AI use and student enrollments increase at Kulia Academy after relying on donors for programs
By Jasmine Perry
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HONOLULU (KITV) — Students at Kulia Academy as young as 11 years old are already excelling in AI data science.
And it’s thanks to the experts who lead their classes and the hands-on experiences provided to them.
Teaching all grade levels at Kulia Academy, Luka said the skills will prepare students for high school and college.
“A lot of what I focus on is trying to help them understand not just the practice of data collection, but how you interpret that data, right? What does it mean for data to look the way it does? How do you communicate that to a general audience who may not be as well versed in concepts as you are?” said AI data science teacher Luka Fatuesi.
The school believes AI will lead students to a better future.
Kulia Academy is the first school in the Unites Stated to offer a comprehensive seven-year artificial intelligence and data science program.
Since opening its doors in 2024, the academy has challenged students every step of the way.
“I am excited about this, and I’m expecting to get better and much better while the year progresses,” said sixth grade student Fox Nickel.
With the charter school relying on private and individual donations, Executive Director Andy Gokce said the academy hopes next year’s federal funds will help its AI program grow.
“We have a lot of promising students. We think they are going to make it into top colleges, but they need help with their education here,” said Kulia Academy Executive Director Andy Gokce. “When they see the value that our school brings to our community, they would like to support our youth getting top-notch education,” said Kulia Academy Executive Director Andy Gokce.
Some students are already coding.
“I like coding too. Coding, I’ve been trying. I’ve been like going on ahead and doing Pygame, and the graphics system is hard, but I’m but I’m getting there,” said seventh grade student Hazelyn Cranford.
Many of them hope to become AI engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity experts.
Last year, Kulia Academy saw an enrollment increase of 153 last year to 271 this school year.
“This school year, there’s a total of 161,002 students enrolled for our public schools and charter schools, marking a 1.6% decrease from last year’s count. If we look and exclude our charter school students and look only at DOE students, we see 147,656 students,” said Elizabeth Higashi Assistant Superintendent, Office of Strategy.
Kulia is already teaching students six to eighth grade and plans to expand it to ninth graders.
“You can use your abilities from your own perspective to use in all the classrooms. Use your own mind and thinking for all the worksheets or like all the assignments. And there’s teachers also there to help you and guide you throughout each unit,” said eigth grade student Nicki Lerok.
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