HIKI NŌ 406 Next, on HIKI NŌ, stories from diverse island communities.

On Oahu, students from Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School introduce us to a professional surfer who teaches keiki how to appreciate the ocean.

Waipahu Intermediate students paint a portrait of an artist whose canvas is the city.

Waianae High School shows us how a family's love can overcome any challenge.

Also on Oahu, students from Kawananakoa Middle School highlight a boxing coach who also teaches life lessons, and students from Kapolei High School take us to a community beach cleanup.

On Maui, Kamehameha School students tell the story of a tragic loss that turns into something positive for the community.

One student from Maui High School tells a story of a young saxophone player who is overcoming a potentially debilitating condition.

This episode of HIKI NŌ comes to you from the Makiki District of Oahu, on the campus of Roosevelt High School, home of the Rough Riders.

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

Welcome to President Theodore Roosevelt High School, home of the Rough Riders.

Situated in Makiki Valley overlooking the City of Honolulu, Roosevelt High School first opened its doors in 1932.

At the time, it was the only English Standard high school in the State of Hawaii.

The school's mascot, the Rough Rider, was the first United States volunteer cavalry regiment organized by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Our first story is from Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School on Oahu, where students tell of a surfer who uses his knowledge of the ocean to inspire a younger generation.

Na Kama Kai means the the Children of the Sea.

Na Kama Kai is also a local nonprofit organization founded by professional surfer and longtime Makaha resident, Duane DeSoto.

Na Kama Kai is a nonprofit that my wife and I founded with some friends to bring ocean education to the keiki around Hawaii.

Na Kama Kai runs ocean clinics around the Island of Oahu every second Sunday of the month.

Parents sign up keiki for two hours of activities related to the ocean.

Volunteers sign up to help keiki become comfortable with being in the ocean.

During the ocean clinic, keiki rotate through five different stations: shaping Hawaiian wooden surfboards, standup paddle boarding, learning about ocean safety signs with a lifeguard, taking a ride on a canoe, and learning about the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and bigger environmental issues.

So, you know, they're gonna come in and do the wooden surfboards.

It's a great cultural connection back to the fact that Hawaiians started surfing, and these are the boards that were used in the beginning of surfing.

They go one-on-one in the standup paddling with a volunteer, and that's just a great time to connect with an adult volunteer who is ... you know, there to spend that time, and that focus.

You know, some kids don't get the one-on-one focus with adults very often.

And the Waa Section has a couple different dynamics.

One is that we take them out to sea, and we start talking about the mountain to the sea connection.

So when we turn the boat around, we have them look at the valleys and the rivers that lead down to the water, and we put that connection that all the rubbish on the land is gonna end up in the water via these rivers.

I mean, I can see the children, they're smiling and they're having fun.

You just know that they seem like they had a great time, but many of the parents send back emails or letters stating how interesting a two-hour event with the keiki has actually had a tremendous impact on them when they're walking around later on in the week, or in a month, when they're picking up rubbish or conscious of things that the parents notice they learned in the ocean.

The keiki are actually learning something, but they don't realize they're learning something.

They're just having fun in the water, and we're infusing the knowledge as they're doing the different stations.

So, I think that the learning is even better, it's hands-on.

To get more information about Na Kama Kai, including how parents can sign up their keiki, or how to become a volunteer with Na Kama Kai, visit the website at nakamakai.org.

Mahalo to you for coming!

[APPLAUSE] Reporting for HIKI NŌ, this is Pafuti Sataua.

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

We are back at Roosevelt High School in the Makiki District of Oahu.

Behind me is our football stadium.

If there was one person that knew dedication to hard work, it was Tiki Vasconcellos, and Roosevelt High School was proud to name our stadium after him.

Tiki was one of Roosevelt's football coaches who led us to three straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles from 1955 to 1957.

The $4.5 million makeover was shared by corporate, public, and individual sources that worked together to see a first class facility being used by four high schools as well as the community at large.

The stadium includes a state of the art artificial turf field, the only one on a Hawaii public school campus.

Our next story from Kamehameha Schools Maui is about a foreign war veteran who inspires a community.

Nestled away in Haiku, Maui, two proud parents give us insight to who their brave son really was.

Not only was the late Kraig Vickers a decorated war hero, he was a loving father and devoted family man.

Kraig had a great outlook on life.

He always saw the good.

He was always upbeat.

But we think of it as him being a son of Hawaii.

And because of his passing, we met a lot of his teammates' families, parents and wives and children.

Before his passing, Vickers and his wife Nani had two children.

They resided in Virginia Beach, where Vickers, a senior chief EOD technician, was stationed at the time.

But tragedy struck on August 6, 2011 when Vickers and twenty-nine other service members were shot down in Afghanistan.

You know, grieving and mourning for a season.

And then it has to be that, Yes, what can we do now to ... use his life and celebrate it?

After his death, Kraig Vickers was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the United States Government.

His family also started the Vickers Foundation.

They also had an honor run on August 5, 2012.

People who came were impressed.

They enjoyed themselves, and they weren't expecting what occurred.

We were expecting about a hundred fifty, and ended up with about six hundred.

So the community showed tremendous support.

The death of Kraig Vickers was a tragedy that sent shockwaves throughout the State of Hawaii.

Through this tragedy, the Vickers family saw an opportunity to help other families in need.

From Kamehameha Schools Maui, I'm Kamehana Lee for HIKI NŌ.

We're back in Makiki, at Roosevelt High School George Robert Carter Auditorium.

The auditorium was named after the second Territorial Governor of Hawaii.

The auditorium was built in 1935 and was recently renovated in 2008.

It features a state of the art lighting and sound system, as well as full-size rehearsal room located beneath the stage.

Today, the auditorium is being used for school activities like May Day, talent show, and band and orchestra concerts.

We take you now to Central Oahu, where students from Waipahu Intermediate highlight an artist whose canvases are a lot bigger than the ones from the art supply store.

Every little thing has to start somewhere.

For Ralph Dela Cruz, it all started with ... Well, my interest in art began when I first could hold a pencil.

Seventeen-year-old Dela Cruz was always influenced by his love for art.

All I really had was painting and drawing.

The world is but a canvas of our thoughts.

With different strokes and colors, it says so much more.

There is just more to making things look pretty just, you know, choosing a bunch of pretty colors and slopping it on a canvas.

A stroke of inspiration can take you anywhere.

For Ralph, he has taken his skills to a whole new language of expressing things.

Once you get that, you know, paint to the canvas, it literally speaks for itself.

Everyone has to start somewhere to begin their career, and this is where Ralph's starting.

Right now, I'm with the group 808 Urban.

808 Urban is a nonprofit organization, and we try to, you know, empower the youth throughout ... doing like community events.

Joining 808 Urban has opened many opportunities for this aspiring artist.

Reporting from Waipahu Intermediate, I'm Jenna Kay Toribio for HIKI NŌ.

We are back at Roosevelt High School.

In our music department, which is under the direction of Mr. Greg Abe, and it's composed of a variety of ensembles.

The jazz band has had the honor of performing with many local musicians.

The concert and symphonic bands have consistently received superior ratings at the annual Oahu Band Directors Association Parade of Band Performances.

The symphonic orchestra has had great opportunities in the past years to perform with musicians such as Todd Yukumoto and Jake Shimabukuro.

The marching band has made appearances in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Ginza Parade in Tokyo, Japan, and many more.

Honoring Hawaiian community, this year's marching band theme will be Goddess of Fire, the Legend of Pele.

Our next story from Waianae High School on Oahu reminds us to remember what's important.

I just think about, like, Oh, what if she tries to make breakfast, and she leaves the stove on, and the house burns down.

Or she overdoses, and she can't get to a phone, and she's paralyzed on the ground.

Send the check to 87147 St. John's Road.

Eh, you remember our address!

It's a small victory for Edith Domingo ... Where you going?

That's not your room.

In battle that she's losing every day.

At first, it was funny.

'Cause all the repeating, we would just laugh and tease.

But then ... kinda gets on your nerves after a while.

Why are you stealing my ... Edith is always up to something.

What do you usually do when we're not home?

Watch TV, and I eat, and I eat.

And I read, and I read.

And she laughs, and she laughs.

[CHUCKLE] Go away.

[CHUCKLE] But the one thing she can't do ... What did you eat at the Spaghetti Factory?

Is remember.

Edith is one of five million people in the United States with dementia, a disease which causes a gradual loss of brain function.

So even remembering her favorite grandchild isn't always easy to swallow.

Grandma, you took your pills?

Reminding her doesn't always get an answer.

But the Domingos can still see the effect dementia is having on her.

I don't remember.

It's a really difficult situation for families when they have loved ones that have dementia.

And even the individual may not realize, you know, that they are not able to do as much as they used to do.

I think she gets frustrated.

And some of it, she gets scared.

She frowns a lot nowadays, she just frowns.

This fear and frustration has caused Edith to hurt those closest to her.

She would just want to ... just fight and argue with Brina, yeah?

I think she punched her a couple of times.

It was that bad.

But no matter how bad it's gotten, Brina has always been by her grandmother's side.

Yeah, I'm your favorite, yeah, Grandma?

With open arms and more than one way to solve a problem.

You're constantly repeating yourself, and it gets so draining and so exhausting that you just want to write it on a Post-It and stick it on her forehead.

But you can't.

Single scoop in a cake cone.

The Domingos are known for their creative solutions.

You want to ... writing.

Which are helpful in trying to ensure that Edith is in good hands.

I try to juggle time at home between schoolwork and helping Grandma.

I love her.

She took care of me when I was growing up, so now, the roles are reversed.

It freaks me out sometimes.

I would like to have someone home all the time to watch her, but we can't have that, so ... we just hope.

We hope and we pray.

And ... [INDISTINCT] They help her win as many of these small battles as they possibly can.

She's my mommy.

[CHUCKLE] She's my mom.

Gotta take care, yeah?

She's family, yeah?

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

Here we are at the Roosevelt High School mural located in front of the school.

It is dedicated to the alumni Class of 1960, in honor of their fiftieth reunion.

The mural project began in April 2009 with the help of seventy-five ceramic art students that ranged from ninth to twelfth grade.

The mural design shows important school events from 1932 to 2009.

Highlights included chapters in their school's history like the Class of 1960, the last English Standard class, the Roosevelt Band performing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in 2004, and the 2008 renovation of Roosevelt Auditorium.

This mural represents how far we've come as a school and our school pride.

We travel now to Central Oahu, where students from Kapolei High School take us to a beach cleanup.

Preserving the beauty and culture of Hawaii is no small feat.

If you have healthy ocean, healthy land, you have healthy people.

For Kepa Maly of the Hoakalei Cultural Foundation, it begins with the efforts and education of the youth.

We got the kids out, the students out, and they did some wonderful jobs cleaning up some rubbish for us.

We trimmed one of the poor little plants that's just been struggling, endemic naio, and it gave them an opportunity to experience firsthand working the land and accomplishing something.

Charmaine Akina of Kapolei High School speaks on the trash tragedy.

It makes me feel very disappointed that I'm part of the society and I'm the only one who's seeing it, and I see people like, just throwing their trash.

I heard stories, dumping all over the place, and it's just very sad.

So, that's why I'm kinda here helping out, one person at a time, making a difference.

It's a good feeling after that, actually.

She also has sharp words for those who choose not to be part of the solution.

Shame on you!

[CHUCKLE] Because everybody will make a difference by just picking one trash.

Not even at the beach, but just like around the environment, our surroundings, our schools.

Ridding the beach of litter is only a portion of the preservation process.

The other part involves the protection of native plant species.

This plant, the naio, is of a variety that is endemic to Honouliuli ahupuaa, where we're now standing.

It's only found in this land division.

We have naio across the Hawaiian Islands, but this variety ... Honouliuli.

Every native plant has its own unique value in them.

So, that's why we help preserve them.

You can actually see the little hibiscus-like yellow flower on it there.

That's a milo, that's one of the old growth native trees in this place.

These trees once were spread across this landscape.

They cooled the land, they nurtured the people, the woods of the kou and the milo.

That blossom is rooted in one of the traditions of this place, and it was strung into lei that were associated with Kaahupahau, the shark goddess.

So you got lei from it, you got shelter, you got beautiful wood from which they made their umeke, their calabashes, like that.

It should be important to everyone to help preserve a culture.

Well, [HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE].

They said that, you know, aloha aina is not something that sits on the tip of your tongue.

It's in the actions that you do, and the work you do.

The land and sea are not the only beneficiaries of these efforts.

You work with a group of students that's your age, younger, but it's a way of getting new friends and learning from different people.

For Kapolei High School and HIKI NŌ, I'm Jewell Atherall.

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

We're back at Roosevelt High School where our JROTC program has been training community and military youth since its opening in September of 1934.

Prior to World War II, the current JROTC facilities were once occupied by the 27th Infantry Battalion as a staging area to protect key power and water infrastructures in Honolulu.

The JROTC program has continued to produce first rate leaders for our State and County, and legislative, executive and judicial branches, and the United States Armed Forces.

Roosevelt's Rough Rider Battalion has had seventy-eight years of leadership excellence, and we look forward to many more.

Our next story takes us to Kawananakoa Middle School on Oahu, where students introduce us to a boxing coach who teaches a lot more than how to throw a punch.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] My name is Joel Kim, and one of my jobs is as a boxing coach.

Clean up, set up the bags, set up the gear, greet the kids and the adults as they come in.

There's a old saying that hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard.

I try and give them a good workout so their skills will build up and they do well that way.

I hope all of my students, all my kids, boys and girls, grow up to be successful and love their life, love their careers, enjoy them and successful.

And again, love what they're doing, like I do.

Hopefully, I taught them, you know, that anything in life, you gotta work hard for.

You want to be honest and do good work, and be dependable.

I think happiness is something you create for yourself.

You know, it's the way you situate your life, and for everybody, it's different.

For me, it's being able to do the things I do and love to do, be around the people I love to be with.

When I was young, a teenager, I had an old World War II veteran, Marine, boxer who was my coach that kinda influence me to join the Marines, to box, do a lot of the things I do today.

Just a lot of my outlook, perspective, I think comes from him.

Life is a learning process.

If I didn't do the things I did, the way I did, I wouldn't have learned the lessons I learned.

You know, I wouldn't have become that much wiser, I would say.

Nobody likes to lose.

I hate losing matches, but every loss is a chance to, you know, reflect and go back, and do something a little bit better.

Oh, I'm extremely satisfied with the route I followed.

If I had to do anything again, I would be like an old wise man for me, before I would do everything I did just have a little bit more fun doing it.

Behind me is Roosevelt High School's Spanish style inspired bell tower.

Constructed and completed in 1932, the tower served many purposes, including being a lookout spot for the Army during World War II.

It was involved in the famous paintbrush rivalry with Punahou School, where the winner of the football game would paint the losing school's tower with the winning school's colors.

The tower continues to be a symbol of strength, school pride, and unity.

Our final story takes us to the Valley Isle, where Maui High School features a young saxophone player who patiently deals with one of the curves life has thrown her.

...

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, while 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.

Some people think I'm a band geek, but I don't think I'm a band geek.

But I love band.

[CHUCKLE] [MUSIC] She's a pain in the butt.

[INDISTINCT] Artistic ... happy most of the time ... very talented, very lazy.

Did I say happy?

That's hard!

The pain is something Tally is too familiar with.

When I found out I had scoliosis, I often cried 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.

Oh!

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, 'cause I have to go to school, and go to band rehearsal.

[CHUCKLE] 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 thirty-seven- degree curve, she suffers from a moderate to severe type of scoliosis.

This one's even higher than this one.

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 whistle, my heart starts pumping, and then the drum solo starts.

And then, all of the nervousness just goes away, and I just perform.

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

Oh, wait, no, no, no.

I'm right there.

My doctor 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.

It's sore!

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

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

Hey!

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

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

From the Roosevelt High School Media Technology Learning Center media students, we hope you enjoyed watching the stories as much as we've enjoyed sharing them with you.

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