Twelve students in Dr. Helena Hannonen’s Organizational Change class recently created training material that is now in use at schools on all of the Hawaiian islands. The training is for facilitators of Oihana, a program that helps Hawaiian students with career development and college preparation. The students coordinated with Gaylene Nikora, a Laie community member, who had developed Ka La Hiki Ola (“the dawning of a new day”), which is a series of four booklets that are a part of Oihana.
“The whole purpose is to help Hawaiian students follow their dreams, or look at career opportunities in different ways,” said Hannonen. “They then obtain the practical skills that will get them the job.” In approaching school districts about the Oihana program, Nikora needed training materials for the teachers, including a video and presentation to engage and educate how the program can be used in their schools. “The students were responsible for the script, filming, actors and finding locations,” explained Hannonen. “They spent a lot of time developing the project.”
Students working on the project are from Hong Kong, Japan, Tonga, Cambodia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland.
“Every student should have an opportunity to apply his or her college education, and learn through a real life situation,” said Barbie Mulberg, a recent BYU–Hawaii graduate who now works in HR for Amazon. Dr. Hannonen’s Organizational Change class maximizes class projects to provide students with experience and portfolio work that will make them marketable upon graduation. Lillie Tongi, another student involved with the project, noted, “Dr. Hannonen's projects are real projects used to improve real problems affecting real people.”
The real-life application of this project was what provided the most value as part of the class curriculum, according to Tongi. “You have to listen to what the client wants, and give them what they want. You have to be flexible with your techniques.” By allowing students to work with real clients, students gain first-hand experience on how to apply what they have learned. Mulberg noted, “There is no better way to learn about the role of HR than by actually applying it for a true client.”
The success of the program after its first year, thanks in large part to the training materials, has been significant. “All major Hawaiian organizations have bought into this program,” said Nikora. “We reached approximately 3,875 middle and high school students the first year and 72 percent of students came up with a clearer vision for their careers.”
“I could not have done it without them, the quality of work that they did was what we needed to accomplish our goals."