Service Project: Pu'uloa Beautification 2026

The Highlands Student Council teamed up with the Pearl City High School Interact Club on Saturday, April 18, 2026, for an incredibly rewarding and impactful community cleanup at Blaisdell Park! Nestled along the historic shores of Pu'uloa (Pearl Harbor), this beautiful coastal park needed some extra care, and our students absolutely delivered. Together, a dedicated wave of student volunteers rolled up their sleeves and worked tirelessly to clear the shoreline and park grounds of litter, microplastics, and debris. By the end of the morning, our hardworking crew had completely transformed the area, filling dozens of trash bags and leaving the community significantly cleaner and more beautiful. 🌎✨ The day was a powerful display of youth leadership, teamwork, and aloha for our environment. To celebrate all that heavy lifting, volunteers wrapped up the day by cooling off and refueling with some well-deserved donuts 🍩 and refreshing ice pops 🍧! "Taking care of our 'āina is a kuleana we all share, and seeing our local youth come together like this shows just how bright our future is." A massive Mahalo to every single student, advisor, and supporter who woke up early, brought their best energy, and helped make a tangible difference for Pearl City! 💚 — Herbi Abija Student Government Vice-President

Service Project: Puuloa Shores Beautification

The Bike Path near Blaisdell Park is such a wonderful place with beautiful views. Members of the community can walk along the path that overlook the view of Pearl Harbor and beyond. Though it is sad to see, over time the path became covered with trash and many invasive, non-native plants. However, thanks to the Rotary Club of Pearlridge, the Highlands Intermediate Interact Club was able to revisit the path and clean up a good portion of it one Saturday morning. When we arrived we were eager and ready to help! We had our gloves and tools at the ready. We split into two groups. One group was worked to clear all the trash on the beach while everyone else was clearing out the invasive species. In the end, we picked up all the trash in the area and cleared out a huge chunk of invasive plants. It was very hot but those four hours of work were worth it knowing we were able to contribute to the path of a cleaner and better environment!

Service Project: Pu'uloa Bike Path Restoration

It was a breath of fresh air as we met up at Pu’uloa Springs one sunny Saturday with the mission to restore the area to its former beauty, glory, and purpose. After our orientation with the Pearlridge Rotary Club, we picked up as much trash as we could within the timeframe.  It was an absolute blast being able to get out there and do something good for the community with fellow Interact and Rotary Club members! The bike path was littered with garbage and invasive plant species but we did our part and made sure we restored the area to its natural state as best we could.  We also got to replant several native trees and plants. It was an experience that couldn't be forgotten as we all bonded over restoring our community to its wonderful and rich past.  Andrew Spiers, Assembly Committee

Service Project - Bathroom Beautification

Dull walls, graffitied doors, grated windows... This description may have been used to describe the bathrooms of Highlands Intermediate before, but no longer! Our school has been standing since 1959, and we plan to keep it that way forever more! This year, National Junior Honor Society has already painted the stairs heading to A-Building with powerful words and student council plays music to liven up the atmosphere in the morning! These small efforts add up to something, making our campus a little bit more cheerful and colorful! Now, it’s time for another big refurbishment project! Roll up your sleeves because Student Government is organizing a service project: Bathroom Beautification! Our bathrooms have been plagued with boring walls and childish graffiti, so we’ve decided to paint them pretty instead! We started with B-building during spring break, and it was a hit! And over the course of the rest of the year, the stall doors of A-building bathroom were transformed from dull and dirty to a sleek black door decorated with inspirational quotes and aesthetic designs! Slowly but surely, Highlands Intermediate is becoming an even brighter place, and we hope that through this bathroom beautification, we’ve made our school a more comfortable place for everyone on campus!  Sophie, 8th Grade Council Treasurer

Service Project - Malama Pu'uloa

Highlands Student Council teamed up with Mālama Pu'uloa for the first time this year! Mālama Pu`uloa is the primary program of Hui o Ho`ohonua (HOH808). They are a nonprofit organization working on O`ahu to restore Pu`uloa (Pearl Harbor). They engage the community by hosting workdays, educating local youth through `āina based programs, and creating a lei of partnerships to support their collaborative goals.  Aunty Sandy Ward came down to teacher the Leadership Classes what Mālama Pu`uloa is about and how to participate.  We got hands on with learning about the native Hawaiian akulikuli plant and even got to propagate hundreds of stems in the hopes of eventually planting them ourselves later in the year at Pu'uloa!

 

Interact Club Service Project: Pu'uloa Cleanup

Pu’uloa Bike Path is a beautiful place to spend your mornings. You can walk along the path and look at Pearl Harbor, it's also great to bike along. Though it is a sad sight to see, the path is covered in trash and invasive plants. Thanks to The Rotary Club of Pearlridge the Highlands Student Council they were able to clean up a good portion of it. As a result a natural spring was found amongst the weeds and trash! The spring eventually became a small stream that led into Pearl Harbor. It was honestly incredible to be able to know that this natural spring was right there under all the trash and plants. When we got there we were split into groups, some people were shoveling sand and the rest were helping with collecting trash and cutting and collecting the plants. It was a gorgeous day to be out helping the community, even though it got a bit hot it was really worth it. We planned to go back the next quarter and help out more! We hope that one day the path can become a better and cleaner environment for people and animals!