HIKI NŌ, Hawaiʻi’s new wave of storytellers.

Aloha and welcome to this week’s edition of HIKI NŌ, Hawaiʻi’s new wave of storytellers.

I’m Kaci Amaral, an eighth grader at Maui Waena Intermediate School.

In this episode of HIKI NŌ, we’ll see how Hawaiʻi students are dealing with life in the pandemic as we navigate our way through the second semester of the 2020-2021 school year.

We’ll continue celebrating HIKI NŌ’s 10th anniversary by looking back at some of the landmark stories from the program’s first decade.

And, we’ll meet a graduate from Maui High School whose HIKI NŌ experience as a student inspired her to become a teacher.

But first, here’s my Student Reflection.

I’m filming this from my home in Kahului on February 2nd, 2021.

At the beginning of the school year, my parents decided that it would be best for me to do online schooling.

But, what I didn’t know was that I was also going to become a teacher, a security guard, a principal and a cafeteria worker overnight.

Here’s what I mean.

I have an 11-year-old brother in the 5th grade, Lance, and a nine-year old sister in the fourth grade, Keira, which means if I’m doing all online school, so are they.

The three of us are crammed in a 15-foot room, all day, for the entire school year.

I’m not sure what goes on in their heads, but I swear, they never stop making noise, ever.

And my sister?

She has some kind of problem with my bun, because for some reason, she likes to try to whack it off my head.

Another thing they do?

They are always fighting.

All I have to do is walk out of the room for 10 seconds and then...they fight over pencils, erasers, water bottles, everything.

Something else I’ve been doing is making lunch.

Every day I have to warm up their lunches and make sure they eat in time to get to their next meeting because, believe it or not, getting them to eat when the TV’s on isn’t easy.

Finally, I’ve been relearning fourth grade math.

My sister doesn’t like math as much as my brother and I do, so sometimes I have to help her with her homework.

This would be fine, if they didn’t keep changing math.

Every time I try to help her, it’s always the same.

So, I have to go through the workbook that they use to learn the lesson, figure out how they did it, and then reteach it to her.

It’s a process, but it works.

Despite these challenges, there have also been some upsides.

For example, I think my mom skills are kicking in.

It’s also been teaching me patience.

I swear, the amount of times they've pushed me to my limit is absolutely nuts.

But even though they drive me insane, life would be boring and lonely without these little monkeys.

So, I guess I have to say I still love them, right?

Aloha, I’m Daniela Taffola, an eighth grader at Kealakehe Intermediate School.

Here is my reflection on something I experienced starting last March.

I recorded it at my home on February 4th, 2021 The beginning of March had been a hard time for all of us.

COVID had just hit and changed all of our lives and not for the better.

Staying at home for the past 11 months had been tough.

My grandpa Mike had been sick with pulmonary fibrosis way before COVID had hit.

We were terrified by this new virus we knew nothing about and could be fatal.

We tried to get my auntie to fly out so she could take care of him.

She knew everything on how to keep him safe: medications, what he could and couldn’t eat, and even doctor’s appointments.

But with COVID, it was really hard to get a flight.

So, I had to stay home with my grandpa Mike and balance between online school and taking care of him.

My auntie eventually managed to get out here.

But by this time, my grandpa needed more from us than what we could offer.

Specialists couldn’t come see him in person, so video visits were all we had for check-ups.

He needed 24 hours of care and we had occasional hospital visits.

When he did go, it was just him by himself.

Due to COVID, nobody could go visit him.

Eventually, he did pass away.

But I still remember him by all the things he loved.

He was a big fan of music and played the guitar for 46 years.

He taught me how to play electric guitar and ‘ukulele.

He also did work in landscaping and always had our yard clean.

I still remember one day he came home from work with a bird on his head.

He said, “Look Dani, a new friend.” Her name was Aloha.

She had been his pet for seven years.

She is still with us today and every day I wake up and have a reminder of him.

And now, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of HIKI NŌ coming up at the end of this month, here is the eighth installment in a series of profiles on outstanding HIKI NŌ alumni.

So, the first HIKI NŌ story that I recall participating in is called STEM Building.

I was still in middle school at Maui Waena Intermediate School and the story was about a long-awaited construction of a building.

The video kind of touches up on how the school is at capacity, there are about a thousand students that are just, um, in places where there shouldn’t be classrooms, and this building has been approved for about six years at the time of that recording and still it was not yet there.

I’m happy to say that we are on the precipice of actually starting this project.

At the time, the story kind of seemed a little one-sided because as a reporter who is also a student at the school, it was as if I was, I was just on the side of just, kind of more biased, of course, towards my school.

And because I did not have that much journalism experience, I really needed to just listen and learn and pay attention to what was being said to me, especially the feedback that was given by my teachers.

This is Yasha Ronquillo from Maui Waena Intermediate for HIKI NŌ.

I kind of knew that I wanted to continue with journalism and continue with making feature stories because I’m kind of influenced by my family, who have also been doing feature stories back in the Philippines.

My dad was a school newspaper writer who won competitions nationally and my grandma, as well, is a leader of the local school paper.

After I graduated from Maui Waena, I went ahead to Maui High School and I also joined the media program there led by Mr. Clint Gima.

And my first video that I worked on was “No Game Plan.” I was the editor for this piece and was the youngest in the group, and the story is about, um, Cecilia Goods-Fernandez, who is a former Wahine volleyball player at UH Mānoa and she has been battling with cancer.

So, even though there were a lot of drafts, a lot of changes that had to occur throughout the process of making this story, I think it was all well worth it.

Um, and the things that I’ve learned again, is just, just patience and being willing to listen.

Then, in my junior year, I was the producer, camera, editor, writer and reporter for this piece called, “I Am Able.” And it is a story about Keizhawn who has spina bifida, and because of that it affected his mobility, and he has to be on a wheelchair.

But that did not stop him from doing the things that he loved.

Even with his disability, the support Keizhawn has from his family, paired up with his cheerful attitude, has enabled him to pursue his numerous involvements, proving that he definitely is able.

Yeah, at the time I didn’t know this was the culminating project, but it eventually became the story that was kind of the highlight of my high school career and it was an honor to share this story.

But coordinating with the keys is not the only worry Keizhawn has to create that perfect piece.

In my senior year of high school, I was involved in a HIKI NŌ story called “Aloha Kettle Corn,” and this was my last HIKI NŌ story of my high school career, and at that time, because I’ve already made all of these other videos, at that time, my teacher, Mr. Clint Gima, just told me to go hands-off for this project.

So, even though I was involved in it, um, he told me to just be a mentor to my teammates.

We kind of wanted to share to the next, the next students who will be the next HIKI NŌ storymakers.

So, I believe that’s the standpoint that he was coming from, is just being able to pass on this knowledge and training our new students.

After graduation, he gave me the opportunity to teach at Maui High School, so it kind of worked out because I did choose to stay on Maui for college.

So even though I was studying in college, I could still go to work at Maui High School, and eventually I became a paraprofessional educator for Maui High and I was helping out in the Arts and Communication Department mainly in the digital media production.

So, I helped out with future students for their own HIKI NŌ stories.

So, going from a HIKI NŌ student to a HIKI NŌ teacher was definitely a unique experience.

I don't think a lot of people are able to say that.

Um, and again, I’m just really grateful for this opportunity and again, there is that aspect of just passing on the knowledge to future storytellers.

So, it’s a really fulfilling job and I’m really excited.

I’m Zoe Slaughter, an 11th grade junior at Moanalua High School.

I’m recording this on February 4th, 2021 at my home, and my reflection is about my friend, Kaiya.

This past year, like no other, has been extremely hard on many.

However, even more so on her.

Kaiya’s grandmother in July 2020 had a brain aneurysm, causing her to have a stroke.

Since then, she has been in and out of nursing homes and hospitals.

But, because of COVID, these nursing homes and hospitals had to change their procedures into only allowing one family member a day to visit, which, of course, was Kaiya’s grandpa.

This made it extra hard for her to connect with her grandma.

Not being able to see her grandma was definitely very difficult for her, especially since at this time she’s going through online school and extracurriculars, always just wanting to know how her grandma was doing all the time.

And needless to say, she used to see her grandma every day and now she can’t even see her face to face.

However, when her grandpa does get to go in person to visit, he’ll FaceTime the entire family so that everyone can be with her virtually to help support her during this time.

They also are able to send her gifts to make her feel more at home and connected with them from wherever she is at.

The timing of the situation is definitely not ideal.

However, their family has done their best to make up for this difficult situation.

But for now, staying virtual and giving gifts is their way of being there and supporting.

Continuing our celebration of 10 years of HIKI NŌ, here’s a story from our archives by students at Maui High School.

It’s an excellent example of how to build well-rounded, three-dimensional characters through the little details that reflect their personalities.

I collect souvenir pennies.

I like baking.

I like pets, and I like to take care of children.

Fifteen-year-old Maui High School sophomore Tally Nakamura shines and smiles in laughter, but playing her saxophone is indeed what makes her heart sing.

Being only a sophomore and a section leader, Tally maintains her tempo with her sense of humor.

Um, some people think I’m a band geek, but I don’t think I’m a band geek, but I love band.

She’s a pain in the butt, artistic, happy most of the time, very talented, very lazy.

Did I say happy?

But pain is something Tally is too familiar with.

When I found out that I had scoliosis, I often cry a lot about the thought that I would have to quit band.

Tally is not the only one facing a hard turn.

It worries us in the sense that how is it gonna affect the rest of her life?

Is it gonna limit her capabilities?

Is she gonna live with pain, you know, it concerns everybody.

But Tally’s love for music is what motivates her to march out of bed every morning.

When I wake up, sometimes the pain, it hurts so much, I just don’t want to get out of bed, but I’m forced to because I have to go to school and go to band rehearsal.

As a leader, she feels a sense of responsibility to the team.

It’s very important that, if I’m not there, there would be an empty spot on the field.

Tally’s spot in the show may not be the only thing creating misalignment.

With a 37-degree curve, she suffers from a moderate to severe type of scoliosis.

The pain is more like an ache because it pushes all my muscles to one spot.

Tally’s back takes a beating with the long and strenuous practices, but it’s the performances that relieve her pain.

After the halftime, my heart starts pumping and then the drum solo starts and then all of the nervousness goes away and I just perform.

I don’t really think about the pain in my back.

My doctors said that if my back doesn’t get better by April, I would have to quit band.

To help reposition her back, Tally remains disciplined and conditions frequently.

My spine is getting better because I do yoga and go on the gravity inverter to stretch my spine out.

By keeping her rhythm, Tally will continue to reach for full recovery.

This is Racieli Andrada from Maui High School for HIKI NŌ.

This is Kiari Uchida, a sophomore at Roosevelt High School on Oʻahu.

I’m recording this at my home on January 29th, 2021.

The amount of work virtual learning requires makes life-balance feel impossible.

It feels like I’m overwhelmed by a never-ending pile of work to the point where my mental and physical health suffers.

Some nights I would get less than two hours of sleep.

I'd have to go to classes from eight to sometimes four.

We have to meet online three days out of five for virtual class, but teachers assign work almost every day.

Some teachers even assign homework on weekends.

It is work upon work upon work and by the time it is Friday, I have a large load of assignments to do with no break.

It’s like teachers want to submit all of the criteria within a short amount of time, even though everything has changed.

My mental and physical health is getting to the point where all I want to do is sleep.

But I can’t do that if I want to keep up.

I’m just trying to survive.

The only break I can see coming is summer.

I can’t wait.

Continuing our celebration of 10 years of HIKI NŌ, here’s an excellent example of a story that delves into the pressures some students face at home.

It comes to us from H.P.

Baldwin High School on Maui.

From the friendly field of service to the delicious pastries they sell, the Four Sisters Bakery on Vineyard Street in Wailuku has had a lasting impact on the Maui community.

The business was started by my father, Stanley Magbual, in 1983.

Construction was slow, he got laid off, and so he started baking at his house.

After being established in 1983, the family business was bought by Arnold Magbual in 2003, one of the 12 children from the original owner.

Arnold is also the father of Noah Magbual, a freshman at Baldwin High School.

The bakery has changed a lot.

We added more things to it.

My father had more of a Filipino pastries’ product.

So, when my wife and I took over the business, we added some other stuff.

Expanding the business also meant that sacrifices had to be made by the members of the Magbual family.

The greatest thing owning a business is that you’re on your own time, you’re on your own boss.

The downfall to that is having my own family, um, I don't get time to spend as much as I want to.

You have to be there most of the time and most of the time meaning when your kids have activities, sometimes you can’t attend those, so sacrifice a lot and sometimes kids don’t understand.

It’s really hard because he works over like a hundred hours a week, so I rarely get to see him on a regular basis as a normal kid would.

Like, whenever I have big events or like activities, like you see other kids with like, their moms and dads, whole family, where I’m there, and like, it’s only most of the time just my mom.

And then seeing everyone with like a complete family and my dad having to work a lot, is just like saddening.

Despite the strain the business has placed on him and his family, Noah retains a strong sense of ownership when it comes to the Four Sisters Bakery.

If nobody stepped in to take the initiative to run the bakery, I probably would step in, because for one thing, it’s a really huge part of not only my life, but also like, my whole family.

Like, it’s kind of what helped develop our family on Maui.

So, it’s kind of like, the bakery really upholds our well-being.

Even though Arnold has had to make tough sacrifices within his family, they understand that with great success also comes great sacrifice.

This is Emily McKeon from H.P.

Baldwin High School for HIKI NŌ.

This is Faith Christy Soliven, a junior from Maui High School.

I recorded the following reflection at my home on February 3rd, 2021.

Compared to life before this pandemic, it seems like we have more time.

Time to learn a new language, lose five pounds, gain new skills, or even talk to friends, virtually, of course.

But sometimes, if we get caught up in trying out new things, we can forget to prioritize what’s important to us.

In my life, nothing brought this issue more to light than the pandemic.

At the beginning of the pandemic, my relationship with my phone, social media, Netflix, and YouTube was stronger than with people.

I connected to the outside world in the wrong ways.

Each time I chose my screen over the people in my life was a chance that I missed out on to bring value to my life and to others.

I was comparing myself to new trends, watch new shows, instead of focusing on the tangible needs of myself and others.

My reliance on superficial things disconnected me from real relationships.

Progressively, I found myself emotionally isolated and lost.

My mental health came to a breaking point.

Until I realized I was already surrounded with the people I needed.

I finally opened up to family and close friends.

I knew I had to do better, so I got to work to spend my time wiser.

I had set goals for myself for what I had to do, like spend more time with family and check in with friends.

However, consistency was key to make sure that I stuck to these goals.

For example, I used Post-its as a visual reminder.

Every day, I used it to balance out my life between school and leisure.

My new habits ensured me that I would play with my brother at least once every day and I’d take up opportunity to spend time with family in and out of the house.

Now, I’m learning to better appreciate and value my relationships with my family, close friends and my community.

I thank the best and the worst parts of this pandemic for teaching me how to be closer to others and I intend to be even closer with hugs and hanging out when this pandemic is over.

As we continue our look back at 10 years of HIKI NŌ, here is yet another story about the stresses a student experiences at home.

This one comes from Wai’anae High School on O’ahu.

Making others happy is what it’s all about for Daisy Agae.

Her little brothers couldn’t agree more.

As a sophomore at Wai’anae High School, time is of essence for Daisy.

From being the mom of the house, cooking, cleaning and washing everyone’s clothes, Daisy has barely any time for herself.

My daily routine is that I wake up at seven, and then I feed my brother, and I have to make sure that my brother is ready, get to school at eight, 8:15.

After school, I come home, cook food, and then I stay up all night to do my homework.

Although her mother lives at home, a fall that left her barely able to walk forced Daisy to take control of the household duties.

It all started when I was 12 because that’s when my little brother was born and that’s when my mom fell, like a major fall, and she could hardly walk.

With all the responsibilities at home, Daisy finds it hard to change her attitude towards school.

My grades are kind of low because of all this.

My grades are like D’s or C’s.

It’s an all too familiar story at Wai’anae High School in the Leeward complex.

With dropping HSA scores, it alerts the DOE that schools here need help.

So, in May 2010, the state applied and secured the Race to the Top grant.

It’s a federal initiative for schools or states, or schools part of different states, to make improvements.

Race to the Top is a $75 million grant that will be split among the Nanākuli complex, the Wai’anae complex and the Ka’u complex on the Big Island.

These schools are receiving this extra support in means of funding extra programs at the school campuses where we are now able to offer tutoring, additional courses for students, for this year we will be extending the learning time.

For Daisy, this means she gets more time to hang around in school in hopes of cleaning up her grades.

It’s been pretty challenging because trying to balance out how to do homework, plus cook dinner and make sure that your brothers and sisters go to sleep on time.

Yes, it is tough to balance but she knows that it will be the only way to truly help her family.

I’m gonna go to the Army.

I’m gonna let my family move in with me so I can take care and go to work.

The steady balance between home and school will remain uncertain, but if the extra hour does help to improve school data, it will not only make Daisy happy, but also the rest of the schools in the zone.

This is Dezalynn Tiell from Wai’anae High School, reporting for HIKI NŌ.

Thank you for joining us on this week’s episode of HIKI NŌ.

We hope you’ve enjoyed these stories from Hawaiʻi’s new wave of storytellers as much as we’ve enjoyed presenting them to you.

Be sure to tune in next week for our special 10th anniversary show, when students and teachers involved in the very first episode a decade ago, tell us what it was like to launch the nation’s first statewide student news network.

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