Tihani Arbogast

Senior Seminar

Ms. Terry and Ms. Marsh

3/13/2020

Hawaiian Club

Over the course of my senior project, there were a lot of amazing things that came out of

it for me. My driving question was “how can I help high school students embrace the Hawaiian

culture in a fun environment?” I think I successfully achieved my goal in answering this

question. I upheld the Hawaiian club at Kihei Charter. From the beginning of September up until

about the middle of February, I was holding Hawaiian club meetings every Friday after school.

During those meetings we would go over chants, hula, and learn terminology as well. I had a

fairly good turnout of people showing up, and lots of kids showed interest. Some were interested,

but ended up deciding it wasn’t for them.

This project was way more challenging than I thought it would be. One of the biggest

challenges I faced was getting my fellow friends and peers to respect me as a teacher instead of

treating me like a friend. It took a while, but things started getting better. Another big thing for

me personally was that I am still learning while being a teacher. So a lot of the time I would

learn new information then relay it to the members at the next meeting. As far as distinct skills

go my interpersonal and communication skills were the most challenged. I realized early on that

I was going to need to break out of my shell and get comfortable talking with a lot of different

people, as well as talking to a group. I wasn’t just talking to students either, I was

communicating with very high authorities with the school in order to make this project a success.
As of right now I feel very confident in my ability to step out of my comfort zone and talk to

new people.

Even though this project was challenging, it ended up leaving me with a lot of great experiences

and lessons. I now know how to be truly transparent with a crowd and I had to learn to trust them

to be independent when I wasn’t around. Looking back there are some things that I would

change, but I think it was just me still learning how to be confident in myself. One of the best

things that has come from this experience is that I found something I am genuinely passionate

about, and that was being the coordinator for the events. It’s something I’m definitely going to

pursue, and I don’t think I would have had that breakthrough if it wasn’t for this project. So, I am

planning on pursuing hospitality and tourism so I can one day work as an event coordinator or

luau planner for the hotels.

I am very happy with the outcome of this project, and I am satisfied with the way I went

about making it happen. I would have liked to have met maybe one more day a week, but Fridays

were very productive. I am confident that the students that were a part of the club have a new

understanding for the culture and that is the most important thing.