 I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game are about leadership, character, and creating a superior culture of excellence, which is what this show is all about. My special guest today is a 1984 graduate of Damien Memorial School, and now he's the school's president. He is Dr. Kyle Atabay, and today we are going beyond the classroom. Hey, Dr. Kyle, welcome to Beyond the Lines. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Nice to see that you've worn your purple tie there. I was hoping you would notice there, Dr. Kyle. Just like my purple aloha shirt. I love it. I love it. We've got to have our Damien things in there. I mean, a lot of people think that I went to Punahou School because I was the longtime tennis pro and tennis coach there at Punahou. But I have to let everybody know that I attended Damien. And Dr. Kyle, I want to know, when you attended Damien, what was your experiences like? You know, I grew up in Waipahu, and I came from St. Joseph's School. And probably about 98% of my class of boys attended Damien. So it was really a no-brainer for me to go there. And of course, once I got there, I knew that it was a good fit. Everyone around me was just like me. Plus, there were many other people from around the island who I got to know. And it was just an overall great experience because of the brotherhood, of course. And Dr. Kyle, I have to agree with you. I mean, I got to say at that time, when I was there, Damien was the most strict school. I mean, it was like major discipline. But I also learned how to tie a tie. And I had a great experience there. And I have so many close friends to this day because of my time at Damien. Do you have that same experience as well? Absolutely. And I'm still teaching people how to tie a tie. But you're right. I mean, that's something that not many people know how to do and the fact that we do know how to do that because we had a lot of practice with that. But for sure, discipline was something that I definitely remember from my time there. Of course, I was a good student, Mr. Alejo Wohlwalsch for that. But of course, I did get into trouble a lot for my hair because it always went below the collar or touched the collar. And I was always getting detention for that. But I have to say that's the worst of it. Well, I remember that too. I mean, the hair touching the collar. I mean, we'd get demerits. And I had Mr. Alejo as well, and he's still there. I mean, it's amazing. Now, Dr. Kyle, after you graduated Shamanad, what places did you work at before you joined Damien? Oh, well, I guess my first real job would be in education. And would have been at Shamanad University. Right after receiving my bachelor's from there, they hired me in their admissions office. And that was perfect because everything was fresh and my job really was to go out and promote the school. So that was a lot of fun. I definitely appreciate that experience because I think that just fortified the thoughts in my head that higher education was really important. I also had some stint at the homeless shelter. IHS, that was a very humbling experience and probably an experience that made me realize that I probably should stick to education because that's one way of staying out of that kind of situation. And then, of course, when I first started after receiving my degree in counseling, I worked for the Department of Education at two schools, one in Palo Alto Valley, Anuenue, which is the Hawaiian language immersion school. And then following that, I moved on to Kapolei Middle School when they first opened. And I opened that school the first two years. And after that, I moved up the hill in town right above Damien. It's a place very familiar, Kamehameha Schools. I worked in middle school there for about 18 years before I moved back home to Damien. Well, Dr. Kyle, I love hearing your journey in your life. And I felt so proud when you were named as Damien's president. And I know a lot of my Damien classmates were so proud because you're a man of great character and a great leader. And Dr. Kyle, a few weeks ago, we did a big book donation of 200 books thanks to Dr. Tommy and Ryuko Sakoda, who are very generous. And I was able to see you and Mr. Rudy Alejo and Coach Eddie Planeski as well. And it was so nice to see all of you guys there and to be back at Damien in person. What message do you have for the Sakodas? You know, I'm so grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Sakoda. Their generosity is overwhelming. I know our students are going to enjoy the gift that they've given to us. And it's just really nice to have that kind of community support out there. So I'd just like to say thank you to them. And Dr. Kyle, I just want more Dr. Tommy's and Ryuko's in the world. I mean, it's so nice. I mean, hopefully we can get more people to donate books so that maybe we can get, you know, for every student and every teacher at Damien where they can receive both books. I want to ask you, Dr. Kyle, what did you like about the books? You know, I really enjoyed, I don't want to water it down or anything, but I mean, it's a simple read and they're basic foundational kinds of things for leadership, for character. It makes a lot of sense to me. And you know, for someone in my position, I read books like that and think to myself, okay, am I doing that? And it's nice to see that I've hit a lot of those, but certainly a lot more to learn as I move along. Oh, and you know, that's, I always found that, you know, keeping things simple, it's very impactful. I mean, people remember simple things. I mean, there's no reason to get things complex or complicated. And you know, a lot of times in that first book, I talk about the four, the four P's and the eight keys. And some students tell me, hey, we're doing the, you know, four of the eight, but we're not doing all eight. So it really kind of highlights, you know, that character and resiliency and dealing with environment. What do you think about that? You know, I think a lot of kids, I think we underestimate kids and the power of their mind. I think kids can easily grasp onto that. And I think that's one of the most powerful things about your book and their writings, the fact that no matter what age, people will be able to relate it. And really in any kind of situation, you can apply those things to any situation. And Dr. Kyle, I know that you have a high standard of excellence. And I want to ask you, what is, what culture of excellence are you striving for with your students there at Damien? Sure. You know, I want kids to be proud of where they come from. And I think, well, if you take myself as an example, you know, coming from middle class, being first generation college going, I think that represents a lot of our current students. And I think when you don't have those kinds of, that kind of foundation in the home or that kind of background, it really is a lot more difficult than say the average person. And I want kids to understand that they're capable of doing anything that they want to do. But of course, coming to Damien, they're going to get that foundation that's going to help them get there. And Dr. Kyle, a few years ago, when my first book first came out, we did a big book donation then. And do you feel like when you're giving the books to the students? I mean, what is, what's the impact that it's having on them? You know, like I said, I think they can easily relate and see. I wish that when I was that age, I had, I had access to a book like that. But instead, I had to go through a lifetime of real experience in learning. And so to have it all capsul, capsulized in a book form is really nice for them. And, you know, my initial thought was let's pass the book out to our student leaders and student government. But really, I think any student can benefit from it. And so really looking at how I can best give it to them at the right time, it's always going to be the right time. And I just want to make sure that they know that they have access to such a great resource. And Dr. Kyle, you know, the youngest person that I know that's read the book is a fourth grade girl in California. So that's, I mean, for it to impact, you know, someone so young and all the way up to CEOs, I mean, that's really my intent when I was writing the books was to keep things really simple, but to make it impactful to basically everybody. And Dr. Kyle, how are the COVID challenges affecting you at Damien right now? You know, so far we've handled the COVID by just remaining completely online. And of course, that's probably not the most popular choice for all families. And I think that's one of the biggest challenges, making everyone happy. But of course, in this kind of situation, I want to make sure that everybody's safe. And, you know, we've taken it very, very slowly. Again, staying completely online. We're going to be finishing school at Thanksgiving and the kids are going to have a little longer break. And when we return in January, we hope to bring students back in small numbers and eventually grow to bring on more students. But again, the situation, the environment is just too tentative right now. So I think just kind of that tentativeness of it all makes it really difficult to plan ahead. And of course, as you know, leadership takes a lot of planning ahead. But COVID just doesn't provide that environment for us. Dr. Kyle, what kind of feedback are you getting from your students and teachers during this semester of distance learning? You know, it's a challenge for everyone. I mean, being online is not the best scenario. And it's certainly not a permanent scenario. But I think our teachers especially have done a really great job, not only at preparing, but really keeping that Damien feel online through technology and making sure that we're still building community. That was really important for me to get across to the teachers. And I really hope that the kids are feeling that too. You know, that physical face to face, not having that, of course, that's a challenge. And so we've done things like we've had homecoming virtually. We've had honor society ceremonies. We had some Halloween activities happen online. So we're trying to make the best of the situation. But of course, it's never going to be exactly what it's supposed to be. Dr. Kyle, let's talk some about Damien athletics. I mean, there's been some really great sports teams. And I know that you're a big sports fan. Why do you feel sports is such an important part of the experience for students? You know, for students, I mean, being involved in athletics really helps their development. Not only physically, but mentally and socially, because it gives them a group of people to grow with, to depend upon. And in a school situation, to me, I think it really helps to build school pride. And whether you win or lose, that pride is still there because you see the colors, you see the team, you hear the cheering. That makes it really, really exciting. I mean, I think, you know, we came from the same time. We didn't have winning teams at that time. But still, we sat in those stands and we cheered our loudest and we made all the noise that we could just to just to let people know that we were very proud of who we were. Of course, when your teams win, that makes it that much sweeter. And luckily, we've had really great success in the past years, both with our men and women teams. And so that's made it a lot more exciting for us as a school. Dr. Kyle, how important, I mean, I remember back in the day with Damien football. I mean, other schools, their football teams were so huge. And yet a lot of our players at Damien, there's not too many players. So our guys would have to, you know, basically play offense, defense and special teams. Is that still happening with Coach Eddie at times? Or how is it? I would say it's a little better. But yeah, we're pretty much in that same kind of situation today. But we make it work. You know what I like to, Dr. Kyle, I mean, obviously, when we were at Damien, it was an all boys school. I love how how girls are such a big part of Damien. And, you know, we have our own Damien cheerleading team and the girls volleyball teams doing super good. And, you know, what are your thoughts about how Damien was and how it is now with the addition of girls? You know, when I, of course, I wasn't working at Damien at the time that they decided to bring girls on. But a lot of people asked me because they knew that I went to school there and they just thought, you know, what do you think about this idea of bringing girls into your all formerly all boys school? And, you know, as a school leader, I think to myself, whatever it takes for the school to be successful, that's what you need to do. And at that time, it was bringing on girls. But at the same time, it's like it really makes a lot of sense. In my experience as an educator, I've always worked in coed schools. So that just felt natural to me. When I came back to Damien in 2018 and came back to campus and I went to the bathroom and realized, oh, this is a woman's bathroom now. So it's a lot of adjustment, of course, in my head, I'm sure, as it is for you. Because, you know, we're so used to just seeing boys around there and those after school hours when the girls came and the cheerleaders came. That was real exciting because we didn't get that all day long. But now to have a coed population on campus, you know, that's just regular life. And I don't know. I kind of like the idea that we went to an all boys school. That was fun, that made whenever the girls came around or we got to be with girls that made it that much more exciting. And I kind of wish that the boys had that experience now because I think that that did a lot for us. But at the same time, you know, being being in a coed school that sets you up for the world really. So I think it's good all around. Well, I totally agree with you there. I mean, you know, for us when it was all boys, I mean, we didn't have to act or, you know, send love notes to girls or anything like that, because it was just us guys right there. But then right when I remember 212 was when school let out. And then, you know, St. Andrew's Priory, Star of the Sea, Sacred Hearts. I mean, they were all there. They were all there. Or we got on the bus and we met at Alamoana bus stop. Yeah, well, yeah, those are the days. Yes, they were. So Dr. Kyle, tell me now about how important it is of the reestablishment of the board and the relationship with you as the president for for Damien. Sure, you know, we've gone through a lot of change just in the two years that I've been there. I came on board as principal two years ago. I've been through two presidents since then and then now. Actually, my official title right now is head of school. The presidency is going to be something that will have to is going to come later and we'll have to do a search for that. Of course, something that I'm going to be going after. But technically, I'm the head of school. And, you know, it's it's been there's been a lot of change. And I think it's all for the better for the growth of the school. And it's been really exciting just being a part of that. So, well, head of school president, I think it's president. Now, Dr. Kyle, tell me more. Tell me about the accreditation of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and what that means for Damien. Sure. As for every school, it means everything because accreditation is what gives you validity as a school. And, you know, of course, when looking for a school, parents, families are looking for that validity in the school. And there really is a way of schools being accountable to what they should be doing. I think I think it's changed a lot to really focus on school improvement. There was a time when it was all about a team coming into the school and pointing every wrong thing out to you. And then, of course, they left and you just felt really badly about the bad work that you're doing because that's what they told you. Today, it's a little different. It really focuses on the thing, not only the positives, but also the areas of improvement for your school. And so when a team comes in to look at your school program, they really are looking at ways that you can improve your overall program. And 2016 was the last accreditation visit. We had a mid-cycle visit this past spring, and then we're preparing and looking forward to our visit in the spring of 2023. But again, it's all just the regular part of the process of schooling and again, really just keeping us accountable to the good work that we should be doing with our students. That's great to hear. And how many students do you currently have at Damien? And the second part to this is, do we still have like that 98 percent where students who graduate from Damien go on to a four year college? Sure. Currently, we have about 670 students, which is really, really nice. We weren't expecting the number to stay as high because of covid and the financial situations with some family, but we've been blessed to steadily have about 670 students. And yes, I think that's accurate, 98 percent. We really try hard to make sure that all of our kids apply to college. And if they're not applying, that we know what step they're taking after they graduate. And for some of them, it might be moving to another country to go to a university there. Some of them may be taking a gap year as is very popular nowadays. Some of them may be going into some kind of training. But I think it would be safe to say that 98 percent of our kids do apply and actually attend college in the fall. Wow, that's great. Well, it counts because I did that and you did that, too. Yeah, yeah, you know, I think somebody asked me recently if I thought that the college degree was something that's required today. And that's that's sort of a tricky question. Of course, I'm going to say yes, because you can never get enough education and the college degree just validates again who you are and what you've done as far as your education is concerned. But there are so many other venues and ways that people can get training or get to some level that's going to take them to to to the career of their choice. And so I think if anything, our kids have have a whole lot more choice of what they can do after high school. Yeah, knowledge is power for sure. And Dr. Kyle, what what are some of your goals currently and for the future? Sure. Well, currently, of course, covid dominates everything. And again, I just want to make sure that we not only keep our kids and faculty safe, but we also continue to provide a quality education to our kids and families who choose to come to Damien. I think in the long term, I really want Damien to be known for a great academic program and overall program. I'd like us to be a school of choice because I think sometimes parents, families may look at us as just sort of a stopping point before they get accepted into the real school that they wanted to go to. And I want to make sure that Damien's on the same map as everybody else and that they recognize us for being a great program. How important is it for you to connect with alumni? Well, that's huge. I mean, being an alum myself, I would say in the whole time and it's been a bunch of years now since I graduated, I would say the first time I ever did anything with Damien after I graduated was my 25th school year school reunion. And that was me and one of my classmates, a couple of my classmates putting a fundraiser together for scholarship for the current kids. But before that, I think maybe I got one mail out. That was probably in the early 2010 around that time. I think that was probably the last time that there was any kind of focus to get together with the alums. And so, of course, coming into this position, that was huge for me because if we're not tapping into our alums, then we're really, really giving up on a rich, rich resource. And I know that the alums are proud and I know that they want to support the school. But it's important for the school to equally be to put the communication out there and make sure that they understand where we are and the kinds of help that we need. Wow. No. And do you have any plans to try to expand the campus somehow? I mean, is that a potential possibility in the future? Sure. I mean, I'd always like to look at that as a possibility. Of course, that takes money. And so that probably won't be happening in the next five years. But certainly, I think right now, I just I'm just really trying to focus on expanding and improving our educational academic program and then looking to see how we can physically grow. And whether that be on campus or taking advantage of remote areas for the school to grow, that, of course, would be great because, you know, I like the number of students that we have. We could grow a little more. More students doesn't necessarily mean a better school. But I just like to have a nice, manageable number of students, again, giving them the best opportunity, whether it be on campus or off campus. It's all about quality. I like hearing that. And Dr. Kyle, you know, you've been on teams and sports and business before. What do you feel the best leaders do? You know, the first thing that comes to mind is that a leader, a good leader, mentors, because leadership, everybody's got leadership within them. But somebody has to be there to guide it and take, pull it out from them. And I've been lucky enough to have some really great mentors who continue to be mentors. So that's one of the things that they do. The second thing would probably be communication because you need that constant feedback and support and scoldings every once in a while, too. You know, sort of to keep you in line. But, you know, I really believe in learning by doing. And so not only do you have to be a great example, but you also have to be be available to, to support whatever you can do. Well, I have to say that, you know, my experience at Damien, I mean, I was really shy and introverted, but then Damien really kind of I opened up, you know, took me out of my shell and I started to become more of a leader there, especially when I went out for the tennis team or varsity team and was number one. You know, it wasn't all about me anymore. It was me trying to help my teammates, my, my fellow players. And, and I think that's a huge thing if, if students can experience more leadership situations while they're in school, right? Absolutely. I mean, the path was the same for me. I'm still introverted and shy. But of course, when I was at Damien, I really took advantage of student government and got into that. And again, that really helped pull the leader out of me. And, you know, being in this position, of course, there's a there's a half doing things like this, it really sort of makes an introverted person nervous. But, you know, I think to myself, again, as far as examples and, and role models, I think it's important for our kids to see us out in the community doing good things and helping them understand that they can be there too. Dr. Kyle, what's a valuable lesson you learned in life so far? Sure. I think for me, you know, of course, as I'm getting older, I have lots of time to reflect and look back on my life. And I think the most important thing that I've learned is that life doesn't happen in a straight line. You know, I went to college right out of Damien, but I stopped going a year and a half later and I took a break for about three and a half years and then I got back on track and went back to school. You know, that was a longer route, but once I finished my bachelor's, I continued with my master's, took a little bit of a break to get work experience and then eventually went on to get my doctoral degree. And so, you know, I think some people think that you have to take every lock and step to make sure that you get somewhere, but life happens and it definitely doesn't happen in a straight line. Direction is more important than speed and you are headed in the right direction for sure. And Dr. Kahl, I want to ask you one more question before we wrap up. Sure. What gives you fulfillment? You know, I think for me, and again, I go back to my days at Damien, people always ask, what do you want to do when you grow up? And I never had a real answer as far as a specific career, but I did know that I wanted to help people. And that's probably why I went into the field of counseling. That's probably why I continue to do my work in school administration. And I think really just being happy with what you do and making sure that you've helped your fellow man, you know, nothing gives me more fulfillment than knowing that I've helped somebody. And of course, being in this role, I get to help a whole school of people. And that's really fulfilling. Well, Dr. Kahl, you are definitely a fantastic leader and you are making a huge positive impact with countless students. And I really want to thank you for taking time to be on the show today. Of course, anytime. And thank you for having me. And again, congratulations to you because you've done us proud as well. So great job. Thank you, Dr. Kahl. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that Dr. Kahl and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.