Climbhi Inc

Programs: Lei program is a hawaii tourism authority sponsored workforce development project to inspire hawai'i's youth to select careers in the hawai'i visitor industry by providing them with the necessary means to achieve success. From the student's perspective, lei program represents an opportunity for leadership, exploration and inspiration, and from the hospitality industry's perspective, lei provides an opportunity to lead, expose, and inspire hawaii's youth.

the 6th annual lei program expanded to include even more high schools across the state: lei grew from 29 high schools participating in 2016 to 37 high schools in 2017. Full programs continued to be offered on 4 islands (oahu, maui, kauai and hawaii island), including over 800 high school students. For oahu, maui, and kauai, the program consisted of a day-long event including leadership speeches, hotel visits, and a career fair. For hawaii island, the overnight hotel program has proven effective to accommodate participants with long drives.

the intern and alaka'i programs continue to expand. The intern class of 2017 consisted of 4 new team members and 6 returning members. Alaka'i continue to be sourced from colleges and universities across the state and this year's programs incorporated over 90 mentors vs 80 alaka'i in 2016. Alaka'i participate in leadership training ahead of the event and each person commits to a minimum of 9 hours of volunteer hours during the program. . The planning and execution of the career fairs on each island have been developed into a curriculum and incorporated into classwork for hawaii pacific university on oahu, maui college on maui, and kauai community college on kauai. It was great to see this move beyond oahu for 2017.