Empathy can be life-changing for at-risk students. Listening to the stories of our elders can inspire a desire to create an altruistic community where the aloha spirit thrives. One partnership project, between Lanakila Pacific and Olomana School, shows how the experience opened the hearts and minds of students who participated in a kupuna call center work experience at Lanakila Meals on Wheels.

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For students involved in the juvenile justice system, it is an uphill battle to provide the services and supports to help them become productive members of society. Often, they do not have the role models to show them compassion and responsibility for others as well as themselves. The opportunity for our students to obtain work experience by connecting with our kupuna and people with disabilities was an incredible learning experience. The ability to earn a paycheck helped them to pay restitution for their crimes against their victims.

Since they are minors, restitution is usually placed on the family, but these students will be able to make amends with their victims and their families by doing their part in sharing those responsibilities. Through this valuable experience, students were able to learn compassion and empathy for others, soft skills, budgeting and finance.

The call center involved a pandemic check-in survey for students to use as they made calls to the Lanakila Meals on Wheels clients. Some of the students’ concerns were that the new survey was too long and repetitive, which would be challenging for the kupuna. They were taking the perspective of the kupuna and advocating to change the new survey because they were concerned about the seniors.

This is huge! Some of the calls really had an impact on the students as they realized how lonely some kupuna were.

They were able to see, firsthand, the challenges of the elderly and disabled. The work experience also enabled our students to learn the skills needed in holding down a job.

They learned to get along with each other and take directions from their job coach. Students understood the importance of their job and how it could impact the welfare of their clients. They learned to problem solve when things weren’t working. Students also learned about choice and the importance of being a reliable employee. There was tremendous growth in all the students as they developed their communication skills on the phone and also with their peers/co-workers. When students received their paycheck, they were excited as it was their very first paycheck.

All in all, the call center work experience proved to be an extremely valuable learning experience for all. There were many teachable moments that occurred, which never would have been addressed, if not for this experience. Being in a real job environment enables these unexpected learning moments to arise. Some of our students have expressed an interest in working at Lanakila [Pacific] when they get out.

A couple of other students want to work in a nursing home to provide companionship to the lonely kupuna. Prior to this experience, our students would never have thought that they would have the skills to do this kind of job. Overall, the positive outcomes from this experience surpassed all of my expectations. In the future, we hope that more opportunities for unique work experiences will be available for our most disadvantaged students.

Lisa Vegas is a staff member at Olomana School.