PO‘IPU — A lei is a symbol of aloha, said Palakiko Yagodich, the emcee for the LEI event held at Sheraton Kaua‘i Resort with more than 150 high school students from the different schools on Kaua‘i attending.
Charlene Navarro, recently retired following a long teaching career, made all the lei being worn by the participating students to demonstrate the aloha that goes with each lei.
“It took her 60 days to make all these lei,” Yagodich said. “LEI is also an acronym standing for Leadership, Exploration, Inspiration.”
The Kaua‘i LEI program is part of a statewide effort presented by the Hawai‘i workforce development nonprofit ClimbHI, where students are provided with exposure to a variety of careers involved in the visitor industry. ClimbHI has been presenting the program for the past 11 years.
Julie Morikawa, the president of ClimbHI, said similar daylong LEI events have been held on O‘ahu for about 400 students, and on Maui for about 12o students. This year’s LEI schedule wraps up on Hawai‘i Island, where about 45 students will experience an overnight LEI event.
Following the general gathering at Sheraton Kaua‘i Resort, where island-born individuals were allowed to present their experiences to the students, the group was broken down into smaller groups that would be transported to other South Shore properties.
Those properties included Grand Hyatt Kaua‘i Resort and Spa, Ko‘a Kea Resort, The Point at Po‘ipu Diamond Resort, Koloa Landing Resort, and Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club, where they would be provided a full front house, and back house tours to get an idea of what kind of work is involved in visitor hospitality.
Students, who were traveling to properties beyond the Sheraton Kaua‘i, were transported via donated motor coaches to give them an idea of experience traveling via motor coaches.
The tours before lunch at the respective properties also served as demonstrations on how Leadership, Exploration, and Inspiration works to the success and impact of the visitor industry.
The day ended with a career fair featuring more than 30 vendors involved with the visitor industry seeking to fill vacancies and various advancement training programs.
Morikawa said this year, the LEI event is able to have the students spread out over more properties because of the COVID-19 restrictions being lifted.
During the 2022 event, students were restricted to just a single resort with activities being carefully scheduled to keep contact to a minimum.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
