Posted on: Saturday, June 4, 2005

Kaua'i grads donate lei to extend aloha to others

By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Staff Writer

Kaua'i High School students this morning will begin presenting some of last night's graduation lei to nursing home patients and tourists in a program called "Lei of Aloha."

Members of the Kaua'i High class of 2005 last night donated spare lei to the program, which was thought up by Nolan Ahn, of Lihu'e, who observed at his own three children's graduations how so many lei are worn for a couple of hours and then discarded.

Two school support organizations have put together the Lei of Aloha program — Parents in Support of Raider Students and the school's Parent Teacher Student Association.

"I wanted to do something to make use of that tremendous outpouring of aloha," Ahn said.

The school was to graduate 279 seniors last night, and the Lei of Aloha group was hoping to collect close to 1,000 lei. Volunteers were on hand to accept lei after the graduation ceremony. Any tags would be returned, and the lei would have new Kaua'i Visitors Bureau cards added. The cards note that the lei are gifts of the graduating class.

This morning, students from the school's sophomore class and members of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism — which involves students interested in entering the visitor industry — were to get a brief training talk from hula teacher Wallis Punua before heading out with lei.

The lei were to be handed out at the senior citizens assisted-living facility Regency and Pua Kea, at the long-termicare facility Garden Island Healthcare, and at the Hilo Hattie store, the Kaua'i Marriott and Lihu'e Airport.

The organizing committee planned to videotape the events and develop a Web site that could be used to show other schools how to conduct similar programs.

"Our goal is for all high schools on Kaua'i to participate next year," said Ahn. He said he hopes the idea eventually can spread statewide.