Lei Day is a day where everybody celebrates the spirit of aloha and the love for the culture. It is a day filled with music, hula, flowers, and traditions that reflect the Hawaiian culture and the beauty of the islands. The Students at Sacred Hearts Academy look forward to this day because it brings everybody in our community together. Students at SHA compete to be a part of the Lei Day court and Lei Day queen. The school votes as one on who gets to be queen, while they are judges who decide who’s on the court. The judges look at your background, leadership, character, and how well each student dances. Each princess has a color they wear which represents the Hawaiian islands, for example, pink for Maui and red for Big Island. Along with their colors, they also have flowers that represent their islands. For example, Maui is a pink rose, and the Big Island is the ‘ōhi’a lehua. Each princess and queen either picks their own flowers or buy it at a floral shop for their lei and decorations. You can tell who is the queen and who the princesses are by their outfits, flowers, and their dances. The queen normally wears a white dress with a long train and many leis. 

Destiny Tautofi was a junior at Sacred Hearts Academy when she was chosen as a princess. She represented the Island of O’ahu. Dancing for Lei Day as a princess means she can represent her class, family, and her culture. Destiny had said, “I felt honorable because I was able to represent a group bigger than myself, and learned what it means to be a role model and the hard work that comes with it”. For future Lei Day princesses or queens, she says, “Make sure you know why you’re running for the position and going forward, and be true to yourself, don’t do it for other people’s expectations of you”.