POIPU — Kauai high school students are preparing for bright futures, and many of them are looking to careers in Hawaii’s largest industries, hospitality and tourism.
One workforce development program is encouraging more than 1,000 students to finish high school and proceed to post-secondary educations or employment by educating them about future career paths.
Leadership, Exploration and Inspiration (LEI) hosts student events that feature leadership training, speakers, site visits to hotels, advice on job/college applications, and career fairs.
“The LEI program is a great experience to explore all the different properties,” said Vanessa Alcones, a sophomore at Kauai High, who is still trying to decide if she will go into the tourism and hospitality industry.
This year’s most recent program event was held Friday at Sheraton Kauai Resort. Students from Kauai, Kapaa, Waimea and Niihau high schools explored options at other hotels, while some stayed at the resort for job shadowing. Others took part in a dining etiquette lesson and lunch at RumFire, then returned to Sheraton for the career fair.
Kelli Okayama, a junior at Kauai High School, came to get a feeling for customer service and the hospitality and tourism industry. She plans to attend college in Oregon and is hoping to go into marketing or tourism.
At the career fair, Okayama visited the Marriott and Hyatt booths, looking for internship opportunities.
“I wanted to kind of get to know how I can connect myself to home and land and try to network with other people, so I can kind of go right into the working place,” she said.
Produced by local nonprofit ClimbHI in partnership with Hawaii Tourism Authority, the LEI program focuses on high school students and offers internships to college students
Kauai Community College student Jasmine Morales helped mentor a group of high school students.
“We brought 15 college students as mentors for about 150 high school students,” she said. “We’d like to let them know what other opportunities they have.”
Morales studies accounting at the college but plans to double major in hospitality as well.
“Students can stay here on Kauai and have an opportunity to work at hotels, airlines, rental cars, for a variety of opportunities,” she said.
Businesses and organizations attending the fair included resorts and restaurants, as well as the Kauai Museum and Kauai Visitors Bureau.
“I just like to see our aloha spirit flourish, to have each and everyone of us immersed with aloha and share it with our residents, visitors and for everyone to spread it through the world,” Morales added.
Student Hillary Carlos said Capt. Andy’s caught her attention.
“They go out to the Na Pali Coast and show people and entertain,” she said. “But I plan to be an orthopedic surgeon.”
The program, started by ClimbHI’s Julie Morikawa in 2012, impacts students from public and charter schools on the Hawaiian Islands, including Niihau, Lanai and Molokai.
“It’s taught me a lot and gave me experience in things I’ve never seen before. I’m a very hands-on person, so I kind of liked Kipu Ranch,” said Kainalu Almeida-Kaohi, who graduates from Kauai High School this year. “I want to do engineering inside hotels, help them fix stuff, and hopefully become general manager one day.”
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John Steinhorst, reporter, can be reached at 245-0435 or jsteinhorst@thegardenisland.com.
