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

Aloha and welcome to this week’s episode of HIKI NŌ, Hawai‘i's new wave of storytellers.

I'm Ashley D'Ambrosio, a seventh grader at Kua O Ka Lā Public Charter School on Hawai‘i Island.

But today I'm coming to you from the PBS Hawai‘i studio on O‘ahu.

Tonight, you're in for a special treat.

You get to watch some of the most memorable stories from HIKI NO's most recent winter round of shows.

There's a wide variety of stories and personalities, but they all have one thing in common: the student’s perspective.

[sound of an ocean wave] First, let's travel to Hilo to E.B.

de Silva Elementary School to meet Ivory Chun-Hoon, a second grader with a lot of wisdom.

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

de Silva Elementary School.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[sound of an ocean wave] This next story won first place in HIKI NO's Winter Challenge.

Let's watch Maui Waena Intermediate School’s story about how the school had to stay flexible during the pandemic.

Get to work and be quiet, please.

There's a lot of yelling going on in here, and then the teacher, like, tells everyone to like, stop talking, and then it gets noisy again.

And then it goes on like that for quite a long time.

I hate walking to my classroom and seeing a sign or somebody tells me, "Oh, Miss Kay isn’t here,” or “This teacher is in here," and I have to go, "What?"

And then I walk all the way back, and then I have to sit here and do nothing for an hour.

It's kind of not fun being, just doing the computers every day.

It's like, it's more fun if you're with a teacher teaching you.

And where is this?

The cafeteria at Maui Waena Intermediate School.

They are here because of a serious teacher and substitute shortage.

So, when teachers are out, which is more often now it COVID, up to six classes are sent to the cafe to be monitored by administration, and students do work via Google Classroom.

I do feel kind of sad, because I do like participating in class and like, it's really boring just staying in the cafeteria and working on what the teacher assigned us to do.

Even teachers agree with this.

I'm, I’m sure it's no fun.

I could only imagine if I were a student, and I was just stuck in front of my Chromebook for possibly two or, you know, maybe more classes a day.

I think they'd rather be in a classroom than when they're stuck in the cafeteria for their math class, or whatever class and they go cafeteria.

That's got to be tiring.

Both teachers and vice principals also have new jobs on campus.

If it's not in to their own classroom, I put a sign on the doors where they should go, and that usually takes up the entire morning before school starts.

When we don't have enough teachers, I will have the classes of students go to the cafeteria.

Now here - You can see that I have a wheel class, and I don't normally have wheel classes.

And so, since we came back for third quarter, um, probably 90% of the days, I'm helping to cover someone else's wheel.

But the students are affected the most.

I feel like I could have learned a lot more if my actual teachers were here to teach me, instead of just making us do online, like, assignments by ourselves in the cafeteria.

Definitely different, and it makes me feel like, more disappointed than before because I really don't like staying in the cafe.

But no matter the circumstances the new normal brings, the students will always persevere.

Nobody's had an easy time with the past three years, and we just have to do the best we can.

The best we can won't look like it did pre-COVID, uh, but we just got to keep moving forward.

This is Sarah Rosete from Maui Waena Intermediate School for HIKI NŌ.

Let's travel to Kaua‘i to meet a Kapa‘a High School student who is on the path to fulfilling her dream of recording a rock album.

[sound of ocean waves] This is Emily Hartshorn, a junior at Kapa‘a High School on the Island of Kaua‘i.

I'm recording this in my room on January 22, 2022.

I picked up music when I was six years old, and about two years ago, I finally started writing my own songs.

I spend a lot of time in my room, and I mean, like, a lot.

Like, how has this person not gone completely insane?

A lot of time in my room, playing the same riffs over and over again, trying to glue them together in a way that can be considered music, while also trying to figure out how to say what I want to say without using the word ‘ah’.

Thank you, Led Zeppelin.

Until I finally give up and say, "Okay, that's good enough."

That's usually when I start with recording.

There's a handful of my songs that are either finished or really close to being finished in the writing process that I've been working on recording for like, the last year and a half.

But none of them, as of right now, are 100% done.

Recording music can be really challenging and just full-on annoying sometimes.

There is so much just troubleshooting and adjusting involved in recording literally one song.

Other times microphones will be broken, my guitar won't stay in tune, the bass will sound clunky, or I just can't nail a drum part.

Along with the fun technical issues, I have also been playing with minor muscle and wrist issues.

It's usually just a problem of overuse, but none of it has been serious enough to stop me from playing for longer than a few days.

But obviously it's not helpful.

Okay, so at this point, you're probably wondering, well, if it's so hard, then why do you even do it anyways?

I love music, and I know that's very straight out of the book and very cliche, and saying it's cliche is cliche, but I love it so much.

I love playing it, listening to it, writing it, watching old videos of my favorite bands just like, killing it.

It's amazing.

And I love performing.

Whether it be by myself, or with fellow musicians, or with my very awesome and very fast band, Stonehenge.

I love it, all of it.

There have definitely been times when I wanted to give up entirely, but I always come back to it no matter what.

Countless hours of my life have been poured into the songs, and it is without a doubt time well spent.

One of the biggest reasons I continue to write and record music is because I want to get there.

I want to be like the bands that inspire me, and I want to do it big.

My major goal right now is to write, record, and release a full solid album that I can be proud of.

And I definitely still have a long way to go, but I know that it's absolutely within reach.

I also want to be able to inspire other people to really get into whatever they love doing, whether that be creating music, art, teaching, writing.

There's so many different things that I can’t even list right now.

But part of my mission is to inspire people to say, "Yeah, I can do this," and believe in themselves because heck yeah, you can.

[sound of an ocean wave] I can't imagine not seeing my father for many months.

But that's what these next two students have to endure as part of being in a military family.

Let's watch Āliamanu Middle School’s piece entitled, "More Than A Dad."

[sound of an ocean wave] Many kids just think of their parents as the ones who support them, spend time with them and take them on fun adventures.

On the other hand, military kids don't get as much quality time with their mom or dad.

Military children often experience their parents traveling far away for weeks or months, and what they do when they're gone and how they feel when they leave the families can be surprising.

Aaron Williams is one military father.

He has been in the military for 20 years.

Throughout my career, uh, some of the standout experiences have definitely been the travel, uh, getting to travel to Egypt, uh, to raise, and, money and do some charity work for some of the mentally handicapped kids.

He has a daughter, Alana, who has her own opinions on how she feels about him leaving.

Deployments and having your dad being sent to different places can be an emotional rollercoaster for military children.

Personally, having times in my life when I was younger when my dad was gone, it was sad.

But since I still got to talk to him, he got to tell me about all the crazy things he did.

Like when he went to Egypt and he got to go sand surfing and scuba diving, or when he went to Kosovo.

So, on the other side of things, there's also things that he didn't know about that he struggled through.

Like, he struggled through depression and PTSD early on in his military career, and I didn't get to understand those things until now that I'm older.

Being away from my family is rough.

Uh, the travel and deployments are definitely an exciting experience, but they're some of the loneliest experiences and, and times of my life.

Um, the isolation and being away from the family definitely affects your, your mental attitude, as well as some of your, your positivity.

So, it's definitely tough being away from the family.

Gregory Arnold is another military father who has been in the Navy for 20 years.

He, too, has his opinions about deployments and leaving.

Being apart from your family on deployment is, is one of the worst parts about long deployments.

I've done five of them total.

Um, each one has lasted about a year in, in time.

So, it's a lot of time away from the family when, when you think about that and you put it all together.

Um, some the toughest times is when you're in port, finally, after visiting for a while, and then you're in these fun places and exotic locations, but your family's not there to enjoy and share in that experience.

When she was young, his daughter, Langley, didn't understand why her dad couldn't be home.

As a kid, I didn't really know much about where my dad was going for work or what he was doing during the day, um, especially on deployments.

But now I do understand, um, as old.

I'm really proud of my dad.

Um, I do remember one tradition that we did when I was a kid, and it was, um, looping these pieces of construction paper, um, every day that he was gone on deployment to show how long he's been gone and to know that we are caring for him, and we're ready for him to come back whenever.

Um, and he was really happy when he figured out we were doing that for him.

Military children are lucky to have dads that make up such an important part of our society.

Knowing this helps them understand their parents and how the family can work to sustain strong bonds.

At the end of the day, they come together as one big happy family, even if they are miles apart or with each other at home.

This is Vienna Ryan from Aliamanu Middle School for HIKI NŌ.

[sound of an ocean wave] This next student reflection comes from Tristyn Rivera at Kapa‘a High School, who takes us behind the scenes of pig hunting and tells us how it helps the community.

[sound of ocean waves] Hi, my name is Tristyn Rivera, a sophomore at Kupa‘a High School on Kaua‘i, and I'm filming this video at my home on December 15, 2021.

My family and I are hunters.

We use hunting as a way to put food on the table and save some money.

Wild pigs are an invasive species, and our role as hunters is to help control their population.

They search through anything they can find like rubbish bins, spreading trash and making a mess.

They love rooting, which destroys our native plants.

Wild pigs try to survive by any means.

Wild pigs also have a rapid rate of reproduction.

They have five to six piglets per litter and can start mating at a really young age.

And in Hawai‘i, pigs have no natural predators.

This is the role I play with my family.

There has also been an increase in general food prices with meat being impacted the most.

This can be very hard for families that are just able to scrape by.

To adapt, my family relies on doing what we love.

Hunting for our own food saves us a lot of money and provides fresh meat from the land.

It benefits our health because the meat we get from wild pigs has more nutrients and less saturated fat than your average store-bought meat.

I've learned different cooking techniques to tenderize the meat and make it really tasty, like marinating with cubed green papaya.

It’s just like any meat that can be used for cooking, and the texture depends on the size of the pig and how we prepare it.

I am so proud to be a hunter.

I'm able to learn so much, which other people don't understand.

Hunting gives me the opportunity to help out my community with controlling the population of wild pigs.

[sound of an ocean wave] You may have heard that not everyone fits into the typical gender pronouns of he or she.

This piece from Waianae High School on Hawai‘i Island explains how to best respect someone's preferred pronouns.

Yeah, oh, I love Dylan.

She’s amazing.

Yes.

Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

Honestly, it makes me feel a lot safer.

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

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

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

Pronouns goes right along with it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I really want students to feel welcome on campus.

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

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

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

Does your family say, "I love you" often?

This next piece from Mina Suzuki at H.P.

Baldwin High School shares a personal story of learning to show those around you how much you care.

[sound of an ocean wave] I love you.

Three simple words.

Eight letters that can be conveyed in a multitude of languages, objects and emotions, something that seems forbidden to say since I had never heard it growing up in my Asian household, where showing what you actually feel is taboo.

For me, love was always conveyed in the forms of: Study hard, And go to college.

Ever since I started school as a little five-year-old, I thought I earned love through my accomplishments.

'Good job on your report card' was the closest phrase to the forbidden three words.

In order to feel loved, I became someone who lives off of what others think of me, always feeling the overwhelming desire to be number one, piling on extracurriculars until I'm about to break, building up for a resume for a college I'm not even too sure that I can handle.

There's always been a disconnection between me and people because of how I perceive love.

It feels as if I'm stuck behind a glass wall where I can see the people I hold close to my heart, yet I'm just an observer they won't notice until that glass cracks when I do something phenomenal.

I realized the extent of how I created the illusion that people loved me when I got a boyfriend.

He helped me to come to the terms that love doesn't come from what I do, but from people loving me for who I am.

My built-up qualms about saying the forbidden three words caused me to have trouble reciprocating them back whenever my boyfriend would say them.

As we continued dating, I began to see that it really wasn't such a sacred phrase that my family had painted it to seem.

Two years into our relationship, and he still teaches me things about love every day.

Love comes in many forms.

I'm slowly rebuilding my thoughts about what love is and how love works.

Yet, I know that through time and breaking out of my glass, I'll find my meaning of 'I love you.'

[sound of an ocean wave] This next video is a creative how-to with sage advice about how to approach somebody fancy.

Let's watch.

Pearl City High School, located in Hawai‘i, has over 1,000 students, ranging from different backgrounds, but high school life does get hard: trying to fit in, homework due the next day, long lectures you'll eventually forget.

It's tough.

Well, you get to see your friends, at least, and that wonderful individual you like.

Well, you may be asking, "How do I approach them, or get them to even like me?"

Here are some steps you can follow.

Be confident.

Look at yourself and say, "You got this."

Okay.

Now since you're confident enough, let's take a step further and talk to them.

Maybe ask them about their hobbies, or their favorite food.

Keep them entertained.

Talking to them allows both you and them to have funny conversations to deep meaning talks that you won't even share to your friends.

All those steps aren't going to waste.

Ask them to hang out and get to really know them.

Who knows?

They might even have a little crush on you.

At the end of the day, if they do or don't like you, you've grown so much.

You're all smiling and confident now.

So just be yourself.

[sound of an ocean wave] Being a student isn't easy.

This next piece from Kea‘au High School on Hawai‘i Island is a creative short film that represents that struggle.

[sound of an ocean wave] [Chopin Etude no.1 in A-Flat Major, Op.

25 plays] Now let's watch a day in a life story from a student at Waiākea High School on Hawai‘i Island.

I am so excited for my last year of high school to be in-person, but that also means that I have an entirely different schedule than what I've been doing for the past year and a half.

My normal day usually starts with me completely ignoring all my alarms until the very last one.

Then I finally get up.

I go through the motions of my routine: skincare, teeth, makeup.

And by then I'm honestly on the cusp of being late for school, so I have to rush.

I got my learner's permit recently, so now my mom lets me drive around Hilo with her.

I'm an amazing driver.

I get to school right as the bell rings, and first period is broadcast media.

My second period is my engineering class where I have to seriously be clean.

I have to wipe down my desk and the computer.

Our school has added testing on campus, which makes going to school feel safer and more comfortable.

Sociology is my last class of the day.

Our teachers want to be prepared in case school is forced online again, so most of our work is on Google classroom.

I go straight home nowadays.

Seeing my friends kind of puts me and my family at risk.

I make sure to wash my body before bed.

I don't know.

It just feels like I'm taking whatever germs on me from the day off.

After that I finally have some free time to watch shows or go on my phone.

Then I go to sleep.

And that's what tomorrow's gonna be like, too.

That's my new normal.

Thank you for watching this episode of HIKI NO.

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

We sure enjoyed sharing these stories with you.

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

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

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