Grounded by Hawaiian culture, this new senior uses engineering skills to support the community
By Lesa Griffith ’80
Fresh from attending the FIRST Robotics Championship in Houston in April, Kala‘i Kelekolio ’26 says he loved the experience of being around like-minded people and seeing the engineering feats of other students from around the world. He proudly shares that his team, Punahou’s Pokébolts, made it to the quarterfinals of their division with a robot named Fugu. “The championship theme was ‘Reefscape,’ which was super cool for a team coming from an island,” says Kelekolio.
Preternaturally poised and eloquent, Kelekolio credits his path in robotics to his older brother Kawai ’21, who was the first student to earn a Design Technology and Engineering Distinction.
“He pioneered the way for me to be here today,” Kelekolio says of his brother. “He did a lot for the engineering department and I wanted to follow in his footsteps.”
As a child he sometimes went to his brother’s robotics meets, saw the innovative creations and was inspired to give it a try. Coming from what he calls “a big Lego family,” by fourth grade Kelekolio was doing Lego robotics. When he got to high school, “I wanted to go all out.”
He is at home in the Ken Richardson Learning Lab. Giving a tour of the facility, filled with industry standard machinery, he points out the Omax 5555 JetMachining Center. It looks like a giant bathtub. Kelekolio explains how it is a waterjet that cuts material – aluminum, steel, wood – using a stream of pressurized water. “It’s definitely one of my favorite machines.”
Last year, Kelekolio and two friends, started using their engineering skills to convert children’s ride-on cars to wheelchair trainers for kids with cerebral palsy at Kapi‘olani Medical Center. The trio joined the project under the guidance of University of Hawai‘i Professor of Mechanical Engineering Scott Miller.
“We thought if we can bring this to Punahou, we can get more support for the project, and we can bring in other students and make more of these assistive pieces of technology,” says Kelekolio. “When you have a whole group of people passionate about this and want to help the community you can do so much more.” And the Assistive Robotics Club was born.
By collaborating with physical therapists, the club members customize each mini adaptive vehicle according to the client’s mobility needs. Kelekolio explains that not only are the trainers a fun, engaging way for kids to get around, but they are also a stepping stone to helping a child qualify for insurance coverage of a motorized wheelchair.
“It’s very gratifying,” says Kelekolio. “When I started high school I didn’t think I’d be doing this. Then I got these opportunities and some great things have come out of it.”
While he excels at robotics, Kelekolio says that Hawaiian culture and language play an even larger role in his life. His mother is Hawaiian language teacher Kanani Kelekolio and his father, Keoni Kelekolio, is director of Hawaiian Language Advancement at Kamehameha Schools.
“One of my passions is speaking the language and being part of the culture,” he says, which is what led him and some fellow students to successfully petition to have honors ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i classes added to the curriculum.
While planning this year’s Carnival, the committee arrived at Paniolo Pā‘ina as the theme. “In his language brain, Kala‘i saw it was using English phrasing of Hawaiian words,” says Ke‘alohi Reppun, the director of Kuaihelani Learning Center for ‘Ike Hawai‘i. “So he went to the committee to put it into ‘ōlelo, to ensure things are authentically Hawaiian. That was a moment for me as a kumu. We ended up with Pā‘ina Paniolo. Moments like that are the reasons that he stands out as a student who represents what we have the potential to do at Punahou. We’re just getting to a place where we’re starting to see some of our students rise to the occasion in ‘ike Hawai‘i realms.”
On top of this busy schedule, Kelekolio also dances hula – he has performed at Holokū since ninth grade (though not this year due to scheduling conflicts) and this year joined the marching band.
Academy Dean Wendi Kamiya notes Kelekolio’s humility and sense of kuleana. “When you talk to him he is not someone who comes with a list of all his accomplishments,” she says. “Whatever he does [in the future] he will in some way give back to the Hawai‘i community. It’s just who he is.”
