NUKOLI‘I — A holiday and no parking due to the construction of a photovoltaic system in the parking lot of the Kaua‘i Beach Resort could not keep the people away from the 2012 College and Career Fair on Monday. “We
NUKOLI‘I — A holiday and no parking due to the construction of a photovoltaic system in the parking lot of the Kaua‘i Beach Resort could not keep the people away from the 2012 College and Career Fair on Monday.
“We were worried,” said Bricen Moritsugu, the fair coordinator from Alu Like Multi Services Program. “It is a holiday, but we couldn’t get the dates switched. At 10 a.m. when the doors opened we had a line, so that was a good sign.”
Throughout the morning, a steady stream of people, primarily high school students, many accompanied by their parents, flowed through the ballroom of the Kaua‘i Beach Resort where more than 100 representatives of colleges and universities were joined by other service organizations representing career options, housing options and scholarships and financial aid.
“We had no choice,” said Gerry Johansen, president of the Hawai‘i College and Career Fair and the Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama. “It was a matter of trying to juggle travel arrangements for the different vendors so they could make the appropriate connections to the other fairs.”
The fair moves to Maui today, Hilo on Wednesday, Kona on Thursday and wraps up Friday on O‘ahu at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall.
Leila Kuboyama, a counselor with Waimea High School, said after the school realized it was going to be a holiday, officials put up posters and made several announcements. Some of the teachers also promoted the event.
“This is turning out better than we expected,” she said. “It’s about two hours into the fair and I think we may have had more people than previous years.”
Families took advantage of the holiday to accompany their children to the fair, anxious to seek out options for the students’ higher education.
Kaua‘i High School senior Diamon Leoso is convinced she wants to enlist in the Air Force, after browsing through the rows of representatives and clutching an Air Force ROTC T-shirt.
She enlisted the aid of Jared Meier, director of admissions for the Colorado Mesa University, to pose with her shirt while Meier was getting a drink of water.
“That’s my son-in-law,” said Glenn Alquiza, an automotive technology instructor at Kaua‘i Community College. “Today, the rest of the guys from KCC seem to have everything under control. I’ve got baby-sitting duty for Jared’s daughter.”
Tierra Teter, a graduate of Waimea High School and a student at Point Loma Nazarene University, got the help of her family, including sister Ember and mom Danielle, to help promote the school, anchoring a table where her friends dropped by.
“This is pretty hard, not having too much to promote the school,” Danielle said. “But everyone’s having fun, and that’s the main thing.”
Kaliko Santos, an Office of Hawaiian Affairs candidate in the recent election, was manning an OHA table where students could see what types of scholarships were available for Native Hawaiians.
“We have options for Hawaiians to help pay for all these things they’re looking at,” Santos said.
John Constantino of KCC said he was amazed to see so many of the KCC students coming out to help, the students mingling with the high school students and offering pointers on promotional giveaways.
The Hawai‘i College & Career Fair has been Hawai‘i’s premier annual college and career fair linking Hawai‘i’s students, families and communities to higher education and career opportunities since 1973, states its website.
The fair is planned and supervised by a committee of educators and specialists with a wide range of training and expertise for the purpose of providing college and career information through handouts, exhibits, demonstrations and opportunities to speak face-to-face with representatives of higher education institutions.
Visit www.hawaiicollegecareerfair.org for more information.
