Hawaii Tokai :: Blog :: HTIC Students Volunteer at Lion's International Youth Summer Camp

http://www.hawaiitokai.edu/modules/news/article.php?storyid=30

On Friday and Saturday, July 25-26, approximately 20 HTIC students participated in two events hosted by the Palolo Lion’s Club to honor 25 international students from 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mongolia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Turkey. The HTIC students were invited as guests to the first event, but worked as volunteers in the second event as a part of the College’s efforts to encourage service learning in the local community.

The first event, held on Friday at the Palolo Community Center in Palolo Valley, Honolulu, was the “International Youth Summer Camp Pool Party.” HTIC students enjoyed a memorable night of fun interacting with the international students as well as with local MAAC and HCAP youths from Palolo Valley. Students were treated to pool time, a buffet dinner, and a movie presentation and award ceremony given by the local MAAP group. The pool party helped the visiting international students relax at the end of a three week summer camp that took them to beautiful sites on Oahu and Maui.

Those HTIC students who attended the pool party were Masato Ariga, Yaeko Okano, Hitomi Yahagi, Yoshimi Araki, Narumi Sugimura, Atsuto Matsumoto, Terumasa Kanzaki, Ken Hamanaka, Haruka Ishiwata, Kota Hobara, and Emi Iwai.

At the second event held on Saturday, about ten HTIC students volunteered time to serve food at the Lion’s International Youth Camp Farewell Dinner. This dinner was held at the Jarrett Middle School Cafeteria, with Lion’s Club members from all over the island coming together to say farewell to the international students. The three-hour dinner party showcased the many talents of the international students as they performed hula and an impressive “haka,” a traditional New Zealand warrior dance. It was apparent that the students put a lot of time into their practice for this performance. The evening was topped off with everyone holding hands and singing "Aloha O’e."

The HTIC students enjoyed volunteering and helping out with this community event. They worked hard in setting up, serving, and cleaning up for the farewell dinner on Saturday in honor of the international student visitors. Hopefully, they will learn from their experiences, encourage others to help out in the community, and continue to expand their own service learning experiences.

The ten students who volunteered at the Farewell Dinner were: Ayako Sato, Yurina Nakamura, Moeka Dobashi, Kosuke Muramoto, Masato Ariga, Yuko Watanabe, Emi Iwai, Mana Shiokawa, Ryohei Suzuki, and Shun Suzuki.