Kamehameha Schools students welcomed the Dalai Lama to Hawaii with chants and hula today.

Seniors from the school’s Kapalama Campus hula halau and glee club chanted and then sang and danced hula to the song “Bless This Land” during a brief ceremony held at a Honolulu hotel.

The Tibetan spiritual leader shook hands, posed for photos, and told the students he appreciated their smiles.

“I very much appreciate on that human level,” he told the students in English. On his way in, he stopped to smell the plumeria flowers on a student’s lei.

He also told the students how important it is to preserve one’s cultural heritage.