As part of the yearlong arcade venture Arcademy, Corvid Academy students get a true taste of entrepreneurship in action.
As 2023 was coming to a close, vice principal Noah Borgia and his fellow faculty members were brainstorming ways to broaden Corvid Academy’s identity beyond its strong academic record. Too small for a traditional sports program, the Kapolei private school needed a unique draw that would enhance the student experience without requiring a lot of space or funding. Around the same time, the educators had zeroed in on an essential aspect of workplace readiness that they felt was missing from the current curriculum—how to launch and run a business.
Borgia came up with a novel idea that would check both boxes: a work-based learning program designed around a functioning arcade. A longtime collector of classic arcade games, he offered to jumpstart the school’s foray into applied entrepreneurship by donating 10 machines, including Street Fighter II, Initial D, Time Crisis, and NBA Jam. “There’s something alive about the older video games,” he says. “Along with the huge rise in popularity of eSports, the oldschool way to play—where each machine is dedicated to a single game—has become immortalized in Hawaiʻi.”
Corvid Academy principal Linda Sofa recognized the opportunity as a natural extension of the school’s real-world learning approach and successfully secured accreditation from the state of Hawaiʻi. In early 2024, the school added Arcademy (pronounced ar‑KAYD‑uh‑mee) to its course lineup, making it available first to highschoolers and later middle-school students. As project administrator, Borgia mentored a dozen emerging entrepreneurs in creating a business plan, filing an LLC, and running the on-campus arcade after opening to the public in May of the same year. In class once a week, Arcademy students worked on staffing and scheduling, balancing the books, filing taxes, and building an online presence.
During business hours (usually weekend nights), students honed their customer service skills and tackled operational challenges—such as how to get more players in the door on slow nights and finding the pricing sweet spot that will keep them coming back.
“A lot of people wait until later in life to take the leap because so much of the business ownership process is intimidating,” Borgia mentions. “Allowing our students to build something from the ground up seemed like a perfect way to give them a head start.” As Arcademy expanded its offerings to include popular PC games, like League of Legends and Counter-Strike, the studentrun arcade gained a loyal following of regular gamers who were drawn to the unlimitedplay flat rate, organized tournaments, and communal atmosphere.
In early 2025, Corvid Academy announced plans to downsize and discontinue the Arcademy program. Thanks to an eleventh-hour partnership with Kapolei Inline Hockey Arenas, Borgia found a new home for Arcademy’s 25 arcade games. Though currently managed by the arena, Borgia stays connected to the community he helped create, leasing and repairing machines for the reincarnated Arcademy and jumping in on the occasional gaming session.
As his former Arcademy students make their way in the world, Borgia is thankful for his role in bringing the unconventional marriage of education and enterprise to fruition. “Watching the kids experience the stress and blessings of a sink-or-swim business, and the freedom that comes with it, was really fulfilling,” he recalls. “The seed is planted, and when that great idea hits, they’ll be ready to hit the ground running.”
Learn more, visit arcademyhawaii.com.