This is the view I had for nearly half of my life growing from an adolescent to a young adult.  The panoramic view of Honolulu from the Kamehameha Schools campus on Kapalama Heights is a wonder to behold.  Funny because I don't remember appreciating it as much then as I do now.  

I went with my sister in law and nieces this week to my alma mater because my oldest niece was testing for Kindergarten next year.  Kamehameha Schools was founded by the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter and last direct royal descendant of Kamehameha the Great.  In 1887, three years after her death, the Kamehameha School for Boys opened with 37 students and four teachers. In 1894 the Kamehameha School for Girls opened.  From these modest beginnings Kamehameha Schools has grown to become a symbol of educational excellence for Hawaiians. Today, Kamehameha is a statewide educational system with three campuses on Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi serving more than 5,500 students in kindergarten through grade 12.

It really was an amazing school and I learned so much and had so many opportunities because of it.  I just wish now as I'm almost 30 that I took more time to appreciate how lucky I was when I was in school.  I wish that I took advantages of more of the programs that the school had to offer.  I wish I took photography.  I wish I didn't take it for granted.  

Just the same, I am so lucky to have spent 7th through 12th grade at this wonderful school up in the mountains.  When you're a kid you take things like that for granted.  It's funny how you can grow to truly appreciate something when you get a different view.