Hawaii Auto Dealer Mike McKenna is

Named National Dealer of the Year 

All this hasn't gone unnoticed by the American International Automobile Dealers Association and Newsweek magazine who have honored McKenna by naming him the NATIONAL DEALER OF THE YEAR in ceremonies held at the JW Marriott Hotel, in Washington D.C. in July.

The McKenna car giveaways were at the headwaters of the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association's involvement, three years ago, in advancing legislation that created annual SAT9 testing in grades 3-8 and one year in high school, and this year, resulted in a proposal for $1 million in State funding and $5 million in federal funding for development of a grade-by-grade sequenced language arts / core content curriculum.

Request for a $100 check led to car giveaway
Although McKenna didn't realize it at the time, this business-advanced statewide education reform traces its beginning to a time in 1996 when Kalaheo High School's Project Grad chair Kathie Wells approached McKenna for a $100 donation. She wanted to use the money as a door prize for the high school's annual alcohol-free, drug-free graduation party, sponsored by the school's parents. Concerned about the low attendance at the party, McKenna said, "what if I give you a car to give away?"

Wells said she "couldn't believe it." The first car donated was a gull-winged Bricklin that drew much student interest when it was put on display at the school. Attendance at the parties had been running at about 35%. McKenna said he would provide the free car if the class attendance hit 95%. "That year, attendance leaped to 97%," says McKenna, who remembers the night back in 1948 when, as a teenager he'd been in the backseat with a graduation night group that had been drinking and racing from one beach party to the next when someone asked how fast will the Plymouth go? "It was a bad question," McKenna said.

Approaching 90 mph, the car missed the turn, flipped, hit a telephone pole and some of the occupants were thrown into the sand. The eight came off with slight concussions and some broken limbs. "I had a concussion and a broken elbow," McKenna said.

Success leads to more car giveaways
The news of the success of the McKenna car giveaway in raising attendance soon spread and parent coordinators at other Windward high schools in the dealership's area, asked for free cars. Mike's response to each request was: "Sure." Today, the McKenna free car door prize is offered at all four Windward high schools and a Kailua-Kona high school near his dealership located on the island of Hawaii.

Dealer Ad Associations Provide Cars for Teachers of the Year
In 1999, while attending a Hawaii Volkswagen Dealers Association meeting, McKenna pointed out that free cars are good motivators that will increase participation in worthwhile programs. He suggested that the dealers donate use of a free Volkswagen Jetta for a year as a reward to be offered for the Hawaii State Teacher of the Year. Soon, more teachers were being nominated for the honor.

7 Cars for 7 Teachers Program
Word of the success of the State Teacher of the Year car program, along with the charming thank you letter received from the winning teacher, encouraged other Hawaii dealer ad associations to propose free cars (use for a year) for the District Teachers of the Year –and thus the "7 Cars for 7 Teachers" program was born.

Dealers Propose Annual SAT9 Student Testing and Curriculum Development Legislation
Through the help of these top teachers, who volunteered to staff the auto dealer-erected curriculum display at the First Hawaiian International Auto Show, members of the general public became familiarized with the complex issues surrounding core content curriculum. The Department of Education teachers also used the event to introduce the new state tests and they helped students take sample grade-level tests—with prizes for participation offered by the auto dealers. In 2002, the auto dealers were led to introduce a proposal for grade-by-grade Stanford 9 testing to supplement the state-created tests and provide national-normed information to help evaluate student performance. This year, auto dealers worked, along with national experts, to help develop a key element needed for success in improving student achievement—a grade-by-grade core content curriculum.

State and Federal Funding is Sought
The auto dealers' request for $1 million state funding for the project made it all the way through this year's legislative session, but was eliminated by House and Senate conference committee members in the last days. Speaker of the House, Calvin Say, has offered to help dealers continue the effort by asking that the Department of Education to allocate some of its own funds. Meanwhile, McKenna, who has made the trip to Washington to support this effort, is asking our members of Congress to support allocation of $5 million in accompanying federal funding. Hawaii Congressman Ed Case has already proposed the earmarking of these federal funds in the FY 2006 budget.

Best-selling education author, E.D. Hirsch, Jr. has said "if (the funding) passes and the program is used, we can expect a new era in our nation's education, one in which Hawaii will have led the way."

All this came from a parent's request for a single $100 donation and an auto dealer's willingness to help.

"You just never can tell what will happen when people in the community work together," says McKenna.

"All of Hawaii's auto dealers are very involved in helping their communities," he adds. "It's something we auto dealers feel a need to do for having been given the privilege of operating businesses in Hawaii."

McKenna's Spirit of Giving To the Schools Nears $1 Million Goal
Today McKenna also provides multiple $100 donations to help the schools. He is approaching his personal goal of giving $1 million in monetary donations through his individual checks awarded to the schools in his new-car customers' names. So far, 430 Hawaii schools have received from $100 to $31,100 each through his dealerships' Spirit of Giving to the Schools program. Donations have been made in the names of 9,456 new car customers, totaling $945,600.

Principals love the flexibility provided by the funds. McKenna makes no requirements and is pleased to hear that the money has been used for such wide-ranging school needs as cookies for the parent-teacher meetings, supplemental funding to help some students from low income households take field trips with the rest of the class, extra equipment for the science labs, books for the libraries, and more.

"The $100 donation keeps on giving when it goes to a school," said McKenna.

About AIADA
The American International Automobile Dealers Association represents the 11,000 American automobile dealerships that sell and service international nameplate brands including Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Saab, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Visit AIADA online at www.aiada.org

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