The tapping of computer keys and the shuffling of papers can be heard from room A12. They are sounds of Kapaa High School’s young entrepreneurs hard at work.
For the 2013-2014 school year, Kapaa High School’s Virtual Enterprise team created a virtual business, HI Reborn. HI Reborn is an innovative business with a vision to “Remake, Remodel, and Repurpose” items that have lost their prior value.
HI Reborn is our name and upcycling is our game! Our goal is to create refurbished products-such as jewelry, shoes, clothing, and furniture- from materials and items that would otherwise be discarded. Recycling, upcycling, what’s the difference? While recycling breaks down consumer materials, upcycling refashions the item, creating a product that has an entirely different function than what it previously had.
Krista Bolton, HI Reborn’s vice president of sales and marketing, is one of our young entrepreneurs. She took this class to better prepare herself for a potential career in business.
“The business aspect really appealed to me. Virtual Enterprise helps one understand the function of a business unlike any other class,” she said.
Virtual Enterprise gives one real world applications in running a business. As members of the 2013-2014 Kapaa Virtual Enterprise Team, we are gaining business experience during our high school career. Should we choose to pursue careers in the business field, the concepts we have learned in this class will be invaluable.
“I joined Virtual Enterprise because I want to become a businessman. And as a bonus, this class has been pleasantly fun” says Justin Fujito-Pascual, HI Reborn’s Chief Financial Officer. “We’re not just a class, but we’re a family working together to ensure our virtual business is a success.”
Some of the students hoped to gain business experience during their high school career for a future in the field after graduation, like Nick Hantz, vice president of human resources,
“It’s the better choice, I’m loving it,” he said.
Trevor Lee, one of our research specialists, says, “It’s preparing me for college, it’s lining up my life.”
Kapaa High School is the only school in Hawaii that is a member of the Virtual Enterprise International program. Considering that, we are a one of a kind team. With our very competent CEO at the reins, Kalani Murakami, we plan to take Hawaii by a storm with our vision of reducing and repurposing waste. We want to play a big part in bringing the “green” back to our beautiful island.
Keep an eye out for future events and the changes we hope to make!
