Seniors go “Cruisinʻ in the Quad” with fresh siblings
Photo by Aaron Veincent
Seniors Chloe Lawrence and Nāpua Gushiken hang with their freshman siblings Kalia Franco and Laʻakea Awai. Cruisin’ in the Quad gave freshmen the chance to meet their senior sibling while bonding over ice cream.
As a new year rolls by, a new class rolls in. Ka Papa ʻIliahi is the freshman class of 2021.
To give the students a comfortable welcoming to high school both the freshman and senior classes go through a program called Senior Sibling.
Senior Mākena Pang and freshman sibling Noelani Kahoʻopiʻi planned matching outfits for the day.
“Being a freshman in high school is very intimidating. So being able to have a connection with upperclassmen makes the thought of high school less scary,” freshman Sofia Stupplebeen said.
Senior siblings have been a long tradition at Kamehameha Schools Maui.
“The senior sibling program is an asset to the freshmen because it gives them a warm welcoming to high school,” senior Makena Pang said.
The system partners one freshman and one senior, pairing them up based on common interests. These interests were found through a survey the freshmen took.
The senior student government then paired the freshmen with their senior classmates according to the survey results.
“My senior sibling [Ilihia Keawekane] is, like, the perfect match for me because we have a lot in common. Plus, she’s super sweet!” Stupplebeen said.
After being paired, the seniors are expected to become close with their siblings to help them with their transition through high school.
“My freshman sibling and I really connected, she is always down to do whatever and dances with me!” Pang said.
This year’s senior class government plans to have at least one senior sibling event a month. Already, in the first week of school, the siblings got to meet their seniors today during lunch.
The “Cruisin’ in the Quad” event was planned by Ka Papa Lama and involved bringing music and ice cream into the quad for lunch.
Only the siblings that were together could receive ice cream. This gave the seniors a reason to find their siblings, whom they were assigned to on the first day of school, but many seniors took the initiative to meet with their siblings before today.
“I was really overjoyed to find out who my senior sibling was and cannot wait to do more senior sibling activities,” Stupplebeen said.
Even though the rain came down and left everyone crowding up under building overhangs, the siblings gathered in groups laughing, talking, and most importantly making connections and bonding.
