LEADERSHIP CORNER
Kama'aina Kids president wants children to be outdoors

Interviewed by David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer

Advertiser library photo • May 28, 1997

Company: Kama'aina Kids, preschool, afterschool, camp and hotel childcare programs
Title: President
High School: Kailua High
College: University of Hawai'i
Breakthrough job: Started a summer day camp with Mark Nishiyama, co-founder of Kama'aina Kids, in 1987.

Q. What were your personal goals in starting Kama'aina Kids? Did you think it would be a money-making business and you would buy a mansion on the beach?

A. Going into childcare, you know you are not going to be a millionaire. It will never happen. No, that was not one of my missions at all. I love working with kids. You get instant gratification with kids because they succeed so well.

One of the things we do is we teach sailing. Here's a kid taking out a 14-foot boat and there's no adult in that boat and they are doing it on their own. They can't drive cars. We are talking 10-year-old kids. We can teach them how to move to safety.

Q. But now you are president of an 800-employee organization, you're not out there in the sailboat with kids all the time, are you?

A. Well, I spent my birthday, June 11, out there teaching kayaking to the staff and they are all in the 20s, so they look like kids to me. I'm still doing it and having a lot of fun.

Q. What message do you try to get across to the kids in your program?

A. What we are trying to develop is every kid will have a positive sense of themselves. Self-esteem. If they are able to sail a sailboat when they are 10 years old, they really feel good about themselves. Then we focus on community. We want them to have that whole sense of the 'ohana, family, community and working together. And then we do a lot of environmental stuff, so they get a sense of the earth.

Q. Is there a trend toward parents wanting to put their kids into academic programs during the summer instead of outdoor programs like Kama'aina Kids? Are they missing something?

A. What they are missing is the whole recreation part. Look at swimmers. Swimmers are all the "A" students in college. It's because your body has to function as well as your brain. In Hawai'i, we are like the No. 1 obesity state. You can't take these kids and just hammer them with books. They are going to be these fat kids who are really smart, but they can't get out in the water.

In Hawai'i we are surrounded by water, but we have a ton of kids that don't swim. Skills like swimming, that's lifelong learning. And it's the best exercise that you can get. It exercises every part of the body. There are all these studies out there that are showing this. You are making all the synapses and all the stuff in your brain fire on both sides. It is helping structure and grow your brain.

You've got to be well-rounded.

One of the things that is really hurting is ... our summers are disappearing. To teach a kid how to sail a boat by themselves we have to go through a whole lot of progressive steps. We have to teach them the safety of the boat, the parts of the boat — you pull this to make the boat go that way — then we have to put them with an instructor in the boat, we get them doing simple things then harder things. That takes progression. You have to build that up and you build that up over time.

Schools are starting on the first of August or they are starting in July with a modified calendar, and it just eats up that opportunity for kids to have progression. Learning to swim is the other thing. It is a progressive thing.

Q. How is drug abuse affecting children in your programs?

A. Drugs are more predominant in the upper age groups, high school and that area. But after-school programs, summer camps and those things are probably the best preventative to drugs that there is. They don't have time. When they are with us they are doing things. They are engaged. They are able to see young adults — their counselors and group leaders — functioning well and in a positive manner. You can have fun. You can play cards. You can do all these different things. You don't need to get high to have a good time. There are all these other ways to get a natural high.

We have a lot of young adults that we employ. We get a reduction in workers comp if we have a drug testing program. We have random drug testing. We do a random test every quarter. We've been really lucky. We're seeing that these guys are not using drugs.

Q. What's your opinion of the public and private school division in Hawai'i?

A. We work at both. The public and the private, it really depends on who is the administration. I've seen public schools that were really having a lot of problems, and they've changed out the leadership team, and I've seen it make a 180-degree turn. And there are a couple private schools that we work with, and I wonder how do you guys get by. They work with so much less. They are having such a hard time with the tuition, and if they don't have the kids, it's really tough.

I think you see a lot more parent (participation) in the private schools because they are paying. They have an investment in there. They are a lot more outspoken about how they want to see things and what they expect.

The public school, they don't have that investment that the parents in the private schools have. It's probably the biggest difference, but there are some really good public schools. We are in four or five schools in Kalihi and we've got some great schools. Those guys work really hard and those are the poorest of the poor.

Q. Why, as a nonprofit organization, do you do a hotel childcare business? It seems that would be more of a profit-oriented business.

A. The hotels probably make better revenue per kid than any other (part of our business), and it subsidizes other areas.

We started with one hotel in Waikiki, the Sheraton 15 years ago. It started as a marketing program. Marketing said we are going to have this kids camp and try to draw more families, and it was hugely successful.

When we started, I would go in there and I would look at the budget and the budget was $600,000 and we are making $30,000. We are the operation doing this whole thing and they are paying us $30,000 and the rest of it is all full-page ads that they were running in L.A.

It was free to the guest, and now they have all started charging. We have actually become a revenue source (for hotels).

I'm a not-for-profit. That means my board of directors, the lead officers and all those people, we are not going to be able to sell it, but it is our job to make sure we are a profitable organization because we have to perpetuate it. If we want to buy this building so that we can have an office and we can carry it on for the next 20 years, we have to be able to support that.

We have to make money. I really like that we are a not-for-profit. We are not working for a profit; we are working for our mission.