Kaua‘i High students collaborate to showcase art, agriculture, other elective programs

On Friday, students at Kaua‘i High School will showcase their academic pursuits during an open house for invited guests.

The open house began as a project in teacher Greg Anderson’s business class, centered on the high school’s Raider Café. It began to snowball when Anderson’s burgeoning entrepreneurs began to collaborate with their peers in other classes, turning a small idea into a school-wide affair.

“One kid would say, ‘Well, what if we had the Hawaiian club come and do an opening ceremony for us?’” Anderson said. “Then someone said, ‘Well, what about music?’ It just kept on growing and growing.”

The open house at Raider Café will feature performances, tours and interactive demonstrations from a wide variety of elective programs, including agriculture, music, culinary arts, and hospitality and tourism.

Members of the Kaua‘i Performing Arts Center will perform songs from their upcoming production of “Footloose.” The Hawaiian language arts program will teach attendees how to order from the Raider Café menu in ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i.

“It’s exciting to see kids really passionate about something that they love,” teacher Carla Kirk said.

Kirk administers the Kaua‘i Performing Arts Center, an islandwide program headquartered at Kaua‘i High School in Līhu‘e. She hopes this year’s open house is the beginning of an annual tradition.

“The overall intention is to get kids engaged in an entrepreneurial setting,” Kirk said. “It’s a way to get kids to learn what it’s like to be out and about, and put themselves out there.”

Anderson’s class, meanwhile, is hard at work behind the scenes.

His students are doing all the marketing, pricing and order processing, as well as developing the menu and creating new drinks.

“We’re figuring out how much something costs us to make and how much to charge for it,” Anderson said.

The Raider Café typically serves Kaua‘i High School faculty and staff. It is operated by students in the school’s work-based learning program, which primarily serves those with learning or physical disabilities, according to Anderson. Students in the program also have gained job site experience at partnering businesses like Domino’s Pizza, Kaua‘i Food Bank and the Crows Nest gaming and hobby shop in Līhu‘e.

Collab Café in Kapa‘a is another Raider Café partner. Lessons shared by its co-owner, local coffee grower and roaster Ben Fitt, will come in handy when its students attempt to prepare “the perfect cup of coffee” later this school year. Their quest begins at the open house, where they will collect attendees’ ideas and suggestions regarding the ideal brew.

The open house will run from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Friday. Students are now drafting invitations to family and community members, including café partners and local officials. Mayor Derek Kawakami and complex area superintendent Daniel Hamada are among those who may earn spots on the developing guest list.

Kirk and Anderson would like to see the open house open its doors to the general public in the future, if this year proves to be a success.

Students are not the only ones enjoying themselves in the run-up to the Raider Café open house. The teachers of Kaua‘i High School are benefitting, too.

“Sometimes, as a teacher, we’re stuck on our own little island,” Anderson said. “It’s been fun to open the doors and see how we can interact with one another towards a common goal, which is showing the community what our kids are doing in school and how they’re doing it.”