About HELP

Mission Statement
For students to achieve their absolute highest potential. HELP works with parents and students in a partnership to provide the best opportunity for academic success.

Teaching Philosophy
Many parents ask if we adhere to a specific teaching philosophy. The simple answer is no. The more complex answer is that we draw from a number of teaching philosophies. Many philosophies have value. The question is not so much what our philosophy might be, but rather what the student might be able to gain from various approaches. Overall, our guiding philosophy is to work with the whole child.

Meet our Teachers
Meet Diane Sugahara
Diane Sugahara is the Founder and Chief Educational Officer of Honda Educational Learning Partners. She loves to teach young learners. She has been doing just that since 1987.

Born, raised, and educated in Hawaii, Diane graduated from St. Andrews Priory and attended the University of Hawaii at Manoa. There, she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a professional diploma in elementary education, and a master's degree in early childhood education.

Diane has a vast amount of experience teaching in both public and private schools. Since 1987, Diane has been teaching Kindergarten for both the Department of Education and a well-known private school. During the regular school year, she teaches at public school. During the summer, she teaches and oversees the Kindergarten program.

Diane discovered her love for one-on-one tutoring in 2000, after 13 years teaching in the classroom. This is when her cousin asked her to help his son Jeff prepare for his 7th grade private school entry exam. Diane worked with her nephew for a full year to ensure he knew the material inside and out. They worked in Diane's "classroom" which, at the time, was the kitchen table.

When her nephew Jeff took the exam, he was relaxed and fully prepared. As a result, he was accepted to the private school of his choice. That's when the word began to spread about Diane's special gift of tutoring. Soon, she had requests from friends and family to help bring out the best in their children's learning.

Diane spent the next two years tutoring students at her home until she had too many students to accommodate. That's when she moved into her current office location in Kaimuki. Initially, she started her lease with just a single classroom, but today Honda Educational Learning Partners has expanded to several rooms and almost 1000 square feet of space for desks, bookshelves, school supplies, and all kinds of learning tools.

During this time, Diane has recruited and trained seven additional tutors who love to work with young learners as Diane does. She has never had to advertise. Her business has grown the way most successful local businesses do-by word of mouth.

"We do whatever it takes to get the kids learning," says Diane. "Sometimes, when the kids are new and they don't yet want to engage, we'll sit on the floor with them and get them interested. It really doesn't matter to us, as long as we engage them in the learning process. We meet them wherever they are. Once they fall in love with learning, the possibilities are endless."