With Obama's Rise, Hawaii School Adds to Its Distinctions

But, Kusunoki added, "we don't want to be too boastful of Barry."

Punahou was founded in 1841 by Congregationalist missionaries who tired of shipping their children to boarding schools 5,000 miles away in New England. The first class had 15 students and tuition cost $12. Today, the K-12 school has about 3,760 students, including 425 in the senior class, and tuition sets you back about $17,000.

To many native Hawaiians, Punahou long was an establishment of the haoles -- the local term for white foreigners -- who migrated to the island and built the school as an Anglo enclave.

In recent decades, however, Punahou has diversified its student body to more closely mirror the ethnic makeup of Hawaii, and the school now awards scholarships to meet the demonstrated financial need of each accepted student. The school's endowment, valued at $174 million, is on par with those of many colleges.

Among Oahu's professional class, sending a child to Punahou is a status symbol.

"At the hospital, even nurses and aides who don't make a lot still sacrifice a lot to send their kids here," said Michael Carney, a Honolulu doctor.

"The interview process is more rigorous than even my college applications," said another Honolulu doctor, James Kakuda, whose son is in first grade at Punahou. "Here in Hawaii, whenever someone asks where you went to school, people say where they went to high school."

Many in the Punahou community followed Obama's long campaign closely, especially Eldredge, who kept in touch with his former student via e-mail. "I said, 'You'll always be Big O to me,' " Eldredge said. "He wrote back, 'You'll always be Mr. E to me.' Now I wish I could be with him every day just to talk to him. . . . There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think many times about him."

Eldredge, a burly man who wears Hawaiian shirts and shorts, is packing for Big O's inauguration.

"I've got to buy an overcoat," he said. "Where can you get an overcoat here -- and in my size? I haven't worn a tuxedo in 40 years. Heck, I haven't worn long pants but four times: two funerals and two weddings."