Students honored for donating bus stop bench

LIHU‘E — Third-grade students of the Kamehameha Literary Instruction and Support program at Kapa‘a Elementary recently visited the Kaua‘i County Council to be honored for their bus stop bench gift.

Council Chair Jay Furfaro presented a certificate of appreciation. The council members expressed gratitude to the children for living the spirit and purpose of their cultural and language program.

Two students, Kaipo Fulton and Justyce Enrique, spoke to the council with their program kumu Kakei Aloha Medeiros. The two spoke about the process of the project.

The students rode the bus regularly to see where it stopped and noted where there were benches and where there were none. They spoke with passengers about the places they frequented and where they would like to see a bench.

Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura noted that people such as her own parents, ages 88 and 92, will appreciate the bench to be able to sit down while they wait for the bus.

Medeiros noted that every student in the K-3 program had an active role in some part of the project. There was construction and painting, fundraising, site-search and installation of the project.

Several other students watched and chimed in with alohas to each council member as they greeted and praised the kids for their work on behalf of the community.

After the mid-afternoon presentation the kids performed two songs for the council, Oli Kapa‘a and the Hawaiian Lullaby made famous by Hector Venegas.

Councilwoman Nadine Nakamura told the children that the songs and their visit made her birthday a very special day. The council members also sang Happy Birthday at close of business, well past 6 p.m., and noted it was also Nakamura’s first anniversary with the council.

• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.