PUAKALANI – Kamehameha Schools Trustee Diane Plotts left the KS Maui students a few words of aloha at their Thanksgiving chapel service Wednesday, Nov. 16, before her retirement at the end of the year.

“It was particularly wonderful to be at an occasion during which everyone from the Maui campus was there,” Ms. Plotts said.

Ms. Plotts shared her thoughts on the time she spent with KS, and what it has meant to her.

“Serving Kamehameha Schools has been one of the greatest honors I’ve ever had. Kamehameha really is my home and my family,” Ms. Plotts said.

Kamehameha Schools Chief Executive Officer Dee Jay Mailer also flew in from Oʻahu to introduce Ms. Plotts to the students.

“She’s the kind of woman who we can all look up to. She’s very strong, she doesn’t let anything stop her and above all else, she always says to do what’s right,” Ms. Mailer said.

Ms. Mailer worked with Ms. Plotts during 8 of the 11 years she spent with KSBE. Trustees of KS are allowed to serve two 5-year terms.

According to Ms. Plotts, some of the highlights of her time with KS were completing the neighbor island campuses on Maui and Hawaiʻi and making the decision to create more outreach programs with the Department of Education — things she said she accomplished through teamwork with the other trustees.

“We really were a team. We all come from very different backgrounds and are all outspoken in our opinions, but in the end it’s always been a joint decision and it’s always been what’s best for Kamehameha Schools,” Ms. Plotts said.

Student representatives from each of the three Maui campuses — elementary, middle and high school — gave gifts to Ms. Plotts following her speech, and after chapel, the Maui staff had a chance to meet with her personally at a social in her honor.

“I’m going to retire to the golf course and play more golf, travel a little and just enjoy life,” she said.