ABOVE: Leilehua High School Graduation Ceremony Class Of 2019.
To become a high school graduate in Hawaii is to also become a walking, talking floral arrangement. Or possibly a staggering, muffled floral arrangement, depending on the weight of all those lei around your neck and how much they block your mouth. The draping of garlands upon the shoulders of honorees is an enduring Hawaiian practice at all sorts of occasions, from weddings, birthdays and guest lectures to anniversaries, funerals and gubernatorial victory parties. But nowhere are more people seen (or unseen) laboring beneath lei stacked to their eyeballs and beyond than at graduations.
For as long as newly minted Hawaii scholars have been donning caps and gowns, their families and friends have been burying them in heaps of flowers and foliage. The larger the family, the higher the heap—which might also contain nuts, seeds, fruit, candy, toys, plaited ribbons, mock vanity plates and snack-size bags of XXTRA Flamin' Hot Cheetos. So strong is this tradition that even when the Covid pandemic disrupted in-person commencements, the socially distanced Class of 2020 simply adapted its lei ceremonies to the drive-by format.
Leilehua High School, Wahiawa Class of 2019
Hawaii's graduation celebrations have evolved with influences from throughout the Pacific. The commanding Samoan headpieces known as tuiga, adorned with cleverly folded bills of various denominations, have become a popular style of money crown rich in both South Pacific cultural currency and US paper currency. Other ways to accessorize graduating seniors involve pool floaties, banners, bubble machines and life-size photo cutouts that enable the graduates to pose for pictures with themselves. Some enthusiastic families even put their diploma recipients upon miniature homemade stages equipped with backdrops, spotlights and thumping speakers. Yet no matter how far over the top things go, the intention remains unchanged: to honor the graduates' accomplishments and wish them well as they face the future—hopeful, open to possibility and appreciative that money crowns don't grow on trees.
Siwian Nickepwi, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
David Chim, Maryknoll High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Taimane Faleafine-Auwae, Maryknoll High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Chevelle Tavake, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2019
Taylor Nakashima, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Mia Hironaka, Maryknoll High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Christina Tago, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Leilehua High School, Wahiawa Class of 2019
Kealoha Charles, Kailua High School, Kailua Class of 2020
Leilehua High School, Wahiawa Class of 2019
Shileen Lafaele, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
Rudy Badua, McKinley High School, Honolulu Class of 2023
