[intro music plays] HIKI NŌ, Hawai‘i's new wave of storytellers.

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

I'm Arista Arii, a senior at Moanalua High School on O‘ahu.

I'm Haley Akana, And I'm Tiare Reincke, And we're excited to represent Moanalua High School as the hosts of this episode of HIKI NŌ.

Tonight we'll share many stories from students across the islands – unique stories of passions and the people behind them.

First, we'll learn from students and teachers at Waiākea High School about the importance of pronouns and why we should take care to use them.

Then we'll hear from a new HIKI NŌ school, Ernest Bowen de Silva Elementary, and Honaka‘a High and Intermediate, where two resilient students share thoughtful reflections about how they remember to stay strong even during tough times.

We'll meet a teacher at Kamehameha Schools Maui with a fascinating hobby.

And we'll learn how to save dollars on boba tea by making it at home, thanks to students from Kea‘au High School on Hawai‘i Island.

And last but not least, students from Pacific Buddhist Academy will share a special Japanese cultural tradition: the art of enjoying tea in Sado ceremony.

[sound of ocean waves] Now, let's start on the Big Island at Waiākea High, a school that has embraced the use of proper pronouns for students.

Yeah, oh, I love Dylan.

She’s amazing.

Yes.

Yeah.

Practicing using students’ correct pronouns helps us understand that students' self-expression and gender identity don't always correlate with each other and gives all students a sense of acceptance.

Gender is a much more fluid concept, and it's important for people to be who they are with support from people like teachers.

Recently, the addition of they/them pronouns to the traditional she/her and he/him gives people the opportunity to identify and something in between.

I think pronouns are the indirect way that you would want others to reference you as.

So, for example, she/her, he/him, they/them.

Honestly, it makes me feel a lot safer.

Um, just being able to know that the teacher respects me, rather than like a teacher who like, refuses to use my proper pronouns, and then they expect me to come talk to them or something like that.

This year, Waiākea High School launched the Gender and Sexuality Alliance Club, and teachers display pride flags in their classrooms to promote inclusivity and encourage embracing your identity.

[sound of laugher] I want to be respectful of people, and, and it's our identity.

Pronouns goes right along with it.

So, I asked students, you know, if they have a preference for pronouns, please let me know.

In my classroom, I try to model the use of pronouns for all students, regardless of if students are cisgender, non-binary, gender fluid.

I think that's important to model pronoun use so that it becomes an inclusive practice so that no one is othered by the process.

They learn how to take their experiences in school and apply them in multiple contexts when they reach the, what we consider the real world.

It makes them feel like they are accepted for who they are, and that they don't have to pretend to be someone they aren't.

I think that seeing themselves represented in the curriculum, in the instruction, even in whose story is being told, or they themselves, their individual stories being told, through a perspective of lenses.

It's honestly really important just to be able to like, you know, feel comfortable on campus as well as feel like they actually respect you.

I would say inclusion is the bare minimum when it comes to an adult, a young adult’s learning experience.

I really want students to feel welcome on campus.

I do my best to really try to encourage open dialogue in my classrooms and the things that I teach, and the ideas that we talk about, and this is another part of that.

It's part of a larger discussion about what it means to be a human being.

This is Koda Castro from Waiākea High School for HIKI NŌ.

Now let's watch this story from the HIKI NŌ archives from Hilo High School that documents a student's personality transformation.

I developed shyness because I had such a distrust for everyone.

Growing up, Jodi Ortiz struggled to open up to people.

Even simple interactions were difficult for her.

Usually, me or one of the other people in my best friend group had to speak for her.

Jodi really showed her antisocial traits when, uh, someone went to go hug her goodbye, or hello, because, uh, she really, she could not hug for the life of her.

She just felt so socially awkward hugging people, even family members.

But this level of shyness was something I've never seen before.

You could tell by her demeanor that she, um, was not very outgoing.

Whenever maybe we corrected her on something or she laughed, she would just cover her face.

Um, I guess the term is ‘act all shame.’ When I did like find that distrust, I started to see everyone else's like, disappointment.

So, I didn't want to open or build new bridges, because I knew it was just going to fall apart.

When Jodi entered her freshman year at Hilo High School, she decided to push herself out of her shell.

So, she signed up for KVIKS, the after-school TV production club.

She didn't think much of it at first.

I expected them to just give me a camera and then just work, like, take pictures and then do whatever.

She was just so quiet that even when we're fully involved, getting ready with production, and then you think, “Well, where's Jodi?” And there she is just sitting at her chair, just waiting for instruction.

So that was – that was quite interesting, when she first joined.

But when the club needed a new technical director, Jodi found herself manning the switchboard during live broadcast.

And that's when things began to change.

As a technical director, she really flourished.

Her hands were lightning fast.

We usually call her Quick Shot Jodi because she would just get the right shot, our live streams got a 100% better.

With that, she just blossomed.

Her attitude changed, her demeanor changed, the way she spoke changed.

The way that she started to interact with people changed.

They shared deep like, personal experiences with me, and they trusted me.

So, they would share something so personal to me, and then I would say something that was personal to me to them.

And that's the type of trust that I developed for like, for people.

As she opened up to her classmates, Jodi found herself developing confidence and leadership skills due to her having trust.

She's influenced me to like, try harder.

Like, because she's shown me like, stuff that I can do.

And she always tells me like, even if I mess up, she always tells me, "You're doing great.

It's okay," like, "Just keep on going."

When it came time for elections, it was just a no brainer that Jodi would be elected president.

In order to get over your shyness, you definitely need to build trust.

This is Leilani Guerrero from Hilo High School for HIKI NŌ.

Talk about a transformation.

Now we're going to meet two teachers, one with a passion for martial arts, and another whose hobby gives animals a new life.

But first, let's watch this student reflection from Jamielyn Margheim, a student at Honaka‘a High and Intermediate School on the Big Island whose story will inspire you.

[sound of ocean waves] This is Jamielyn Margheim, a senior at Honoka‘a High School on the Big Island.

I'm recording this from my home on January 10, 2022.

Things can be stressful, especially as a senior in this day and age.

I've had a lot to deal with as of late: last year of high school, and I have to keep up my grades in all of my regular classes and advanced classes.

Not to mention all of the deadlines I have to meet for applying to universities and scholarships.

It's hard to find motivation to keep moving forward, and to top this all off, I have to face some terrible realities my family is facing.

My dad was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare but terminal brain cancer, in September.

Part of me wants to just give up, take some time for myself, maybe, and forget about all the other stresses I'm facing.

But I remember why I'm doing this.

Counselors and teachers always asked me what's your ‘why’?

Why are you doing what you're doing?

And it's my family.

Finding motivation is hard.

But now that I’ve found mine, I'm not letting it go.

I'm going to keep pushing and giving it my all not just for me but for my family and the time I have left with them.

[sound of an ocean wave] Now let's watch this story from Kamehameha Schools Maui that takes you behind the art of taxidermy.

You know, definitely be prepared to, to deal with a lot of, um, kind of gross stuff.

I hope I can get this down.

Mr. Allen Kennedy of Kula, Maui loves his work as a taxidermist.

Taxidermy is the art of preserving, arranging and displaying animal bodies.

Taxidermy includes a lot of different skills.

Um, I quickly realized that I was going to have to get really good at, uh, things like welding, working with ceramics, sewing, building and construction.

I think my favorite part of taxidermy is the end product.

Although his hobby includes working with deceased animals, most of the time he works to preserve them.

I didn't even need a rifle to go into the forest.

I just wanted to hike and, and experience and become closer to nature.

When I do go out, um, I am conservative about what I shoot to the point where I'm not going to shoot everything I see.

I'm going to, I'm going to harvest what I feel will help fill my freezer and help feed my family.

I'm going to have a whole bunch of lava rock.

Conserving animals is one of Mr. Kennedy's many passions, and he decided to pass this skill down to his daughter, Allie Kennedy, an eighth-grade student from the Kamehameha Schools Maui.

I don't do it all the time.

I do it when I have time, and it, it provides me an opportunity to include my family.

They're willing to help out.

Uh, it's nice to have helping hands, um, during the less intensive parts.

I've been a teacher at Maui High School for 18 years now.

In five to 10 years, I'm still going to be in the classroom.

Um, not until my hair gets white and, and I'm too old.

I’ll, I'll be teaching, uh, but I also have a, a goal for my taxidermy business.

In that I'd love to see a life sized mountain lion end up either in a museum or in like, one of those Cabela’s stores or Bass Pro Shops.

Looking forward, Mr. Kennedy will continue to follow his passion and continue to stuff his students with knowledge.

This is Takara Oana from Kamehameha Schools Maui for HIKI NŌ.

[sound of an ocean wave] Let's go into the HIKI NŌ archives for a story from ‘Ewa Makai Middle School to meet a teacher with a truly unique passion.

Uh, I'm what you call, even as adult, I'm a misfit.

I was a misfit kid.

I'm still a misfit adult.

[music] James Roberts is the Chief Instructor of Hybrid Kenpo and Martial Arts School in ‘Ewa Beach, along with his wife, Jocelyn Roberts.

A mix of self-defense, various martial arts, and philosophy, the art of Kajukenbo has been in James’ life for over 25 years.

He continues to use the knowledge and wisdom given to him by his mentors in teaching his own students the ways of Kenpo.

Like, when I started martial arts, I just wanted to learn to fight.

Being young, I suffered a lot of substance abuse, both within myself, uh, family, friends, and that really put a lot of anger, a lot of violence in me, a lot of fear.

And martial arts kind of helped me stray away from those sort of things.

James and his wife Jocelyn started the school in 2011 to give positive and helpful activities for the kids in the community.

To become an instructor, that was originally my, some of my first instructors' idea.

It was them that said if you want to be better as a martial artist, you have to know how to teach.

So, even as a young age, as, as young as a purple belt when I was maybe 14, 15 years old, I was already helping lead classes with some of the young kids.

That was my original inspiration, they inspired me.

From my previous instructors, I, their one piece of advice is, once you stop learning, you stop growing.

And I know that's maybe a common phrase that, that a lot say even outside of martial arts.

That, that's really important.

Like, you're seeking that that endless knowledge, especially within martial arts, and teaching, I believe, again, if you’re talking about an instructor.

They were instructors, I'm now an instructor, so I believe that's one way is learning from them, is pass this on, don't just hold it for yourself.

Tell your story about how it saved your life when you were young, and it saves, continues to save your life as an adult.

So just continue to grow and, um, just keep teaching what you learn and just have a positive attitude.

You know, I learned a lot from them.

Just keep a positive attitude.

No matter what goes wrong, bad days, you just train the best you can with your students and just continue to help develop them.

We try to keep a good faith in our school, try to build our students to have that positive attitude so they could go as high as they want in life.

One thing again, is just always seek that endless knowledge, you know, continue to learn, continue to grow, and just pass what you do want to the next generation.

[upbeat music plays] Using the wisdom and guidance from his mentors, and the lessons learned from his troubled childhood, James aspires to pass on the education of not only kicking and punching, but of life decisions, overall well-being, and faith to his students.

This is Kevi Lynn Tsubaki from ‘Ewa Makai Middle School for HIKI NŌ.

[sound of an ocean wave] Now let's learn how to make boba from the students at Kea‘au High School on Hawai‘i Island.

Boba tea is very popular here in Hawai‘i.

If you like boba tea, buying it all the time can be bad for your wallet.

However, you can enjoy it as much as you'd like without hurting it by making it yourself.

Boba tea generally consists of a few main ingredients: tapioca pearls, pre-made or homemade, milk, honey, tea, or in our case matcha tea, and ice, which is optional.

First, to make the boba tea, you need to prepare your boba or tapioca pearls.

We are using pre-made pearls so we're just boiling it in a pot.

Next, you need to make your milk tea.

In our case, we are using two teaspoons of matcha powder and mixing it with chilled coconut milk.

Then, you take a cup, add your pearls to the glass, and spin some honey around the edge.

In our drink, we're going to add some ice, and pour the tea in, and enjoy your refreshing drink.

If you want to get creative, you can even use your own flavors and colors to give it a nice, personalized touch.

So, save your wallet and enjoy a good drink by making it yourself.

[sound of an ocean wave] Soon we'll get back to O‘ahu where students from Pacific Buddhist Academy have mastered the art of Sado tea ceremony.

But first, let's meet one of our youngest correspondents, Ivory Chun-Hoon, from a brand new HIKI NŌ School, Ernest Bowen de Silva Elementary in Hilo.

HIKI NŌ mentor David Rosen will join us afterward to share his experience of working with Ivory on her student reflection.

Let's watch.

[sound of an ocean wave] Hi, my name is Ivory Chun-Hoon, and I'm a second grader at E.B.

de Silva Elementary School.

I have a really big family, and we're really close.

We used to eat there two, or maybe three times a week.

But because there's more than 10 of us, we can't, and the adults are vaccinated, but the kids can't yet.

My cousin and her family will text and FaceTime to keep in touch, and sometimes our grandparents will join in, too.

It doesn't really make sense to me, since in school we have more than 10 children in one classroom.

This year is going to be the first year I'm going to be in school for the full year, so I'm trying to make the shift from being in Google Meets to going to school every single day.

When I was at home, I could do my work at my own pace.

But in school, we have to follow the same schedule as everyone else.

What helps me to get used to this, I tell myself, yeah, these are the toughest times I've had, but I'm tough, too.

I hope they get vaccinations soon that’s safe for children, that way, we can all be safe and get together again.

[slow music plays] Now, I'd like you to meet my HIKI NŌ mentor, Mr. David Rosen, who helped me in this reflection.

I'm Dave Rosen, and I'm a filmmaker, and really for the last 40 years, the main thing I've done is produce commercials.

And what commercials has, has really sharpened my skills at, is being able to tell a very strong and clear story in a short period of time.

What I do as a HIKI NŌ mentor is I try to take the beginnings of stories that I see and try to understand what it is that the student wants to say, and let them say it, uh, as best they can so that they can really get their ideas out.

A HIKI NŌ story will generally start with a pitch sheet.

About a month and a half ago, I saw a pitch sheet from, uh, de Silva Elementary.

Kathy Sewake was the teacher.

Ivory was a student.

The interesting thing about this story, to me, was she was really young.

She's in second grade, maybe seven years old.

So, I just can’t take breaks whenever I want to.

One thing that's changed in HIKI NŌ in the past year and a half, two years, during COVID, is we've gotten very involved in using Zoom or Google Meets.

Ivory, being as young as she is, what Kathy and I decided to do was to set up a session where we could both rehearse her script and record it at the same time.

What we did is Ivory was being filmed and Kathy set up a, uh, a laptop computer so I could see her being filmed and she could see me talking to her and giving her feedback.

It allowed us to work on her performance and the final details of the script.

It's hard because my cousin, Kama, is only 10 and my brother and I are only seven, yeah, and I don’t think we need that part.

We worked out the kinks in the script, so she could just run it through like she was having a conversation with a friend, which becomes having a conversation with an audience.

And one more time, and use your hands a little bit while you're doing it, okay?

But I'm tough too.

I hope to get a vaccination soon that is safe for children, that way we can all be safe and get together again.

That was excellent.

It was important to me as her HIKI NŌ mentor to not make the story about what I thought, but it's about what she thinks.

And it's really important to hear those point of views.

And to hear a seven-year-old just cut through the nonsense better than the, the drones that we hear from, uh, politicians and the news pundits every day was really refreshing.

I hope we get vaccinations soon that's safe for children, that way we can all be safe and get together again.

[sound of an ocean wave] Let's learn about Japanese tea ceremony from students at the Pacific Buddhist Academy on O‘ahu.

Sado is the Japanese art of making and receiving tea.

It teaches values important to Japanese culture, such as patience, respect, and gratitude.

To make matcha, add one scoop of hot water to one- and one-half scoops of matcha in your chawan, or bowl.

Use a chasen to whisk your tea until it begins to foam.

To accept tea, first bow, pick up the chawan with your right hand, and turn it clockwise.

Take three sips, then one half sip, enjoying the sweet and smooth flavors of the tea that has been prepared for you.

When the tea is finished, swipe the edge of the chawan with your thumb and forefinger.

Lastly, admire what you are presented.

By doing so, you can reflect on the relationship between you and your host.

Here lies the spirit of tea ceremony, where you can attune your heart to the one who prepared the tea.

The guests and hosts have entertained one another in their experience using all five senses at their fullest.

The practice of Sado extends beyond the consumption of tea, as guests should continue to show appreciation by observing the calm atmosphere of the tearoom, admire the aesthetic, and enjoy the experience.

This is Kae-li Schultz from Pacific Buddhist Academy for HIKI NŌ.

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

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

Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on Instagram and TikTok.

You'll see some bonus behind the scenes content and keep you up to date with the latest and best stories from Hawai‘I youth.

That's it for our show.

We'll see you next week for more proof that Hawai‘i students HIKI NŌ, Can do.

[sound of a record scratch] Hold up.

This is Kate from Kaua‘i High School.

I'm so excited because next week Tuesday, I'll be co-hosting a national PBS Newshour Student Reporting Labs special, Our New Normal: how teens are redefining school, on the PBS NewsHour YouTube channel, and I'll be hosting a HIKI NŌ special on the same topic.

Make sure to catch both of these chances to hear what students across the country are experiencing now.

For details go to PBSHawaii.org.

Okay, you can roll the credits - now.

[outro music plays] [slow guitar music plays] Student Reporting Labs is a two-week journalism academy, um, 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 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.

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 roads 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 ‘ōpala, 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, encouraging tourists to visit Hawai‘i, but to come with respect and ha‘aha‘a and humility.

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.

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.

[upbeat music plays]