Jan. 15, 2018

Contributed by Nadine Lagaso

While many of their friends were savoring the surf and sun last summer, Kamehameha Schools Kapālama high schoolers Kylie Burkhart, Lauren Lau, Carina Tanaka and Sydnee Valdez were prepping a presentation for KS HR pros on “Generational Differences in the Workplace.”

To make the subject more compelling, the haumāna developed an interactive presentation enabling employees to take part by logging onto their laptops.

“We had to brainstorm an innovative way to captivate the audience,” said Burkhart. “In the end, we decided to create a game to present our content, and judging from the positive reaction in the room, I think we just might have been a hit!”

The haumāna took part in a six-week KS Human Resources summer internship. In addition to sharpening their presentation skills, the students also learned how to conduct research, use critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, strengthen their résumés, and improve their interviewing expertise.

“Student internships afford us tremendous opportunities to support our haumāna at such an exciting, and pivotal, time in their lives,” said HR Compliance Program Manager Michelle Swan.

“These types of opportunities are less frequent for us as non-campus staff, so the experience really allowed us to feel like we were directly contributing to KS’ mission, and we could see the results as the students grew and thrived. I’m looking forward to our 2018 program.”

Swan and Managing Director of Human Resources Winona White teamed up to mentor the interns, and even invited recent KS alumni to speak to them about the ins and outs of college life.

“Our time with the HR interns flew by,” said White. “We took great care to prepare a rich learning experience that would invite an expansive view of college and career success and equip them with approaches and tools to guide their remaining time at Kamehameha Schools and beyond.

“The unexpected gift that we received was a powerful and humble reminder of why we are here. What an amazing blessing!”

Burkhart said that the internship empowered each of them to shape their learning experience.

“Our mentors Michelle and Winona did a phenomenal job gearing the content of the program toward each intern’s personal interests, and in turn the structure of the program was very intimate. The design of the internship really enabled us to navigate the program in whichever direction we wanted it to go, and I think that that is what made this experience so special.”

Student internships afford us tremendous opportunities to support our haumāna at such an exciting, and pivotal, time in their lives.
Michelle Swan, HR Compliance Program Manager