• Looking at the future Looking at the future Kaua‘i’s high-school graduation ceremonies begin today, Friday, May 28, with Kapa‘a High School’s 200-plus seniors leaving high school in ceremonies slated for the Bernice Hundley Gymnasium on campus. The ritual begins
• Looking at the future
Looking at the future
Kaua‘i’s high-school graduation ceremonies begin today, Friday, May 28, with Kapa‘a High School’s 200-plus seniors leaving high school in ceremonies slated for the Bernice Hundley Gymnasium on campus.
The ritual begins the end of one life, called youth, and the start of a new one, called adulthood, for hundreds of young Kauaians.
After 13-plus years of schooling, it’s time for them to face new worlds. Some will be leaving for college, others joining the armed forces. Some will continue in jobs they have already, or plan to carry on in their family businesses.
Each and every student probably has his or her own unique plan and hopes in the midst of this mass movement of adolescents into young adulthood.
The world these students are entering is one much more complex then that facing graduates one and two generations ago.
The world has grown smaller through digital communications, and Kaua‘i has grown up a lot, no longer being a plantation-focused island, but more an international visitor resort that’s drawing new residents from across the world.
Our schools are places where many local traditions live on, and hopefully these traditions as carried on by the Class of 2004 will result in aloha for all, kama‘aina and newcomer alike.
Our graduates where elementary-school children when Hurricane ‘Iniki struck in September, 1992.
Many experienced the struggle the island’s residents and families went through in our years-long recovery from this disaster, which surely has left marks on their young lives.
Being survivors along with their families through this disaster is a point of strength.
A big question is what kind of future does Kaua‘i hold for its graduates?
Sky-high land values may limit ownership of land to those who make it big financially, or who inherit family land.
Jobs may be limited in many cases to service-industry jobs at hotels and other businesses, though these areas also offer hope to those with entrepreneurial spirit.
Unfortunately, many of our graduates will seek greener grass in Honolulu, the Mainland, and even foreign countries due to the limited job opportunities on Kaua‘i.
This trend is nothing new, and understandable in any rural area, especially with today’s exposure through the media of a wide variety of places and careers available to those who seek them out.
Perhaps the biggest bonus our graduates will take with them wherever they may go or do is the experience of having grown up on Kaua‘i.
A childhood on Kaua‘i is still a learning experience that is equaled few other places in the United States.
Even with the problems some face in public schools, being from Kaua‘i and graduating from schools here is special.
