HIKI NŌ 1301 [music plays] So my family and I are currently in a situation where we are considered homeless.

We do not have a home.

So, a story about early college was actually a gateway for me to share with my friends what had been going on at home.

Um, and I, I had shared that story and I remember my classmates stopping the camera, turning to me, and said, “Victoria, why didn’t you share this with us before?” So, I told them, I said, “I didn't tell you because I didn't think it was that important.

I'm still the same person.

I'm, you know, I'm, I'm still Victoria, it just happens to be that one of the circumstances I had went through in my life, um, you know, put me in my family in that situation.” So, we had done the interview and the executive producer at HIKI NŌ had said, um, you know, gone, he'd gone through the interview, and saw the tidbit of gold in that interview and pulled that out to make that the bigger story.

You know, bringing my classmates to where I lived, I think, also helps them see what that story is like to physically be there, um, and to help tell that story.

Headroom on camera two.

Headroom on camera two.

Now I'm the producer for the, uh, 6 p.m. show of Primetime, Hawai‘i’s only hour-long newscast.

I didn't think I'd be where I'm at today.

And if it wasn't for HIKI NŌ, I really wouldn't be here at all.

And just being able to, you know, share my story at the beginning, and now being able to tell the community’s stories, I think is an amazing feat.

I think that if 17-year-old me saw 24-year-old me now, she'd be super proud.

[sound of ocean waves] [music plays] Afterward we overcome this, things will not be the same.

But in many ways, we will be stronger.

I'm also scared for our kupuna, whose lives are most at risk during this tough time.

During the past few weeks, I’ve reflected on how I want to change myself for the better.

The best we can do is treat ourselves with understanding and kindness and know that sadness isn't selfish.

I think it's a chance to look at ourselves in the mirror.

And I'm speaking to you from my humble home in Kalihi.

And in the end, this whole experience has made me appreciate my parents just a little more.

[music plays with soft mumbles] And no one else will have a story like mine to tell.

[sound of ocean waves] [music plays] COVID-19 forced me to rethink my lifestyle and establish a new routine.

I'm here to talk about how distance learning has been affecting me personally.

COVID’s been hard on my family and me.

Both of my parents lost their jobs.

My father worked for the forest reserve and now looks for part time work.

My mother was a prep cook, but the restaurant she worked at close during the pandemic.

Now that we're home learning all day, there's many distractions, and it's super noisy around my house.

Since I'm in online school, you would think, wow, this is much easier since I'm at home.

But now I barely know the difference between work and rest at my own house.

Progressively I find myself emotionally isolated and lost.

I would become stressed and overwhelmed, and I would find myself becoming unmotivated and lying in bed not being able to move.

It was difficult.

But there were some bright spots too.

I finally opened up to family and close friends.

I knew I had to do better, so I got to work.

Things started to change when I began to help him learn from home.

I appreciate our strong family support, and I know we will get through these difficult times together.

I thank the best and the worst parts of this pandemic for teaching me how to be closer to others.

And even though I'm not as great as I was before it started, I'm better than I was when it began.

And that's a beginning.

And like everyone else who's had to adjust to staying at home, I just have to keep trying.

Distance learning isn't that bad after all.

It's just what you make of it.

I took the extra step to help myself from feeling so stuck.

Not even a pandemic can keep us from sharing our aloha for one another.

And I cannot wait to see what comes next.

And what comes next will be the most exciting new development for HIKI NŌ since the program began a decade ago.

It will continue with student produced stories that meet national PBS standards, but with a new emphasis on the social-emotional benefits of the HIKI NŌ experience.

Coming out of this pandemic, with more than a year of isolation and disruption, emotional well-being of our keiki is of the utmost importance.

Giving students the means to express themselves provides a path to their healing, and the healing of society, as a whole.

We humbly invite you to continue with PBS Hawai‘i as we explore a new frontier in education: HIKI NŌ 2.0.

[sound of ocean waves] [intro music plays] Aloha, and welcome to this week's episode of HIKI NŌ, Hawai‘i's new wave of storytellers.

I’m Trevor Takeno, a freshman at Moanalua High School on O‘ahu, speaking to you from Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

What you just saw was a brief history of the first 10 years of HIKI NŌ.

As we move into the next decade, you can count on us to continue to tell more stories from the heart.

And as we saw, the pandemic led to a new kind of HIKI NŌ story: Student Reflections.

So first, here's my own reflection of my experience last school year during the pandemic.

What day is it today?

Hi, I'm Trevor Takeno.

The following reflection is about what I experienced last year as an eighth grader at Moanalua Middle School.

I'm recording this at my home on May 1, 2021, according to my laptop.

When lockdown order came out, I was devastated because a pandemic comes out and [snap] there goes my life.

Now I'm going crazy, watching YouTube videos and just trying to make the most out of my imprisonment.

Then one day I decided to clean my room because at that point, it was about as epic as watching Netflix, when I stumbled upon an old camera.

I wanted to charge the batteries since they were dead.

After that glorious discovery, I started taking pictures and that's how I truly got into media.

Fast forward a few months and I'm taking dramatic photos of leaves, and I have no clue I was doing but that was and how I still am expressing myself and relieving the stress that COVID brought.

With all of this and nothing else to do, I decided to start an Instagram account where I can share my views on what this pandemic has done to our lives.

I found that documenting my feelings through a camera lens gave me at least a little relief from the daily anxieties of the quarantine life.

And that is how I’m getting through this pandemic.

We take you now to the island of Maui, where students at Lahainaluna High School tell a story of bravery and how sometimes it's good to take a plunge.

And at the sound of the pū, we must all - Aloha.

My name is Markus-Alan Malamakamakanaokeakua Bettencourt.

I am 19 years old, I've been working for Tiare Productions for the past three years.

Tiare Productions is a local-based company that provides an authentic Hawaiian experience throughout the islands.

My current assignment is as a cliff diver at the Sheraton Maui, located at the beautiful Ka‘anapali Beach.

[Cheer and splash] During the day, Pu‘u Keka‘a is a popular location for locals and tourists, known as Black Rock, and is one of the most frequently visited places on the island.

Few visitors understand that Pu‘u Keka‘a is a sacred land.

According to the Hawaiian ancestry, this place is one start to be a portal into the afterlife.

One of the last ancient chiefs of Maui, Kahekili, would dive down headfirst off the 30-foot cliffs Pu‘u Keka‘a to show his strength, courage and dexterity.

My job is to perform as one of the last great ancient chiefs of Maui, named Kahekili, to continue to tell this story and to show how brave and strong he was.

My cousin, Napaka, introduced me to this job when I was 16.

Napaka brought me to Sheraton.

I shadowed him, he showed me the route, he showed me where the gas valves were, and he showed me how to dive.

The next day I did the same thing, just I was the one to light the torches, and then the very next week, I was doing the cliff dive on my own.

I, I wasn't practicing or anything during that time.

I had very minimal training.

I work mostly on the weekdays, my work totals, like, an hour.

It's pretty easy.

[Hawaiian chanting] The best part is that it's always different.

There's different people, different circumstances.

It's always like, a different kind of test of courage.

[Hawaiian chanting continues] To accurately tell the story, I need to be in a decent physical condition so I can perform at my best.

[Hawaiian chanting continues] For me as an entertainer in front of many people has helped me with social anxiety because I am no longer self-conscious.

Showcasing my culture and history has taught me courage, self-esteem and reconnecting me with my Hawaiian pride.

My performance makes people happy and teaches people who are not from my island about my culture.

Dealing with dangerous and hazardous materials, such as fire rocks in the ocean, has taught me to be efficient.

Running barefoot on the ground and rocks have toughened my feet, and performing as Kahekili has changed my life in many ways.

[Hawaiian chanting continues] At this time, ladies and gentlemen, we direct your attention to Pu‘u Keka‘a, as our torch bearer lights the torches along the Black Rock cliffs that have long been the centerpiece of the Sheraton Maui.

[sound of ocean waves] Hello, my name is Marika Zialcita.

I'm a fourth grader at Waikiki Elementary School.

Today I'm coming at my school in Honolulu, Hawai‘I, and I'm gonna be sharing what happened during pointing that really affected me and my family's life.

So last summer, my mom and dad told me, my sister and brother, they were moving in with the grandparents.

One day I asked my mom if I was staying in my old school.

Sadly, she told me no because that was too far from where our grandparents live.

I was really upset when I first found out because my best friend was there, and I didn't have the rest of the year with my other friends and other teachers.

After a week or so in our new house, I saw that we live next to an amazing school called Waikiki Elementary.

He told me I was going there, and I was so excited because I had a chance to make new friends and start all over.

I started on a program called Acellus.

To be honest, it wasn't the best.

So my mom took me off of it, and I started actual online classes with my new school, and it turned out to be great.

But because I was new to the school, I was shy and on mute for a few days.

But everybody was so nice and kind to me that I thought I could open up and be friends with them.

I started talking to a lot of people I was hoping to be friends with, and I was so happy.

After a few months of living in our new house, the school announced that we're going in-person for half the week, and I was so excited because I got to meet all my new friends in person.

On the first day of school.

It was one of the best days of my life because all my friends are so sweet and caring.

Even though we had to say six feet apart and with our masks on, it was totally worth it.

The experience was one of the best things ever.

[Schoolyard shouting] I haven't even met everybody in my class yet because some people go on different days as me or a different schedule.

But I'm very excited for the day that we all get to be together in person.

[sound of ocean waves] Now we take you to West Hawai‘I, where students at Konawaena High School share how senior Travis Ichishita continues a family tradition: music.

[scatting] You know what I mean, but make sure you're rhythmically like, on point with that, with that lick or else it’s going to sound like - In west Hawai‘I, Konawaena High School senior Travis Ichishita works with DJ and music producer Jaz Yglesias to pursue his passion of writing and recording music.

Travis is kind of a fresh breath of air.

Um, I work with actually a lot of young artists, um, but what I like about him is his rawness and his kind of, um, the fact that he doesn't know things because when you work with youngsters that think they know things, it could get very hard to work with them.

And Travis is very like, whatever you say boss kind of, you know, kind of thing.

Music runs in Travis's family.

His great grandmother was a successful Japanese folk singer, and his uncle sang with legendary entertainers Jim Nabors and Carol Burnett.

But Travis’s biggest inspiration is his father.

[music plays] My introduction to music was playing with my, with my dad every single day, whether it's on the couch, and I really learn, like, the fundamentals of how to play the ‘ukulele ‘cause the ‘ukulele was the instrument that I learned first.

And he taught me how, how to pick it, how to strum it, how to really actually sing and play at the same time.

That was, that was awesome to sing for my dad.

For me to be able to play music with him, it kind of brings things to full circle to me.

To be able to jam with somebody that I feel like, we don't have to really think when we play music together.

We are just in sync with each other, and I think it's something special.

And, uh, hopefully later on, he’ll pass it on to his children, too.

[Song plays] So, when I record at home I, I'm in my happy place.

I feel at, like, I'm at peace.

Well, the kind of stories that I like to tell my music are about, um, what like, a typical teenager or high schooler, like, goes through.

So like, that's mostly about like, maybe like love, like breakups, or like, just growing up.

In his spare time, Travis writes and records his music in his living room.

As his mentor, Jaz offers feedback and exercises that Travis completes in his home studio.

Jaz gives me homework, like, um, when I'm working on like, a new song, for instance, I sent him, I sent him what I record.

He tells me if my timing is good, or like, my, it’s flat, my voice or like, if the song needs more like, umph to it.

I think the one thing that Travis has to work, um, on as he grows as an artist is basically just keep working and working on the, like, timing.

A lot of guys can, can shred.

A lot of adults can shred, too, but the key thing is, is being married to what we call that metronome, that clicking that recording track.

I love his creativity.

He thinks a lot.

And I think he just needs to play more once, uh, everything clears up around here.

With support from his dad and Jaz, Travis is determined to achieve his dream of becoming a professional recording artist and performer.

I’m gonna to make the world a better place with my music by just writing songs to where, what people can relate to.

He’s very raw, but there's a, there's a fire in there that I think with my guidance and his dad's guidance that he's going to, he’s going to do very well.

This is Aliza-Kate Pitts from Konawaena High School for HIKI NŌ.

[music continues] [sound of ocean waves] Hi, my name is Saige Adaro, and I'm a senior at Pearl City High School.

When the COVID-19 lockdown was put into place and quarantine started, I decided to quit dancing.

For 10 years of my life, it was my main creative outlet and allowed me to express myself freely and tell a story through movement.

But since the pandemic started, dance classes were just too expensive, and everything was online.

Now that I was so isolated and had just lost something I was passionate about, I found myself losing a sense of direction, especially with so much talk and pressure about college applications coming up, and I still had no idea what I wanted to do.

One afternoon during the summer, my mom showed me a flyer she had found for an all-virtual film program for girls in Hawai‘i.

At first, I was really hesitant because I did not know anything about film, and I never really had the urge or just to learn about it, and it all just felt really outside of my comfort zone.

But eventually I pushed myself to do it, and I'm so glad that I did because I discovered a new passion of mine: film and storytelling.

During the program, I was challenged to create a short film from home in just a week.

Altogether, I found a new way to express myself, and even though it was all online, I got to connect with new people and experience new things.

It's all still new to me and I'm constantly learning.

COVID-19 may have taken away a lot of opportunities for me, but it challenged me to find something fresh and new that I'd never tried before and venture outside of my comfort zone.

And scene.

Next across Hawai‘i Island in Puna, students from Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School highlight how a taiko group managed to keep their rhythm through the pandemic.

[Sound of taiko drums] What you're hearing is the heartbeat of east Hawai‘i, the Puna Taiko Performance Group.

We practice a style called Kumi-Daiko.

Uh, Kumi-Daiko in Japanese means ensemble drumming.

Drummers play different beats and use movements and chants to tell story or evoke emotion.

Puna Taiko has been sharing Kumi-Daiko with the community since 2003.

Our criteria for gigs is that it has to be community events, and it has to be open to the public.

We like to play out in the community for free.

Most of the group members are students from elementary school to college.

They practice twice a week at Puna Hongwanji and perform after school and on weekend.

Taiko for me is, it's mainly a, you know, a social thing.

It's something that, you know, it gives you a group of friends, like a support system of types, but it's also exercise.

It's a, it's a real, it's a music.

It's really fun.

It's an art form.

Taiko, to me, means a way to express yourself but also bringing people together.

[tyco drums] In 2019, Puna Taiko performed at around 100 events, but in 2020, they performed only 30 times before COVID-19 pandemic sent Hawai‘i into lockdown.

We shut down for several months.

Of course, all of our, our gig calendar completely evaporated.

The one that really hurt, we had a trip planned for, um, for a tour of Japan.

Yeah, we had a, we had a break of about three months, and then we had to kind of figure out how to get things back together.

[Taiko music plays] Group members have to get creative to keep up their skills and practice in isolation.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was not really sure what we're going to be doing for taiko, so my dad and I, we decided to take an old tire and try and make a taiko drum using duct tape.

We thought it would be a fairly easy process.

Just take a little bit of duct tape and put it together.

It took an entire afternoon and about two rolls of duct tape, though it sounded pretty good.

A year later, they were able to resume practices in person with safety protocols in place.

We would wipe everything down.

We spray everything down afterwards.

We wear masks all the time.

Every day when you come in, you have to take your temperature, you have to answer your questionnaire.

Puna Taiko is also finding new ways to perform.

The group took part in an online Taiko-thon and restaged in-person performances to be socially distant.

So, the pandemic has been challenging.

Members are learning a lot.

I've just came up with a couple, um, online drumming games that we can actually, I can actually chart our music and then people can practice it at home, online, and even compete for high score and whatnot, and definitely something that we're going to carry forward even after COVID.

No matter what happens next Puna Taiko will continue to find new ways to share the magic of drumming with others.

You know, we just got to keep the fire lit.

We're trying to keep everybody excited and engaged in, in their art form.

I think we've done a pretty good job about that.

This is Ashley D’Ambrosio from Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School for HIKI NŌ.

[taiko drums] [sound of ocean waves] Now, time for a special spotlight on a PBS NewsHour report that was produced by a Maui High School HIKI NŌ student through the Student Reporting Labs program.

[guitar music plays] Student Reporting Labs is a two-week journalism academy, um, involved involving people involved in PBS and people and news anchors and journalists and editors, um, who had that same connection.

Our Student Reporting Labs project reached out to teens around the country to find out what issues they care about.

The first week, we did a lot of workshops and we had a lot of mentor meetings and things like that.

And then the last week, we went out and filmed our individual stories that we wanted to produce.

I chose, um, the topic of Tourism in Hawai‘i because with travelers coming back, it really heightened all of the struggles that we have been going through for a long time.

And I think also because with the absence of tourism, our economy wasn't doing so well, and I think we were kind of transitioning into that period, um, and into welcoming visitors back and it was that weird in-between.

And I also think that because I found out my peers weren't aware of these issues and weren’t aware that we were going through these sorts of things, I think those two aspects really inspired me to want to create this kind of story.

Um, a lot of people come to Hawai‘i.

You know, it's not all rainbows and sunshine.

Just because you're on vacation doesn't mean that our rules and laws are on vacation as well.

You would be amazed at how many people actually trash our beaches.

You trash the beach, you know, pick up, pick up your ʻōpala, pick up your rubbish.

I mean, as simple as that.

Through the Student Reporting Labs, the main thing that I learned from my mentors was how to convey my message and the things that I wanted to portray to a wide variety of people.

And I wanted to convey a message about encouraging tourists to visit Hawai‘i, but to come with respect and ha‘aha‘a and humility.

When you're coming here to visit, you're not a resident, you're a visitor.

So, you should respect the people that are from here that are trying to educate you.

And I needed to convey that to people from all around the world who may not even have known that Hawai‘i was struggling with these aspects of tourism.

And I think that was the main thing that I took away, was how to hold true to a broad audience.

America's youngest labeled generation known as Gen Z...

I think having student representation from each state brings a lot of different values, a lot of different people with different experiences and a lot of different perspectives on the world we all live on.

And I think merging all of our ideas and all of our life experiences with our shared love of journalism brought out unique stories in all of us, and I think that's a celebration of what journalism and storytelling is.

[sound of ocean waves] Thank you for watching this episode of HIKI NŌ.

We hope you have enjoyed the work of Hawai‘i's new wave of storytellers as much as we've enjoyed sharing it with you.

Be sure to tune in next week for more proof that Hawai‘i students HIKI NŌ, can do.

[outro music plays]