The business of giving - The Garden Island

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Krista Kawamura, left, represents the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School finance class that received a $10,000 award from American Savings Bank for having the most participation, and its instructor Tyler Gage, second from right, being named Mentor of the Year, Friday. Shown are Kawamura, Beth Whitehead and Seann Hartnell of American Savings Bank, Gage and Stacy Waikoloa of ASB.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Stacy Waikoloa, Seann Hartnell and Beth Whitehead of American Savings Bank, left, present a $10,000 award to Tyler Gage, the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School finance instructor, and his class, Friday during the final day before winter break at an assembly at the school’s covered playcourt.

Dennis Fujimoto / The Garden Island

Ho‘okipa class students and Kaleo Carvalho gets photos of the American Savings Bank award presentation Friday for the Freight Farm project that earned second place in the high school division of the KeikiCo business plan competition presented by ASB. Accepting the award are instructor Greg Anderson, Mayor Derek S.K. Kawakami, Kauai High School Principal Marlene Leary, students Julia Safford, Lilli Morita, Jasmyne Ballesteros and Alana Cayabyab, state Department of Education Kauai Area Complex Superintendent William Arakaki, and Seann Hartnell, Beth Whitehead, and Stacy Waikoloa of American Savings Bank.

LIHUE American Savings Bank awarded two Kauai schools cash prizes in the KeikiCo statewide competition Friday.

LIHUE — American Savings Bank awarded two Kauai schools cash prizes in the KeikiCo statewide competition Friday.

Kauai High School was awarded second place for the high school division in the competition, receiving $15,000 for a Freight Farm project submission by the school’s business management class led by instructor Greg Anderson.

The second award for $10,000 was presented to Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School finance instructor Tyler Gage and his finance class that began at the school last year. Gage was announced as Mentor of the Year and his finance class was touted as having the most participation in the contest that attracted 350 entries from 45 different schools, with thousands of students participating.

Julia Safford was the student leader on the winning Kauai High School team, along with Lilli Morita, Jasmyne Ballesteros and Alana Cayabyab for the project that converts shipping containers into hydroponic farms that reduce production risks from weather events similar to the record rainfall in the spring of 2018.

“Julia’s been working hard on this,” said Charlene Navarro, a Kauai High School instructor. “She’s been doing research and paperwork for the past two years with her team members.”

Anderson said the Freight Farm project was one of 14 student-led endeavors submitted for consideration in the contest that is hosted every other year by ASB to support excellence in education.

“The club has 16 members who will move this project forward to where we will actually have a farm on the campus of the school,” Stafford said.

The Kauai High School project was also not the first to win a KeikiCo award. The most recent was a lemonade stand project that earned $5,000 in 2017, the same year Island School earned a $25,000 award.

“That showed a lot of initiative,” Anderson said. “The students didn’t ask that many questions, they just did it. They decided they wanted new podiums to use at graduations with the prize award. Working with the school’s building program, they designed, helped build, and the stain was still drying when they carried it to graduation.”

ASB’s KeikiCo Contest is a business competition where students showcase their best entrepreneurial ideas for an opportunity to earn between $5,000 to $25,000 for their school. This year marks the third time ASB has presented the competition.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.

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