, because, you know, their fathe...

...woman that were part of that class at Punahou class of '77, '78, '79, '77 – yeah...

...continent. And despite the racism at Punahou by some of those snobby kids, you know...

...Obama had a lot of friends outside of Punahou . I see. Yeah. Yeah, right...

...her grandson. Whatever he needed at Punahou , whatever he needed. [unclear] . An...

...viewpoint. The other Black kids at Punahou , his own age and how the – oh on...

...was. Yeah. I also interviewed Punahou Chaplain John Heidel, who is th...

...John Heidel, who is the chaplain at Punahou . He's retired now. But John, Heidel...

...– H-E-I-D – Heidel or Heidel. He was a Punahou chaplain and he taught the clas...

...being, you know, having a daughter at Punahou , and I was trying to – why am I no...

...why. And then – especially the Punahou crowd. And it took me a while t...

...to things. I also heard stories where Punahou tried to invite Obama to do things...

...that when Obama was in middle school at Punahou , he loved Cecilio & Kapono. He carrie...

...Hawaiʻi. My daughter, class of 2020 at Punahou , she was selected to be Holoku Queen...

...and Maya. We don't have that many from Punahou that we've interviewed. Did yo...

...teacher. Yes. We only have his Punahou email. I don't know if you have a – ...

...Al Harrington, I interviewed. He was a Punahou teacher. Oh. [unclear] It was ...