The value of giving back is something near and dear to Wade Nakashima, Kalaheo class of 1976. For him, expecting nothing in return.He gives back in many ways From donations to work days at the school, Nakashima gave information about his future foundation Kalāheo Mustangs with the hopes of making a better Kalāheo.
Nakashima was not only in the first graduating class of Kalāheo High School, but also the last to go through Kalāheo Hillside Intermediate. After high school, Nakashima made his way toward the business world first getting a degree from the Hawaii Pacific University. It was his connections at HPU, most made while being president of the school, that Nakashima was able to secure a job that he would be with for almost 40 years. “I was able to get into a management training program for Pacific Resources Incorporated, which was the gas company and a petroleum company that I was with for 35 years,” he said.
Growing up in the sport of basketball, Nakashima played at Kalāheo all four years. “We were the first high school basketball team. We were their original and we played for Merve Lopes. He was very organized and kept stats before they were popular. And planned all the practices down to the minute. His work ethic helped me later in life, ” he recounted.
Later Nakashima came back to the school as a coach, “I was coaching even at Kalāheo when I was playing at HPU. After college, I went back to Kalāheo again and helped my dad, Brian Nakashima who was head coach of the team at the time,” he explained.
“I think it was my parents that instilled that [value] in me. Both my parents were always involved, my mom being the team mom who did the fundraisers and my dad coaching community leagues. I always believed in giving back to the community, because they gave back.”
Nakashima has also participated in many other organizations that give back to the community. He has been President of Ronald Mcdonald Charities and sat on numerous community boards such as the Hawaii Food Bank, the Special Olympics, and the Boys and Girls Club. Whether it's food distribution for the food bank, refereeing the Special Olympics during their annual tournaments, I still try to help out whenever I can,” he explained.
Now, he aims to serve his community through his new foundation, Kalāheo Mustangs. Nakashima gave insight into the foundation’s focus. “We started the foundation around November of 2023. Our goal is for students, parents, and teachers to feel good about Kalāheo and what it has to offer. We want to help teachers and students in the classroom by funding things they need. Another facet of our foundation is to beautify the campus. We've had two work days so far. One focused on pressure washing and the other on painting and landscaping. We would love to get more students, faculty, admin, alumni, and overall community participation,” he explained.
What we're looking for from students is suggestions on what they want to see done so we can get more people involved in funding. We want to have the students participate in their school. Whatever we need to help them, we’re there.
On the board, there are currently 11 alumni, one staff member, and one student. The alumni range from different decades and the goal is to have people from each. I think we have three from the '70s, two from the '80s, and two from the '90s. In the 2000s and 10s, we have two,” he said.
Through his work with other alumni, Nakashima explained his vision to connect students to other alumni in their target careers. “I'd like to establish a kind of mentorship. Many prominent people have graduated from Kalāheo so if a student wants to be, say a doctor at school, I could put them into contact with one and they could have either a Zoom call or meet in person, just to ask them, what do I need to do in college? What were you successful in? What would you have changed to lead into some of your career? I want the students that are there now to feel good about themselves and, you know, that there is a support network for them,” he explained.
“Private schools put more of a stress on networking and I think public schools— especially Kalāheo can do just as good. But there's no avenue to do that as of right now. But the students have to show interest, right? And it can’t just be the honor roll students, it has to be a path for everyone”.
“To me in high school, we didn't have the opportunities that are available now to volunteer and move ahead in that regard. But we did have a community we could give back to. That community helped me to get where I am now. And that is the same community I want to continue to give back to. That’s what I want to do, but I need the students to help me do it.”