[intro music] HIKI NŌ, Hawai‘i's New Wave of Storytellers.

Welcome to HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Aloha and welcome to this week's episode of HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i, where we share incredible stories from Hawai‘i’s New Wave of Storytellers.

I'm Mari Iwata, a senior at Waiākea High School on Hawai‘i Island.

I'm so happy to be here at PBS Hawai‘i studio for a second time.

In this episode, we're returning to some of the most memorable pieces produced by students this past winter season.

There's a lot to cover.

We have stories about making major time commitments to hula and soccer, a center blocker in volleyball who also poses a threat to his opponents in chess, and a basketball coach who inspires his players to stick to their passions.

You'll also see stories about invasive fish species and how they affect families who fish, what people are doing to help clean up O‘ahu’s Ala Wai Canal, and hear from local people about the importance of participating in cultural celebrations to keep them alive.

So, let's get into it, shall we?

The first story I'd like to share with you is from a student at Pearl City High School on O‘ahu, who produced this touching student reflection about how hula has shaped her life.

Hula is the language of the heart and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.

I can’t describe the aloha I feel for it.

Ever since I was five, making this now almost ten years dancing.

my passion for hula instantly became a lifestyle rather than a hobby for me.

When I was five, I grew up watching my mom dance in our small bedroom trying to copy her.

I was too young to comprehend the love I felt for hula, but I always knew it was a way of expressing myself.

I started dancing for Hālau Nā Maka o ka Laua‘e with my Kumu Hula Laua‘e Yamasaki, and it's basically where I grew up.

It's my second family.

My journey through life was all through there, through victories, hardships, blood, sweat, and tears, all of it.

Speaking of, let's talk about hardships.

We have competed in competitions like the Hula ‘Oni E hula festival and the Queen Liliuokalani keiki hula competition.

Training for competition is no time for nonsense, and you need to put in your everything.

You need to know what you're dancing about.

You need to work hard physically.

You need to show up ready for practice on time and prepared.

Practice lasts for hours almost every day of the week, and the yelling gets intense.

“Sway your hips, bend your knees, chant louder.” This is what people misunderstand.

Hula is more than just dancing.

But the best part is I get to bond with people I love most, where we can understand each other's happiness and pain throughout labor.

It’s a place where I can embrace my storytelling.

A place where I can develop as a person, and so much more.

Hula will always be a reminder for me to be myself.

It may be intense, but my love is unconditional for it.

If I had one place to be I would always choose to dance with my hālau over anything.

[ocean wave] Our next piece comes from students at Wai‘anae High School on O‘ahu who explore how the Hawaiian Makahiki season is being celebrated today by the next generation.

The Makahiki season is actually marked by the rising of Makali‘i in the east at the same time that the sun is setting in the west.

For native Hawaiian astro photographer Davin Carvalho, this year marks a significant milestone.

And I feel like there's probably more Hawaiians that are celebrating it today than there was maybe 20 or 30 years ago.

Makahiki season was a time of peace in the Hawaiian Kingdom and honors the Hawaiian deity, Lono.

This holiday is celebrated through harvest, games, hula, and offerings.

Today, the community of native Hawaiian youth is celebrating Makahiki and keeping its traditions alive.

Makahiki games is always important to me because I grew up in a Hawaiian household.

My whole father's side of the family spoke Hawaiian, and naturally it just passed over to me.

Hawaiian was also my first spoken language as well.

So, Makahiki is basically a time to most likely be with your family, be with your family and friends, to spend quality time with your loved ones.

The growth and Makahiki celebrations rely solely on awareness and active participation.

It’s like a rise of people wanting to practice the Hawaiian culture because they're realizing, oh, we do live in Hawai‘i, and it'd be nice to remember the past.

So, I think a good way for Makahiki to be celebrated and brought more into the light of more community members is by maybe having public events where it's open to the public.

[Hawaiian singing] For Cultural Education Coordinator Kaila Alva, she believes holding cultural events at Waimea Valley helps connect people of all backgrounds.

Waimea puts on a big festival or a traditional holiday like this.

A lot of communities from around the world will find things that are akin to them.

But this holiday is about more than just coming together.

It's also helping perpetuate Hawaiian culture.

Not only is it a sign to everybody that we're flourishing, but it's a point of security and pride for Hawaiian people to see that these things are continuing.

And there was a long period in Hawaiian history where these ceremonies weren't allowed to be practiced.

So, it's healing to see all of these things go on again.

This is Natasha Maafala from Wai‘anae High School for HIKI NŌ, on PBS Hawai‘i.

[ocean wave] Marine life in our waters confront many threats to their livelihood today, including human pollution and climate change.

Luke Vincent, an eighth grader at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy, tells a story about a certain invasive fish species that is affecting his catch as a Big Island fisherman in the next student reflection.

Hi, my name is Luke Vincent.

I'm an eighth grader at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on the Big Island of Hawai‘i.

I'm recording this HPA on November 30th of 2023.

My family and I are water men.

I had a natural love for the ocean because I spent so much time in and on the water.

A few weeks ago, I was fishing off the rocks at Kanaloa Bay when I was reeling in a moana, two rois came and ate my catch right off the line.

I was shocked and I was disappointed because I lost my catch.

But I also realized how big of a problem these invasive fish are to our native populations.

I love the ocean and want to help, but what is one person trying to make a difference to our ocean’s ecosystem?

These invasive fish are depleting our native fish populations.

As I set out to think about my eighth-grade capstone, I decided to take charge of helping our island's fisheries, our fishermen, and our oceans ecosystem.

I'm hoping to host a roi round-up tournament to decrease the amount of invasive fish so that native fish can thrive.

Realizing the damage caused by these invasive fish made me worry about our native fish and how harmful they are to our native populations.

More than anything, I want our ocean to sustain itself for future generations for fishermen like me and our families.

When I'm in the ocean, I feel at home.

I zone out and love being in the moment.

Whether I'm fishing, riding a wave, or in the water, I feel like I belong.

Watching the moment the ocean made me realize how much I can help the ocean thrive.

I feel like it's my responsibility to help the community so they have a sustainable ocean fishery.

[ocean wave] The Ala Wai Canal in Waikīkī is known as one of the most polluted waterways in Hawai‘i.

This next HIKI NŌ Did You Know segment from McKinley High School on O‘ahu explores what the community is doing to address the major sludge in the canal.

Did you know that there is something that can eat up sludge?

Hi, my name is Gavin, a senior at McKinley High School.

The sludge in the Ala Wai Canal has become a big issue, building up over the years and creating a toxic environment.

However, there is a solution.

Packed with good effective microorganisms, Genki balls are filled with healthy microbes that love to eat sludge.

Through the Genki Ala Wai Project, a nonprofit group under the Hawai‘i Exemplary State Foundation, volunteers can help make the Ala Wai Canal swimmable and fishable again.

To make the Genki ball, a mixture of clay soil, rice bran, molasses, water, and EM1 solution of good microbes is molded into a tennis-sized mud ball.

After a couple of weeks, the Genki balls dry out and shrink in size until they are ready to be thrown into the canal.

The Genki balls gradually work their way to the bottom of the canal, breaking down the sludge.

Over the past four years, through Genki balls, 21 inches of sludge has been removed on the Kapahulu end of the canal.

The goal of the project is to make 300,000 Genki bowls in order to make the Ala Wai Canal swimmable again by 2026.

So far, they have made 80,000.

They are diligent in their attempt to make the Ala Wai Canal and Hawai‘i more sustainable and clean.

Now you know.

This is Gavin Simon from President William McKinley High School for HIKI NŌ, on PBS Hawai‘i.

[ocean wave] The next Student Reflection I'd like to share with you comes from a classmate of mine at Waiākea High School named Marcos.

He tells us about what it's like to move to the Big Island from Brazil and how he stuck with his passion for acting and filmmaking throughout it all.

Hi, I’m Marcos Belloto Portes.

I am 15 years old and I’m a student at Waiākea High School in Hilo, Hawai‘i, but not originally.

Originally, I lived in Brazil in a small town called São João da Boa Vista.

That's where I found my roots, when I found out I wanted to be an actor.

I even acted in an indie project with my friends.

Playing the main character in a psychological horror movie.

I owe it to them that I found acting in the first place.

I didn't want to leave.

I really wanted to stay with my friends, but I had to go.

It was for the best.

My dad just wanted to give me a better life.

So, he brought me to my new home in Hilo, Hawai‘i to live with my stepmom in July 2023.

The flight was super boring.

I slept through most of it.

Twenty-four hours from Brazil to Panama first, then to LA, and then finally to Hilo.

First impressions: from what I could see at night time at Hilo airport, Hawai‘i was beautiful, but hot, very hot.

I was pleasantly surprised I could get a Pepsi for $2 and free refills, since five Brazillian dollars is barely enough for me to get an ice cream.

I am currently at Waiākea High School.

I love this place.

The public schools here are much better, and I have already made new friends and found new roots.

I'm taking acting classes so I can try to make it to the Performing Arts Learning Center.

My goal is to act in and possibly produce big movies.

Not just famous, good, original movies.

No matter what, I want to stay connected with my childhood friends.

I love those guys.

I hope to see them again.

I feel lucky that I could come to the United States and pursue my career here.

I never like giving up on things.

I'm very obstinate, which is why no matter what, I will be an actor, all with the support and help of my friends.

[ocean wave] The COVID pandemic put a dent in a lot of our activities.

Tatiana Plunkett who attends Wai‘anae Intermediate School on O‘ahu shares her personal story about the trials of returning to her favorite sport soccer after taking a serious break.

Hi, my name is Tatiana Plunkett.

I'm an eighth grader at Wai‘anae Intermediate School, and I love soccer.

I hope to earn a scholarship to play in college one day.

I started playing soccer when I was seven, but I stopped when I was 10 because of the pandemic.

I really miss playing because I like my teammates and I enjoyed being outside.

One, two, three, four.

I started playing soccer again this month and it has not been easy on me.

Because of the time off, my stamina is not the same as theirs.

I feel like I'm way behind most of the girls on my team because they've played longer than me.

And I ask my teammates for help on how to play in different positions.

To increase my stamina on my days off, I plan to start running.

I'm gonna have to put in a lot of work to catch up, but I'm gonna do it because soccer is something I love to do.

[ocean wave] At Moanalua High School on O‘ahu, there's a student athlete who is a dual threat in both volleyball and chess.

Students there produced this next profile story about his life and approach to both activities.

I've been playing chess since I was little, but I've only really got into it competitively about two years ago, my freshman year.

And as it went, I kind of got more competitive, I wanted to go to events, start winning some stuff.

With more than 30 over the board, and online chess competitions, Luke’s past opponents are stuck in checkmate.

Luke's chess game is, is pretty good because he likes to study the openings.

He knows which openings, and he studies people's playstyle.

So, he knows like, he’ll know generally what openings I'll use, and then he'll go off and find opening lines of attack to actually attack those openings.

So, it keeps me on my toes.

That's what makes him actually quite, quite dangerous as a player.

I found out he was a chess player after we started playing games together.

I lowkey saw it coming, just by like, the way he like acts and looks, but I didn't think he was that good.

Doesn’t have to be a big block.

Just got to be a little block.

The skills Luke has developed playing chess also translate to his other passion, volleyball.

I think his volleyball skills grew over time, because he was like, very uncoordinated back then.

But then over time, he grew more like, adjusted to his body and now he can like, play how he wants.

So, I think the position that I play best is the middle hitter, which gives me the most kind of maneuverability in the middle position.

There's a lot of coordination involved.

And originally, I was not very big on coordination.

But as I've grown as a volleyball player, I've started to try to get more coordinated, whether it has to do with like, speed or positioning.

Even though Luke plays two different sports, he finds similarities in both.

So, I think what makes me definitely a dual threat in both sports would be that for volleyball I'm definitely, I'm like, tall so that's an advantage for just general athletics, but also I can use my knowledge from chess to kind of try to figure out what my opponents plans are for the game.

Whether playing on the court or table, Luke will always look for an advantage.

Like, a key takeaway I have is that I can go anywhere as long as I want it enough.

Like, if you want something enough you can make your way there regardless of how talented you are to begin with.

This is Vinson Tran from Moanalua High School for HIKI NŌ, on PBS Hawai‘i.

[ocean wave] In this next story, H.P.

Baldwin High School students on Maui profile a basketball coach who shares his story about experiencing hearing loss from a young age but persisting at his favorite sport.

You continue to achieve, and you continue to become successful because of what you do, whether it's in your favor or not.

So even if something happens that you don't expect, what are you going to do after?

My name is Gary Hall, but people refer to me as Coach Hall.

My hearing first affected me when I was around the age of 9, 10 years old.

I woke up one morning and immediately knew something was wrong because I didn't hear the ruffling of the bedsheets.

Well, it happened kind of suddenly.

I just had a really severe ear infection.

Gary Hall lost hearing in both ears as a result of a severe ear infection.

He regained hearing in only his right ear, resulting in lifelong hearing loss in his left ear.

It affected me tremendously because I felt like I felt shame.

I was in a community that did not have anybody who had such disabilities, and I never came across any individuals who had hearing loss.

Whenever someone's like asking me questions that are talking to me on my left side, and then they get frustrated, or they're saying stuff on my left side and then they start making fun of me because I'm not responding.

It was discouraging.

That didn't happen, I don't know if I would be here in this capacity today.

So, it's kind of like a blessing in disguise that happened.

In order to overcome his loss of hearing in his left ear, Gary Hall played basketball as an outlet to help him gain confidence.

My mental health went down tremendously, actually, after it first happened.

But what kept me sane was being able to play basketball.

Basketball helped me because I had gained the ability to play the sport very well at a very young age.

So, my confidence was always high that I knew exactly what the coach wanted, even if I didn't hear what they said, because I've gone through the drills and trainings.

So being on the court meant everything to me.

Even if it was just for that short period of time, like that period of time was enough to get me through until the next game.

I didn't want anybody to outscore me, so it became a very, like, I guess what you want to say, very competitive thing to make sure that no one ever outshined me on that board.

What I love about coaching is being able to see players accomplish things that they didn't think that they would be able to accomplish before.

I can’t even describe it, can't put into words how it feels when you see that light, that light that you see, that gleaming they get whenever that first shot goes in, and it's just like, it's the same, you know, flicker or light that like, opens up in them every time.

And that moment for me, I just feel like that's the best thing to see.

So, this is more like you're connecting, you're inspiring, you're helping people who might have gone down a similar path as you be able to not take as many steps to get to a place where they can be happy.

This is Charlyn Flores from H.P.

Baldwin High School for HIKI NŌ, on PBS Hawai‘i.

[ocean wave] This next story comes from the students at Wai‘anae Intermediate School on O‘ahu.

They interview a college student and her mother about their experience running a serious bake sale for the friends on Maui who are affected by the 2023 wildfires.

A person may bake cookies for friends, others may bake for personal gain.

But for one person in particular, she baked cookies for a cause.

My daughter was in Lahaina on the day of the fire.

She was with a friend on her last day of vacation.

And fortunately, they were able to make it out before all of those fires started.

On August 8, 2023, a fire spread in Lahaina on the island of Maui.

Strong winds from Hurricane Dora had helped spread the fire rapidly.

The fire killed at least 100 people, making this the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, according to the Associated Press.

It was very shocking because I was there on the day of the fire.

We just didn't know that it was going to turn into something so massive.

I flew out of Maui about maybe two hours or an hour before the fire got on the news, uh, to be as crazy as it was.

So, we had no idea what we were just missing when I got back to Oahu.

Luane Higuchi is a teacher at Wai‘anae Intermediate School who has been fundraising on our campus for 30 years.

With her experience, she helped her daughter raise money for her friends who are affected by the Lahaina fires.

S'mores cookies, orange popsicle cookies, lemon bars, lilikoi butter, and banana bread were the items that they made to raise money.

We were just getting a ton of orders, people texting us or, um, placing the orders on social media.

And then on top of that, we had people saying, you know, how can I donate?

And so, um, money started just coming in through Venmo or PayPal or Apple Pay.

It was really heartwarming that we got as many orders as we did.

It was very surprising because I thought it would be a lot of, um, how do I put this, like parents that we knew or, you know, adults, but it was a lot of my old high school classmates who are, you know, still students themselves in college, or, uh, people that I haven't talked to in years.

So, it was really nice to see that, uh, it kind of brought a lot of uh back together, in a way.

As of now we've raised $8,000.

Um, you know, in the beginning, we're like, we're praying for $1,000, and then it became $2,000, and then she did a post, like we’re at $5,000, help us get to $6,000.

And then the money kept coming in, and so now we're at $8,000 and we're super grateful to our friends and our families who really, um, like, jumped in and supported us through this, we feel is a very important cause.

Because of the support they received, Karissa was able to help five of her friends.

I have to say, I am so proud of my daughter because it really was her idea.

And, um, it just makes my heart warm to know that she understands responsibility and kuleana, giving back to other people.

Smells good.

This is Cassandra Jones for HIKI NŌ, on PBS Hawai‘i.

[ocean wave] HIKI NŌ student reflections are personal stories from a student's point of view.

This next one comes from a student named Eli who attends Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on Hawai‘i Island, who talks about finding allies on campus and ignoring hate.

When I was younger, I knew I didn't feel much like girl.

In fifth grade, I realized that I was transgender.

Almost everyone in my school was supportive, except for a parent of a student that I was friends with.

Almost immediately after I came out to my school, the parent took that kid out of school and actually called CPS on my parents.

It was one of the first cases of transphobia I ever experienced.

After graduating elementary school and attending HBA for sixth grade, I noticed how people were treating me differently.

People talked behind my back, made snarky comments at me, and were rude.

I realized that it was because of my gender.

It lowered my self-confidence, and it was harder knowing where to fit in.

I started reaching out to my teachers and my school counselor about how other people were treating me.

I also started standing up for myself.

When people were commenting on my gender, I simply just told them to stop.

Although this wasn't a pleasant experience, it also gave me time to reflect and think about who I am as a person.

I started focusing on things that I love, like drawing and making art.

I felt better because I focused less on my gender and how people treated me.

Whether you are a trans person or not and you're dealing with something similar to this, it's important to remember that you cannot change what people say or think about you, but you can choose how you respond to it.

There are going to be people in my life, like my former English teacher and my parents, who will always be there to support me and help me.

[ocean wave] And that concludes our show.

We hope you've enjoyed the work of Hawai‘i's new wave of storytellers.

And don't forget to subscribe to PBS Hawai‘i on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok to enjoy the best stories from Hawai‘i's youth.

You can find this HIKI NŌ episode and more at pbshawaii.org.

Tune in next week for more proof that Hawai‘i students HIKI NŌ, can do.

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