Kukudu Adventist College, Solomon Islands

By Milton Hook

Milton Hook, Ed.D. (Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, the United States). Hook retired in 1997 as a minister in the Greater Sydney Conference, Australia. An Australian by birth Hook has served the Church as a teacher at the elementary, academy and college levels, a missionary in Papua New Guinea, and as a local church pastor. In retirement he is a conjoint senior lecturer at Avondale College of Higher Education. He has authored Flames Over Battle Creek, Avondale: Experiment on the Dora, Desmond Ford: Reformist Theologian, Gospel Revivalist, the Seventh-day Adventist Heritage Series, and many magazine articles. He is married to Noeleen and has two sons and three grandchildren.

First Published: January 29, 2020

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Kukudu Adventist College is located on Kolumbangara Island, Western Province, Solomon Islands. It offers classes from elementary to grade 12. It is administered by the Solomon Islands Mission, a local mission organization in the Trans Pacific Union Mission, South Pacific Division.

Early Institutions

After World War II, by at least 1948, an elementary school was functioning on the site of the Aymes Memorial Hospital at Kukudu, Kolumbangara Island.¹ During the 1950s it grew to grade 7, with approximately two hundred students enrolled² under successive teachers Alan Dunne,³ I. R. Harvey,⁴ Geoffrey Harrington,⁵ and Lawrence Haycock. The institution was named Western Solomon Islands Central School until 1964.⁶

In 1965 the institution’s title was changed to Kukudu Adventist School. Its principal was Andrew Borlace,⁷ followed by Leon Miller.⁸ The elementary levels were continued, those graduating to secondary level transferring to high schools at Betikama (Guadalcanal), Aore (Vanuatu) or Kauma (Kiribati). In 1972 a vocational school was added, offering domestic science for young women and agriculture, motor mechanics, and carpentry for young men.⁹ Australian church members, such as those at Dundas, NSW, donated equipment and raised funds to improve the buildings.¹⁰ The vocational initiative had some success throughout the 1970s.¹¹

Upgrading

The 1980/1981 Appeal for Missions overflow offering was allocated for a new boys dormitory at Kukudu because moves were afoot to upgrade the school to high school level.¹² This came into effect in 1981 and became known as Kukudu Adventist High School, a coeducational institution. No longer was it necessary to send the youth far from home in order to improve their education. The school was conducted under a succession of Solomon Island principals: Eric Golopitu,¹³ Charles Viva,¹⁴ Dedily Masaea,¹⁵ Eric Golo,¹⁶ Mettley Katovai¹⁷ and Joseph Pitakia. They were assisted by a staff of Solomon Island teachers ranging in numbers from 13 to 21.¹⁸ In 2008 the total enrollment for elementary through secondary levels was 422.¹⁹

In 2009 the name of the institution was changed to Kukudu Adventist College. Since then Gibson Apusae,²⁰ Encie Dionie,²¹ and Dapikana Ripo have served as successive principals. Sadly, Ripo passed away May 2019, after only a few months in office. Feroi Asa stepped in to be acting principal. The current enrollment (2019) is 428 students.²² The institution promises to prosper into the future.

Sources

Andrews, Bryce. “ ‘Dead Men’ in the Western Solomons.” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, March 12, 1979.

Barritt, Clive. “. . . but we never hear what happens!” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, October 19, 1981.

Chestnut, Paula. “Needs for the Vocational School at Kukudu Comprise and Endless List.” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, September 6, 1976.

Lock, Enid. “Westward Ho!” Australasian Record, May 16, 1949.

[Naden, Lawrence C.] “Jubilee Joy in the Solomon Islands.” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, June 20, 1960.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984–2014.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2015–2018.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1954–1983.

Watts, Annette. “Only Four!” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, October 20, 1975.

“World Report 2008: Adventist Education Around the World.” General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Department of Education, December 31, 2008. Retrieved from https://education.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Adventist-Education-Report-2008.pdf.

Notes

Enid Lock, “Westward Ho!” Australasian Record, May 16, 1949, 4, 5.↩
[Lawrence C. Naden], “Jubilee Joy in the Solomon Islands,” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, June 20, 1960, 2.↩
E.g., “Western Solomon Islands Central School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1954), 293.↩
“Western Solomon Islands Central School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1956), 246.↩
“Western Solomon Islands Central School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1959), 265.↩
“Western Solomon Islands Central Central,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1964), 355.↩
“Kukudu Adventist School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1965/1966), 303.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1971), 341.↩
Annette Watts, “Only Four!” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, October 20, 1975, 2, 3.↩
Paula Chestnut, “Needs for the Vocational School at Kukudu Comprise an Endless List,” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, September 6, 1976, 11.↩
Bryce Andrews, “ ‘Dead Men’ in the Western Solomons,” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, March 12, 1979, 1.↩
Clive Barritt, “. . . but we never hear what happens!” Australasian Record and Advent World Survey, October 19, 1981, 2.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988), 420.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1990), 397.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1993), 380.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2001), 461.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2003), 509.↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist High School,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2008), 538.↩
“World Report 2008: Adventist Education Around the World,” General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Department of Education, December 31, 2008, accessed July 9, 2019, https://education.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Adventist-Education-Report-2008.pdf ↩
E.g., “Kukudu Adventist College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2009), 550.↩
“Kukudu Adventist College,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Nampa, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2017), 634.↩
Joseph Pitakia, email to Milton Hook, June 24, 2019.↩