Senior Kai Akehi combines his love for working on cars and volunteering for his country in any way he can, and while working, he looks to the Lord for guidance.
“I’m in the Air Force auxiliary, [which is] a subdivision of the Air Force,” Kai said. “It’s not an ROTC [Reserve Officers Training Corps] really, but we have meetings [on] Thursday nights. We do search and rescue, aerospace education, and character development. Those are [the] three big things.”
While completing all of these things in the Air Force Auxiliary, Kai is learning to design and develop aircrafts and spacecrafts to study their traveling; volunteering for search-and-rescue missions; and learning about how all of this can affect society to build his skills to do more of it in the future.
There is so much that Kai can do to explore what he wants to pursue and pick where to go after he graduates, but he is still on edge about a final decision.
“I am not sure; I’m still deciding,” Kai said. “I do want to enlist, serve while I’m in college, and then possibly [serve for] another four [years] after I’m out of college.”
Inside of school to finish out his last year of high school, Kai joined Kent County Tech Center (KCTC) to learn more about auto mechanics and to get the credits he needed to graduate.
“For KCTC, I do auto tech,” Kai said. “I go [to KCTC], and I basically just wrench on cars; this year I’m doing electrical. Last year was more the mechanical side, but right now we’re actually replacing starters and taking them apart, but we have lots of fun there.”
Discovering all of these new things through KCTC, Kai is getting credits for school and growing skills that will carry into his adult years. This includes skills like how to change a tire and reaches all the way to taking apart the entire interior of a car.
Working on cars has opened Kai’s eyes to maybe one day opening his own business, but for now, he has an interview with Bell Tire to hopefully start a new outlook on growing his love for cars and a business.
“I am still on edge about [my own business], because I just want to work on cars for a while, but I don’t know if I want to actually start a business or just do side jobs for people,” Kai said.
Growing an interest in vehicles when he was younger, Kai works with his dad doing simple jobs that sparked his love for working on cars. Over the years, leading up to now, Kai has really grown his understanding of them.
“I found an interest in cars years ago when I was just with my dad, working on whatever cars he had, doing brake jobs, oil changes—just some mechanical work,” Kai said.
Now that Kai has thought of so many possible options for after he graduates, he spends lots of time with his mom, going around to different churches and spreading the gospel.
“You spend a few months learning about how to spread the word and just spread the gospel around,” Kai said. “I’ve got a youth group that I’m in at Brockford City Church, so I’ve been going there for five years, and then before that, I probably shuffled around 20 churches with my mom.”
Kai grows his strength and intelligence on cars, volunteers for the Air Force Auxiliary, and spends time with his mom and dad. He can leave FHC this coming June knowing that he has options, and he will be full of new skills to bring into his adult life.
“This year has been challenging, but I like that it’s challenging me,” Kai said.“I learn a lot more, and it’s just fun to know stuff that people don’t usually know.”
