Pentagon awards Hawaii grade school $9.5 million grant for sports pavilion

The Defense Community Infrastructure Program awarded the $9.5 million grant to Aikahi Elementary School to construct a long-sought sports and performance pavilion. A computer-generated image shows a rendering of a planned sports and performance pavilion to be built at Aikahi Elementary School in Kailua, Hawaii. (Hawaii Department of Education) KAILUA, Hawaii — An elementary school on the outskirts of Marine Corps Base Hawaii has received a $9.5 million Defense Department grant to construct a long-sought sports and performance pavilion. The Defense Community Infrastructure Program awarded the grant to Aikahi Elementary School in September after years of effort by parents, school staff and faculty to land the funds, Candice Frontiera, a school renewal specialist with the Hawaii Department of Education, said Wednesday during an interview at the school.

She was joined by principal Ann Berg. The grant is contingent on the school, parents and supporters first raising $500,000 for the project’s design phase. The school first applied for the grant in 2021 without success but continued to submit annual proposals. “When it was not selected, they kind of retooled and revised [the application] over the years,” Frontiera said. This is the first DCIP grant awarded on Oahu, she said. DCIP is competitive and aimed at addressing deficiencies in community infrastructure that affect defense installations. About 40% of the roughly 450 students