At HPA’s Ka Makani Café and student store, students learn about running a business while serving their school community. Chelsea Yagong helps turn those everyday experiences into lessons in teamwork, responsibility and managing resources. In this Q&A, she shares what drew her to HPA, how local partnerships are shaping the café and store, and her plans to create more opportunities for students across both campuses.
What is your role at HPA?
My name is Chelsea Yagong, and I am the manager of the student store and the Ka Makani Café.
What inspired you to take on the role of managing the HPA Student Store and Café?
What inspired me to take the position here at HPA was learning during my first interview that the café was a senior capstone project. I thought it was so impressive that the school decided to empower students and help them bring their dreams to reality. That was very special and something I really wanted to be a part of.
What changes have you made to the café and student store this year?
This year, we decided to make some changes to how we run the café and student store. For example, we switched from Costco pastries to a local bakery right here in Kamuela. In the student store, we switched from a mainland company for our retail merchandise to a local company in Hilo. I think those structural changes have really impacted our growth.
What was your biggest challenge when starting your role at HPA?
One of the biggest challenges we face when running a business on a rock in the middle of the ocean is the availability of resources. Supporting a local bakery right here in town has been important. In the café, we also use Mountain Apple Brand milk, which is locally produced. The cows live right up the road in Kohala. It has been outstanding to be able to pour back into the community.
For the store, one of the biggest challenges with using mainland vendors is the huge minimums we have to meet to have goods shipped to Hawaiʻi. If we order a lot and don’t sell a lot, we end up with stagnant inventory. Switching to a local company with lower minimums and lower shipping costs has brought down the cost of our retail merchandise and allowed me to provide new merchandise at very reasonable prices.
Having students run the café and store is such an important part of this community because it shows that HPA takes the time and provides opportunities that empower students, helping them build a foundation to become community contributors as they grow up.
Why are the café and student store important to the HPA community?
I think what makes the café and student store important to the HPA community is the opportunity we provide for students to learn and grow. The café is student-run. We have a student manager and student employees. Having students run the café and store is such an important part of this community because it shows that HPA takes the time and provides opportunities that empower students, helping them build a foundation to become community contributors as they grow up.
What are your goals for the student store?
One of my biggest goals for improving the student store is to expand the merchandise available for the Village Campus. Right now, we sell a lot of mandatory PE shirts, but we want the Village Campus to be part of deciding what types of retail merchandise are available to them.
One of the things we have happening right now is an art contest for the Village Campus. We’re going to put the winners’ artwork from each category on T-shirts to sell. After costs, we’ll donate the proceeds to the arts department.
Developing programs that give back to the school and support opportunities for students is one of my biggest goals. I’m super happy to have the opportunity to grow that here at HPA.
What would you like people to know about what happens behind the scenes?
What I would most like people to know about working behind the scenes is that when you come to the café or store and there’s a student worker, you’re not just getting a latte or buying a T-shirt. You’re witnessing the growth of an individual.
These students aren’t just learning how to make a latte. They’re learning about recipe costs, standard operating procedures and how to be good team players. All of these things matter regardless of the career they pursue. Whether they become an attorney, a doctor, a teacher or a civil engineer, every profession requires knowing how to manage resources.
In a small way, we’re starting that journey here at HPA by giving students the opportunity to be part of a team, learn standard operating procedures, understand the importance of workplace cleanliness and work with other people.
So every time you order an iced latte from the Ka Makani Café, you’re witnessing the growth and character development of an individual who is going to move on from HPA and make outstanding contributions to this world.
Interview conducted by Lucy L. ’27 as part of HPA’s Social Media and Marketing class.