HIKI NŌ 404 Next, on HIKI NŌ, stories from across the island chain.

On Hawaii Island, students from Hilo High School introduce us to a pair of Tahitian dance twins.

On Maui, students from Lahaina Intermediate show us how a landmark from the sugar plantation era was saved.

On Kauai, students from Kauai High School tell another sugar story, but this one's not so sweet; the dismantling of the Lihue Sugar Mill.

And students from Waimea High School find out why some students march to the beat of a different drummer.

On Oahu, students from Waianae High School show us the devastating effects of a brushfire on a local farm.

Students from Waipahu High School follow one couple's quest to adopt a child from China.

And Ka Waihona O Ka Naauao Public Charter School introduces us to a man who travels the world without ever leaving the Waianae Coast.

Also from Oahu, this episode of HIKI NŌ comes to you from Iolani School, in the heart of Honolulu.

That's next, on the nation's first statewide student news network, HIKI NŌ ... Can do!

Welcome to Iolani School on the Island of Oahu, home of the Raiders.

Iolani School has been established for one hundred and fifty years.

It is one of the largest independent schools in the nation with nearly nineteen hundred students from Kindergarten through 12th Grade.

Iolani began as an all-boys school in 1863; but in 1979, girls were admitted.

The first official graduating class with girls was the Class of 1983, but two girls graduated with the Class of 1982.

In fact, one of those first two female graduates, Miss Kathy Warner, works as a science teacher in our lower school.

Our first story comes from Waianae High School, where students tell of the devastating physical and cultural effects of a brushfire this summer.

Well, the hale was a very special hale for everybody.

This is where the children used to come inside and get out of the sun.

What used to be a forty-foot-high thatched hale is now just a three-foot stone foundation.

It was an A-frame.

You can see the foundation.

So it was sixty feet long, forty feet wide, about forty feet high.

Thanks to one of the numerous brushfires along the Waianae Coast last summer, three decades of history were gone in a matter of minutes.

People got married inside here, people have all kind connections inside here.

So, it was a special place for us.

It's one of the many special places at Kaala Farm's Cultural Center, a program dedicated to educating younger generations about the importance of sustainability and cultural practices.

Although we're about education, bottom line, this place is for healing, and for everybody.

'Cause even when a fourth-grader steps in that mud, in that loi, that's the loi that his ancestors built hundreds of years ago.

So their mana is still here.

Butch DeTroy, the farm manager at Kaala Farm, is one of many working hard to maintain cultural values from the days of old.

All of the aloha that they put into sustaining life inside here for generations, that's the aloha that's still here.

Aloha isn't the only thing that tends to stick around.

Brushfires are fairly common and a very dangerous occurrence in the Waianae area, causing damage to property and also endangering rare native plants.

Fire was never a part of the ecosystem in Hawaii where they evolved.

So, those plants aren't adapted to deal with fire, and so, when they're burnt, they'll die back.

And even if seeds still exist in the soil, grasses and invasive plants will come in and just kind of out-compete the native seedlings, if there are any.

And then, they'll be replaced that way.

Despite being burned by the brushfires, Kaala Farm plans to rise from the ashes and rebuild.

Now the community can come together and help us build the hale, so everybody can learn that again, how to do that.

But where it burned, it never really went high up into the forest, so that was good.

Nevertheless, too many native plants itself, it was mostly Haole Koa and grass that burned.

And the good part about all of that is that it exposed all the taro patches that are above us.

And for those at Kaala Farm, perhaps the most important part of all is seeing their big brother standing tall, and undamaged.

Haloa stood tall through this whole thing.

Yeah.

In fact, that was our motivation to see the kalo standing, yeah, 'cause that's the elder brother, yeah, Haloa.

This is Tressa Hoppe reporting from Waianae High School, for HIKI NŌ.

Welcome back to Iolani.

As you can see behind me, the Iolani campus is abuzz with the sights and sounds of construction.

Iolani formally began construction this past summer on its Sullivan Center, a four-story, forty thousand square foot building which will allow students to engage in hands-on real world applications of their learning.

The school library has been temporarily relocated until the scheduled completion of the Sullivan Center in the fall of 2013.

Some planned features of the Sullivan Center include a 3-D fabrication printing system, film production studio, and sustainable urban rooftop garden, along with many other uses, all focusing on community, collaboration, and communication.

Due to the construction of the Sullivan Center behind me, these barricades have been erected to keep everyone on campus safe.

Students and faculty alike have reserved various panels and have decorated them accordingly.

Let's take a look at some of this Iolani-inspired artwork.

[MUSIC] Let's travel now to Hawaii Island, where students from Hilo High School introduce us to a pair of Tahitian dance twins.

No one is sure where Tahitian dancing originated, or how it came to Hawaii.

On the Big Island, Tahitian dancing is popular and unique with our culture.

For twin brothers Aaron and Darrin, they make a very good team and gives Tahitian dancing a whole new meaning.

Started, like, by just doing the moves when I was little, and then all of a sudden, like, by the time I came six to seven years old, I started dancing for halaus.

We just do the moves like what they do in Tahiti, and we travel up there.

We like, visualize what they do, and we bring it back.

To me, Tahitian dancing gets people together, and it describes the people as a family, like dances.

A halau is like a family, so like, everybody dances together.

'Cause I'm the lead kumu of teaching the dancing, and I teach drumming too.

My students, I take them in from three years old and older.

And sometimes he helps me out with like, helping me teach these boys.

He just helps fix their hands.

It makes me feel special, because like, I don't keep it to myself.

I try to teach people, so that they go on and teach other people.

'Cause we have to share what we learn.

My favorite part about my dancing is, like, going down and like dancing, like, on the ground, like duck-walking and dancing around people.

Mine is practically like fire knife dancing, I put fire.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage, make some noise, shout out for Mr. Darren Eblacas ... [CHEERS/DRUMMING] I usually get, like, butterflies, and I'm nervous in my stomach, because like, every time when I have to fire, I gotta pray to make sure I don't burn myself.

We all get to dance, and then like, if I dance first, and then I come off the stage, he goes and dance, and like, the crowd is like, cheering.

They think it's the same person coming off the stage and going out for the next costume change, but it's not really like that.

'Cause me and him is like, hiding out on each other every time in the background.

Yeah.

And they're all like, they're like, Oh, wow, that's nice.

It's really, really nice welcome to come back again.

Like when you dance, it takes away, like, all the pain, all the really-everything.

If we have problems with friends in school, like, we just don't take it to the halau, but we just dance it off, and we like, sweat it off.

And like, the next day, you come back as a new person again.

For Aaron and Darrin, dancing Tahitian gives them an outlet to leave their everyday trials behind.

It doesn't matter where Tahitian dancing originated; all that matters is that this artform helps build a strong foundation above all their problems and stresses.

This is Lorene Castro reporting to you for HIKI NŌ.

If you'd like to comment on that story, or anything you see on HIKI NŌ, join the discussion at facebook.com/hikinocando, or send us a Tweet at twitter.com/hikinocando.

Welcome to Iolani School on the Island of Oahu, where all the students in Grades 9 through 12 are certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, also known as CPR.

Iolani is one of the few schools in the nation where CPR certification is incorporated as part of the curriculum.

We also have the most automated external defibrillators, AEDs, per square foot.

We take you now to the Leeward Coast of Oahu, where students from Ka Waihona O Ka Naauao introduce us to a true ambassador of aloha.

Following in the wake of the original Ambassador of Aloha, Duke Kahanamoku, Uncle George Kalilikane joins a select group of distinguished Hawaiians who have made global waves.

Arriving at Pokai Bay before the sun peers over the Waianae Mountain Range, Uncle George begins another inspiration day of spreading the aloha spirit.

Having lost over thirty pounds in three months, Uncle George credits standup paddling with not just the obvious health benefits, but perhaps more importantly, it opened his eyes to do the idea of sharing his passion for standup paddling by teaching others to do it, for free.

We met Uncle George a few years ago, and we actually thought he was selling surfboards.

Two and a half years into this endeavor he now calls The Bay of Dreams, Uncle George has shared his boards with over twenty-eight hundred people from around the world.

I started paddling because I needed a way to lose weight.

Basically, I was an overweight Hawaiian that had some issues with my health.

And because I grew up in the water, I wanted to get back to surfing waves, but at my size at almost three hundred pounds, I didn't think I could get a board that I could actually surf the regular way.

Not only did Uncle George paddle away the pounds, but he also felt guided by a new current with a more purposeful direction.

Well, after I lost the weight and started surfing with smaller boards, the enjoyment level went up.

But also, I was feeling blessed by just the opportunity to lose weight on the water, and I thought that was a gift that God gave me personally, and it extended my life, so therefore, I use that gift to introduce standup paddling to other people by giving away standup lessons.

The only thing he ever asks for in return ... a sticker from the visitor's hometown.

Yeah, what I've done is, I have put together business cards with my mailing address.

And what happens is, I give them a card so that when they get home, wherever home is, they can actually send me back a sticker that I put on the front of my trailer.

So on the front of my trailer, I got stickers from all over the world.

And it's kinda cool to say that, you know, somebody from that area came to Pokai Bay, which is out in Waianae, and through that process, the organization called Bay of Dreams was able to bless them with standup lessons.

Uncle George himself sums it up best when describing the adventure that his life has now become.

Building dreams, one stroke at a time.

Yeah?

This is Keahi Manoi-Hyde from Ka Waihona O Ka Naauao, reporting for HIKI NŌ.

Welcome back to Iolani School, where we students are taught to be strong, perceptive leaders.

Our most famous leader is Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whom we have two statues of here on campus.

At age thirteen, Dr. Sun came to Iolani School from Gunagdong, China, speaking no English.

At Iolani, he became a budding intellectual, and learned Western principles, along with Iolani's morals.

He even received an award for grammar from King Kalakaua.

Through his hard work, Dr. Sun Yat-sen graduated in 1882 at the top of his class, and went on to be the first President of the Republic of China.

We now travel to the Garden Island of Kauai to find out how Waimea High School's JROTC program changes lives.

[INDISTINCT SHOUTING] Waimea's JROTC program has faced some enrollment obstacles in the past.

But as of this school year, it stands at one hundred sixty-five students out of about six hundred.

The program has developed into a strong foundation that can truly bring out the best in its students.

When see the students in ROTC, they're more active, and they are better behaved than the other students.

And we say, If you're a leader, you must be a leader at all times.

So then, in that aspect, they learn to behave at all times.

The biggest answer that the students have told me when I've asked them, Why did you join JRTOC, a lot of them say for the life skills.

A lot of them grow up, they get more outgoing, they learn leadership, and they learn to be more confident.

The program has not only helped students gain the knowledge and skills for a brighter, more successful future, but it has also affected some on a very personal level.

I joined JROTC my freshman year because a lot of people made me join, and my two older brothers were also in the program before me.

So, they were talking about how much it helped them.

All my friends that I made, they're like, really close to me.

And like, ho, man, they're just like my brother and sisters.

They're just so close, and like, everything they need help with, like, I'll be helping them or they'll help me.

Being in the program for four years, it has opened up opportunities.

The different branches of military is, they're all asking me, like, Oh, you should do this, Oh, you should do that.

And there's like a bunch of scholarships out there, like, full rides, and they'll pay for your first year.

And if you don't want to stay with the military, then you don't lose anything.

That's what I think is really good.

Cadets learn many things throughout the JROTC program.

While academics are very important, critical life skills are also valued.

I have learned how to take charge.

'Cause I remember my freshman year, when I first got in there, I was just like, Oh, no, who are these people, I don't know who they are, and they're gonna yell at me if I do something wrong.

Now that I'm a senior and I get to see the little freshmen doing that, I can just help them.

I think without JROTC, I would be hanging out with the wrong people.

'Cause I had been hanging out with, like, the wrong people in my past, and I really regret that.

I hope to influence people in a positive way, like how my friends have influenced me.

The JROTC program has helped many make the most of their lives through curricular and extracurricular activities year round.

The deeply affected cadets have turned their lives around, and are now marching in the right direction.

This is Caylee Yamamoto from Waimea High School, reporting for HIKI NŌ.

Welcome to Kozuki Stadium here at Iolani School, home of the Raiders.

For many Iolani students, once the school day ends, it's off to the locker rooms to get ready for practice.

Raider teams compete in twenty different sports.

The fundamental philosophy of Iolani athletics is the concept of one team, which began with Father Kenneth Bray, who began coaching Iolani's struggling football team in 1932.

Despite many hardships, Father Bray preached that if players worked hard as a team and practiced discipline, they would eventually find success.

In time, the team went from underdogs to ILH contenders, winning its first championship in 1939.

The one team philosophy endures 'til today, and all Raiders honor Father Bray's legacy for remaining humble in victory and gracious in defeat.

We take you now to the Valley Isle, where students from Lahaina Intermediate tell of the restoration of their town's most iconic landmark.

Lahaina Restoration Foundation has spent over $600,000 restoring a smokestack that does not work.

The Pioneer Mill made an imprint on Maui and its people, so its closing in 1999 affected everyone.

It was a question of, it wasn't making money.

Sugar was no longer making money 'cause the cost of labor and just the cost of equipment was a lot more expensive in the United States than it is in other countries.

So, sugar is produced in other countries a lot cheaper than it was here.

The Pioneer Mill smokestack is an important landmark in Lahaina.

But why save it?

The smokestack was in danger of being demolished, and the community wanted to save it, and we thought it was an important icon of the plantation era.

So, we saved it.

Every morning, there was a whistle.

And the whistle would blow, and basically, the whole town kind of lived their life on those two whistles; one that was at six-thirty in the morning, and one at three-thirty in the afternoon.

And you could hear it all the way to Kaanapali.

This was like the centerpiece of the community, so it was very important, and a really good thing that they restored it.

Restoring the smokestack took considerable effort.

It was a pretty decrepit smokestack at the point that they were ready to knock it down.

And what the major problem was, it's two hundred and ten feet, but the last twenty feet were almost so crumbling they were about ready to fall down.

The big crown, if you will, was staring to deteriorate or starting to, what they call, spall.

All the cement was coming loose.

So, that was the major part.

We immediately hacked the top off of it, and that's where it sat for about two or three years, until they came back.

And if you look at the smokestack, you'll see bands around it.

They fortified the whole smokestack with bands.

They look like bell staves around it at certain points.

And they fortified that, and then they completely rebuilt the top fifty feet.

And the crown itself is interesting, because it used to be cement, cementitious material that they did in the earlier days back when they built it.

And the chimney guy said, We have a better idea.

What we'll do is, we'll bring a metal one, and we'll ship it over there in four parts, and then we'll weld it together and with a helicopter, put on the top, and we'll paint it and nobody will know the difference.

And it's much stronger and much lighter, and cheaper.

So that's what we did.

The restoration was a costly process, but Foundation has found a way to restore their funds with a brick-selling project.

What we do is, we're selling bricks to the community, and they get their name engraved in the brick, and some other saying.

A lot of the mill workers who have on particular color, they write not only their name, but they write their position at the mill, and the years that they worked there.

So, it's become a real community testament to the whole plantation era.

This is Kyle Shultz reporting from Lahaina Intermediate School, for HIKI NŌ.

Later on in the show, you'll find out about a very different sugar mill restoration project on Kauai.

But first, this.

Welcome back to Iolani School, where people are attempting to make history in some surprising ways.

Mr. Michael Park, a teacher in the Math Department, sought the world record for the shortest time to duct tape himself to a wall and have it suspend him for a full minute.

During a "faculty follies" assembly in front of the entire upper school, he left us hanging in suspense as we watched him create an elaborate tape belt contraption.

[CHEERING/APPLAUSE] Although everything went according to plan, he did not get the record, because in the weeks he spent preparing, someone else had already beaten the previous time.

Now, as a contrast to Lahaina Intermediate's story on their town's sugar mill restoration, here is a HIKI NŌ archive story from Kauai High School about the Lihue Sugar Mill.

The Lihue Sugar Mill started in 1848, and was a major supplier and producer of sugar.

The old plantation tracks can still be seen, and the grounds of the mill are littered with signs from a past era.

The plantation was in operation since the 1800s up in the year 2000, when the mill was shut down, smokestack went dry, and the gates were closed and locked.

And they've been that way ever since.

Ernesto Ancheta was employed by the mill for twenty years.

Well, they just gathered us one morning up at the cleaning plant, told everybody to assemble up there, and the manager told us that the parent company, J & B, decided to close the company down.

Since then, public access to the grounds have been restricted, and the mill has become rundown, and the building itself has also become a popular historic landmark for those who travel this route on a daily basis, or for those who pass it for the very first time.

But there's more to it than just the broken glass and graffiti-covered walls.

The inside of the mill is plagued with asbestos, a chemical that is known to be cancerous.

There was asbestos.

That was one of the things I was afraid of whenever they sent us out on jobs.

Which makes the Lihue Sugar Mill decommissioning project all the more complicated.

According to a recent article in the Garden Island Newspaper, a contractor has been hired and given the responsibility of asbestos mitigation and mill dismantling.

Regardless of the timeline that the Lihue Sugar Mill comes down, one thing is certain; that it is a true historic landmark that has helped shape and grow our island culture.

Reporting for HIKI NŌ from the Island of Kauai, I'm Dillon Ancheta.

Welcome back to Iolani School, where students have the opportunity to join over eighty clubs on campus.

But the most exclusive club is the Iolani Twins Club.

The purpose of this club is to celebrate twindom, the twenty-two twins that attend Iolani in Grades 7 through 12.

They even have their own twins tee-shirt, cape, and motto.

The Twins Club celebrates their twinliness by meeting approximately every month to do various activities like dancing and barbecuing.

The club advisors, twins themselves, started the club two years ago by scouring the school's yearbook for twins.

Since then, twins from all corners of campus have come together for food and fellowship.

Our final report is a touching story from Waipahu High School about a married couple's arduous journey, and the priceless reward they found at the end.

Did you know, since 1999, over 66,000 Chinese children have been adopted by US families?

This is Malia.

Malia is one of these children.

She was born in China, where she was left at this homeless shelter in Guilin.

This is Sue and Freeman Chung.

They both teach here at Waipahu High School.

The Chungs had taken the steps in adopting Malia in August 2011.

Yeah, we decided to adopt from China because, you know, we couldn't have children on our own.

We thought it was just gonna be year process.

Because both of us were born in Hong Kong, they said, Okay, we're gonna put you on an expedited list.

So, we went through the process, and there was a lot of paperwork involved.

And we made the applications, and it was a long drawn process.

The adoption process took longer than expected.

But after waiting a year, and year and a half, still no news.

After two years, no news.

Three years, no news.

And then finally, we thought that, Hey, maybe we should just stop the process, because it was just taking too long, and they couldn't tell us how long more.

But all of a sudden, they got that special call.

China didn't get the memo about our terminating the process.

And somehow, they still assigned a child to us, and I was just completely shocked.

So, we said, Really?

I mean, our jaws just dropped, it was just a surprise.

In August 2011, Mr. and Mrs. Chung traveled to China to meet their baby, Malia, and brought her back officially to their home in September.

It was very nerve wracking.

Both of us was really-I mean, we have seen her video before, we kinda know she looks like.

But being able to meet with her and touch her, and hold her for the first time is really exciting.

Malia is considered to be one of the lucky ones.

In China, there's tens of thousands of orphaned children, and especially girls.

Because of the one child per family policy in China, they have been executed for the last couple of years.

If the first baby happens to be a female, a lot of them, although they love their baby, but you know, they have to give it up.

You know, a girl cannot inherit the family name, and that's the reason why a lot of girls are being abandoned.

Today, Malia lives happily with the Chungs and her new sister, Pikake, who is also adopted.

If you wanted to adopt internationally, the reward is just tremendous.

When you do get a child assigned to you, it's just a life-changing kind of thing.

This is Karen Cayme reporting from Waipahu High School, for HIKI NŌ.

Well, we've come to the end of this episode of HIKI NŌ.

Remember, all of these stories were written, shot, and edited by students like us.

From the Kindergarten playground at Iolani School, we hope you've enjoyed today's episode as much as we've enjoyed producing it for you.

Make sure to tune in to next week's episode for more proof that Hawaii students ... HIKI NŌ ... Can do!