At Keaau High School, the athletic department’s history books aren’t as thick as they are at many state-wide schools. They’ve barely gathered notable content since the school fielded its first football team in 2001, achievements being restrained to an extent by the environment.
Typically, unemployment is high in the district, wages are low, meth labs were once operational, it seemed, all over, and Puna has the reputation of leading the state in food stamps per capita.
By all accounts it is improved by an order of magnitude in terms of cleaning out the dangerous drug labs, and the school itself is an example of a better future for Puna people.