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Waipahu High In April, Waipahu High School teacher Jean Miyahira submitted a thick packet of documentation to a national magazine, detailing innovative programs that prepare students for careers in the travel and financial industries.
economics programs
win national recognition
Academies at the school train
students for jobs as they operate
a full-service travel agency
and a credit union branchBy Brett Alexander-Estes
Star-BulletinThen, Miyahira, who directs the high school's Business and Computer Technology Learning Center, "forgot all about it."
But soon after, the year 2000 Eleventh Annual Business Week Awards for Instructional Innovation selected the Learning Center one of the top 10 economic literacy programs in the United States. The honor earned the Learning Center a profile in Business Week's July 24 issue and $2,000.
National recognition comes to the Leeward Oahu high school even as many of its students face an obstacle course inside the classroom and out. One-third of its 2,250 students are foreign-born and don't speak English as their first language. And a recent study found that 14.2 percent of Waipahu households receive public assistance, compared to 6.8 percent statewide.Miyahira and 10 other teachers started the school's Business and Computer Technology Learning Center, which offers a specialized curriculum to public high school students across the island, from scratch nearly 10 years ago.
In 1994, Oceanic Cable donated an Internet connection and the know-how of two network installers, helping to get the center's computer center up and running. After training by the Oceanic employees, students hooked up the center's 50 computers.
"Students didn't only do the technical part," Miyahira said, they also had to create and write a business plan that would make the process as efficient as possible.
"They had to learn all the steps of an enterprise," she said.
The Learning Center today has about 200 students and is divided into two separate academies.
The Academy of Travel and Tourism operates a bona fide travel agency that prepares complete travel itineraries that include lodging, transportation, currency exchange rates, entertainment venues and guides to the historical significance of destination attractions.
The Academy of Finance operates a branch of the HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union that opens and closes accounts, makes loans, pays bills, and makes deposits.
Both academies combine their industry training programs with a scholastic curriculum that meets state and national standards.
Ninety-eight percent of Learning Center graduates attend college, compared to 25 percent from the general student body.
Philippines-born Jocelyn del Rosario, a graduate of the travel academy, just completed her first year at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles with the help of 26 scholarships she won while at Waipahu. After receiving a degree in international business, del Rosario plans to return to Hawaii to work in the travel industry.
Meanwhile, she's spent the summer interning at Atlantis Adventures, one of many companies that provide career shadowing, mentorships, scholarships and internships in partnership with the Learning Center. Other partners include the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, American Express, Salomon Smith Barney, Bank of Hawaii and Hawaiian Airlines.
While Learning Center partner HawaiiUSA Federal Credit Union prefers college graduates, "we've actually hired a couple of ex-interns after high school graduation on a full-time basis," said Karl Yoneshige, HawaiiUSA executive vice president.
Half of the Business Week cash award is earmarked for the Learning Center's staff. The other half, Miyahira said, will fund efforts to share the center's curriculum with other educators at regional and national conferences.
The center's travel academy was one of only 13 such high school programs when it started, Miyahira said. It is now part of a national curriculum used by 230 travel training programs in 39 states.