HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Covid Academy, a small private school in Kapolei, is doing something very unconventional.
A new arcade has just opened, loaded with old games that will take you back in time.
“We’re trying to bring the Arcade back to its glory days in the 1990s and 2000s, when it was a lot more community-oriented,” said Noah Borgia, the school’s project manager.
The Corvid students cleverly named the arcade “Arcadema.”
It’s the school’s latest addition to its project-based curriculum, which aims to teach high school students skills they’ll need in the real world.
“The arcade came about by accident. I’d been frustrated for years with kids’ real-world experiences,” Principal Linda Soffer said.
Before the arcade could open, the young people had to write a business plan.
In exchange for class credits, they take on most of the running of the store, including customer service, inventory, pricing and balancing the books, all under adult supervision.
“We’re involved in it,” Borgia said, “and we oversee it, but they set their own schedule. They set their own hours. It’s just cool to see them taking the lead.”
Firstly, the arcade is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 5:30pm to 9:30pm.
Additionally, every other Sunday the school hosts a community craft fair, and it can also be booked for large group events such as birthday parties.
“It’s $10 for first-time customers. For that $10 you get a wristband and you can play all the games you want. You don’t need to bring in any quarters or tokens or anything like that. Once you get your wristband, you can just come in and have fun,” Borgia said.
Proceeds from the arcade will go towards purchasing equipment for Corvid Academy’s eSports programs.
“These computers are expensive so we want to set aside funds for them and also set up some sort of scholarship fund,” Soffer said.
Borgia is an avid arcade game collector; most of the machines in the arcade are his, and the place is like a museum of old arcade games, some dating back decades, some newer.
“We might not have everything,” Borgia says, “but we have walls and sections dedicated to the things you’re interested in.” So let the games begin.
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