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Investing in Hawai'i's future by promoting collaboration, critical thinking, and
other 21st-Century skills though HIKI NŌ Next, on HIKI NŌ, stories from across our
island chain. You gotta cut their ears, their teeth, given
them their injections. It's kinda like raising a child yourself. A young pig farmer takes the family business
to heart. A local track star works through the pain
of running, and learns to love the race. A teacher connects to her culture by painting
words that express its core values. A French horn player finds much more than
music in her band class -- she finds herself. A wheelchair-bound school counselor sees challenges
not as obstacles, but as a way to grow. Young Thai immigrants learn the value of hard
work in Hawai'i's fast-food industry. Plus, a primer on the ancient martial art
of kendo. Stay tuned for these stories and learn about
the spirited urban legends attributed to the schools in this
show. All on this episode of HIKI NŌ... Can do! We are here on the campus of Wai'anae High
School in West O'ahu, where there are reported sightings
on this school's farm. This place may be seen flourishing with life,
however, there have been some unusual activity. In this
very shack, many students and staff have reported hearing noises such as footsteps and door
creaks within the building. [SLAM] In fact, the agricultural teacher has stated
that after knowingly leaving the doors and oven shut, he came
back to them wide open. The tales from within these walls have become
well-known around this campus. The following story from students at Wai'anae
High School is about a high schooler who has his
priorities set on helping his family grow their business. [OINKING] Feeding the pigs, you know, killing, cleaning
for customers when they come purchase. You gotta cut
their ears, their teeth, give them their injections. It's kinda like raising a child yourself. [OINKING] Our piggery is known as Reyes Hog Farm, and
it's located on Pa'akea Road. We have two lots there, and
we raise a lot of pigs. Matthew Reyes leaves for work to Mā'ili,
Wai'anae with his family every day. Pigs are just like humans, you know. They gotta eat and drink every day. The pigs, they can't feed
themselves, you know, they're locked up in a cage. I didn't really ... have time to do much in
my life, but all that I can remember is work. You know, work,
and get up, and work, go to school, work. They give me a lot of chances to go out, you
know, and stuff, but it's one reason why I kind of not want
to go out, because I know my parents will need help, too. [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] It's a never-ending job, but it is what it
is. Gotta do 'em. [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] Despite the endless hours put in, during the
end of 2016, the farm faced heavy competition. After a while, you know, business got slow,
and we lost a lot of our customers because the demand
wasn't as large as it was before. According to the 2014 data collected from
the State of Hawai'i Department of Agriculture, Reyes Hog
Farm competes with seventy other pig farms on O'ahu, a fraction of the two hundred found
statewide. Other people are getting involved, and new
farms are coming up, so it's easier to get pigs anywhere now. It took a toll, because it jeopardized our
properties. You know, I mean, we could have lost everything,
because we didn't have income coming in, so we had to find ways to hustle. For these hard times, Matthew and his family
tried their best to regain people's interest. How we gained a lot of customers was, we dropped
our prices on the pigs, you know. So, like, a lot of
customers would come because we're a little cheaper than the other farms. So, it was better that we lost a
little money than lose everything. We had to take money out of our savings accounts,
and kinda put my head together, and I had to grow up
really fast. I had to stand like a father figure to my
siblings. Go down that side, [INDISTINCT]. Go stand on this side ... As a role model, Matthew plans on furthering
his education to pave the way for the future of the farm. I am planning on going to college, maybe just
for a few years, get maybe a business degree. I just want to
go, and go a little bit deeper into business for my better understanding. And also, I want to take over the
business because we had it for a long time, so I want to keep it in the family and continue
it. It's not that I
have to do this. I really want to do this, because like, this
is my life, my livelihood. And it wouldn't
make sense if I do anything else, because I already know almost everything about pig
farming. I'm just
gonna keep myself motivated and positive. You know, even when times get hard, I'm just
gonna keep pushing myself to be successful. This is Elizabeth Ufi from Wai'anae High School,
for HIKI NŌ. Aloha. We're here on the campus of Waiākea High
School, located on the east side of Hawai'i Island. Children laughing, running footsteps, and
dirt handprints on walkway ceilings, these are commonly found
at any school, but are totally out of place on an empty campus at night. Teachers and staff who find
themselves on our campus after dark have reported that they have witnessed these occurrences. Local
historians say that there is a trail that leads right through our campus. This trail was used by warriors to
get to and from their training grounds. Certain areas on our campus have more activity,
such as H Building, R Building, and the back access
roads. The trail gives off a lingering energy that
causes weird activities 'til this day. Our broadcast media classmates produced the
following story on their teammate, who wasn't always in
love with running. So, before I start my race, as I'm lining
up on the starting line, my emotions are out of control. I'm
nervous, I'm anxious, I can't help whenever the nerves set in. My hands start to shake, and I get really
nervous and ... ready to run. If you hear Waiākea High School graduate
Saya Yabe talk about running, you'd wonder why she does it
at all. When I first started, I really had confidence
struggles in myself, being that I didn't believe in myself
during races and stuff. I'd always break down, cry. It was horrible, and I hated it. But for Saya, it's about ... Getting past the first mile. What I think about during that is, times,
times, times, hit your splits, hit every minute, hit every second. I have coaches that will write out times for
me to help me hit state times, to help me hit PRs and stuff like that. Some people think running is a simple sport. Just put one foot in front of the other, as
fast as you can. But sometimes, your feet can be your toughest
opponent. With running, obviously comes injuries and
pains, and I struggled with that a lot. Freshman, sophomore,
junior, senior year, I had injuries throughout the entire season. But it's injuries like this that you have
to overcome, to become a good runner. Your body can do anything that you tell it
to. It's your mind that
you have to convince. My breakthrough moment was really when I hit
high school, and I joined high school cross-country, high school track. I had great coaches who supported me, I had
a team, and I started to believe in myself more. It's the team, it's the people. During my senior year, I was actually
one of the top cross-country runners, and what kept me going throughout that is, it's
not a competition between people and athletes, it's a competition
between yourself. And it's bettering yourself, and trying
to make yourself be the best athlete that you can be. So, my favorite event in track is the three
thousand, and that is an event which is seven-and-a-half laps
around the track. It's very long, but I love it. The last hundred meters obviously is the hardest
part of the race. It's the most exciting. The audience can see you give it your all,
kick it out 'til the end, and I think that's the part for me that I struggle the
most with. I met people that I love, my teammates, my
coaches. They're the ones that push me to become the
best runner that I can be. And I really just fell in love with the sport. I love it, it's a great sport, and I think
everybody should try it. Saya Yabe is currently attending Dixie State
University in Utah. She is running cross-country and track,
and received an athletic merit scholarship to run for them. She has made the travel team, and her three-
mile time is now a minute faster than her best high school time. This is Makana Esser from Waiākea High School,
for HIKI NŌ. The following story from students at Kalama
Intermediate School on Maui features a Hawaiian immersion teacher who connects to her culture
by painting its core values. This is the dining room table where all of
my signs are made, and where all the magic happens. On the slopes of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawaiian
language immersion teacher Kiani Yasak makes signs as a
way to share Hawaiian culture and values with other people. Started the business as just, you know, a
hobby because I like to do arts and crafts. It was never about
making the money. It was always about, you know, doing something
that I enjoy. What started as a passion and hobby ended
up becoming a business. My purpose of my business is to promote 'ōlelo
Hawai'i, and the culture, and the values. I feel really
connected to my Hawaiian culture and language. I am a Hawaiian immersion graduate here on
Maui, and thought that, you know, it was my kuleana,
or my responsibility to give back to my community and the
immersion program that I grew up in. She customizes the signs for any occasion,
and you will often find the word aloha along with other
Hawaiian words. The sign that I'm doing right now is one of
my popular prints. This is the E Komo Mai pineapple. Pineapple being very inviting and tropical,
with that local lifestyle kind of feel to it. It's also, you know,
the values that we learn in the Hawaiian perspective through the language that I feel really connected
to and care about. Through these values that we learn and foster
in our program, and live outside of school in our families, that sense of place, and
belonging, and purpose that I learned and lived growing up gave
me that sense of responsibility and kuleana, something that you can't really explain, you
just have to know. And ... I feel that it's really important
for me to know that, and I feel fortunate that I had that
opportunity, so I can share that experience with my students, you know, being an immersion
teacher today. [HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE] You know, I want my students to know that
it's also their kuleana, and it's something important to us, and
that it's okay if you don't know how to explain it, because it's actually who we are. And in order to really
understand that and know that, you just kinda have to be in it and you have to live it. You can teach it,
and you can learn how to be Hawaiian, and these values. But until you're actually living it and through
the 'ōlelo and the perspective does it really make that connection. So, for Kumu Kiani, her love for Hawaiian
language permeates her signs and her commitment to teaching
and passing the language to the next generation of Hawaiian language speakers. This is Tiare Lucas
from Kalama Intermediate, for HIKI NŌ. Stay tuned after the show to find out what
students who created this story learned from their experience. Welcome to 'Ilima Intermediate School, located
in 'Ewa Beach, on the island of O'ahu. Over the
summer, our new band director, Mr. Kawasaki, experienced a supernatural phenomenon while
cleaning up one of the practice rooms. He noticed that some weird things started
to happen. As he left the band
room, the third practice room door creaked open, and the lights suddenly turned on. Later that day, he
noticed that the lights had turned off again, and the door was shut. The previous band teacher, Mr.
Langaman, had also experienced these supernatural events. They both believe that it could be a Hawaiian
spirit connected to some of the traditional musical artifacts. A priest was brought in last year to bless
the room in hopes of warding off the spirit, but
it is believed that the ghost still haunts the third practice
room. With this information, we must ask: Do you
believe in ghosts? The following video, produced by 'Ilima media
students, tells how band made a huge difference in one
girl's middle school experience. I joined band because my mom and sister did
it, and they made it seem really fun, really like it wasn't a
waste of your time. Band changed Necita Salas's life. She first picked up an instrument almost two
years ago as an incoming seventh-grader at 'Ilima Intermediate School. I wanted that connection with people. I wanted to be like them, to experience this
whole new world of music that I didn't even know existed. I play the French horn. It's actually a funny story on why,
because I originally wanted to be percussion. And I ended up having this dream that I was
playing a French horn, and I told Mr. Langaman. So, when I wanted to be percussion, he was
like, No, you're doing French horn. And he gave me a French horn, and I tried
it out, and I like, fell in love with it. Mr. Langaman helped make Necita into the person
that she is today. We don't just teach music. We teach them how to work as a team. Collaboration, creativity and
discipline. That's the biggest thing I teach in my band
class. [BAND PLAYING] It's helped me be more confident in myself,
to show myself in different ways that people thought never
existed. It's helped me be the person that I am today,
to express myself, to calm me in several ways. I
would be stressed out, and then I would just come into the band room, pick up my instrument,
and play whatever music I have in front of me. And it would just calm me down, and I can
go on with my day. Wow. She's gonna be a ball of energy. And she is, she's one of the hardest workers,
and most dedicated band members. Not only did Necita gain the knowledge of
music, she gained a family comprised of fellow musicians at
'Ilima. I would have probably left band if it wasn't
for them, if it wasn't for the feeling that I get. Because it's
just ... we're not actually friends, we're a family. We love each other to death and back. We wouldn't
trade each other for the world, because we're a group, we're a band, we're a family. This is Faith Lehua-Alejandro from 'Ilima
Intermediate School, for HIKI NŌ. Aloha. My name is Amaya Genovia, and I'm on the Kamehameha
Schools Maui campus outside of the Nāhi'ena'ena Building, where security guard
Brian had a frightening experience. Yeah, so that one time at the Nāhi'ena'ena
at the elementary school campus, as I was using the restroom,
I heard kids, a lot of kids walking past the restroom, and there was only me on campus
at the time. And it
happened twice, and that was pretty scary. The next story is from Kamehameha Maui Middle
School where students talk about a school counselor
who continues to help others despite his challenges. Okay, what do we experience in life that makes
us stronger? My passion in life is working with students,
being able to find ways that I can still help the community. Because when I first got injured, the community
really helped me. Michael Tom was a local boy who had everything
going for him, until that one fateful day back in 1990. I had my accident when I was twenty-one years
old. It happened when I was surfing at Baldwin
Beach Park. I went up on a wave, and I came down head
first, and the power of the wave pushed me down and
it broke cervical vertebrae in my neck at the C5 level. And I was instantly paralyzed. After many years of recovering from his accident,
Mr. Tom has found his calling in life by becoming a
school counselor and supporting students. But Mr. Tom still does experience some challenges. Challenges I usually face involve accessibility. Being able to get in and out of doors. If there's bumps or
curbs, being able to get past those, or find ways to get around. As time went on, I guess I started to
realize that this was a little more permanent than I realized. And I think the turning point came when I
was really able to question God, and to kinda be angry with God, and I realized that no
matter what I did or said, that God would still be with me. [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] Despite these setbacks, Mr. Tom finds a way
to overcome his challenges. I overcame my challenges mainly by making
conscious decisions -- to either give up, to give up on what I
wanted to do, or to be able to use those challenges as springboards for learning new things, improving
who I was as a person, and going forward from there. And I think that mending that relationship
with God really gave me the strength and the optimism
that I needed in order to move forward with my life, to
be able to look at things differently. Through all of his experiences, Mr. Tom has
some advice for the youth of today. I think it's difficult for students nowadays,
because things come really quickly, instantly. It's hard to look
long-term, to be able to work towards your goals and continue with that. I would say to never give up,
and to be able to endure and overcome your challenges, to look at challenges as a way
to grow rather than as roadblocks. People may look at individuals in wheelchairs
as being disabled, but Mr. Tom sees things from a different
angle as he rolls on through life. This is Amaya Genovia from Kamehameha Schools
Maui, for HIKI NŌ. We are on the campus of the 103-year-old Kaua'i
High School. Our school was the first high school to
open on the island, and supposedly was built upon a Hawaiian temple or sacred site otherwise
known as a heiau. Throughout the years, there have been unconfirmed
sightings of supernatural beings on campus, people who have sensed ghostly presences,
and others who reportedly have heard things such as drum
beatings, piano playing and a baby crying. This next story by students from Kaua'i High
School is about a unique program being implemented at all
four McDonald's locations on Kaua'i. [INDISTINCT] They have a lot of jobs in America. And I choose McDonald's because I love to
eat. [CHUCKLE]
Yeah. My J-1 students are pretty much international. Currently, we have the Thailand students with
us. The reason that we hire the students from
other countries is because we have such a low unemployment
rate that it's very difficult to maintain the level of employees we need to take care
of our customers. So,
this program allows us to bring students in during our peak times of the year. What we're looking for is
somebody that is customer-oriented, that's got a good smile, looks happy. And many of them do. [CHUCKLE] Hi. They're great ambassadors for us. They're all college students. They want to learn the English, they
want to learn about our culture. So, it's a great program for them. For students in the J-1 Work Visa Program,
the experience to potentially help them round out their
interpersonal and communication skills is what drives them to come to work in America. What flavor do you want of the iced coffee? In Thailand, you pay a lot of money, and your
English skills is not better. And
that's why I came here. Because when I work, I speak English with
the customer, with everyone. I want
to get better my English skill. It's very important for them when they go
home that they have a letter showing that not only experience,
but experience in the U.S. Because the employers know if they worked
here, and they have a letter of reference, that they're probably gonna make
a good employee when they graduate. [INDISTINCT CONVERSATION] I would like to be a person who work in the
airplane. This job is like I have to serve people, and
have to take care of the customer. If I work here, I should smile to them and
be nice to them. When we don't have customers we will clean
the counter and the tray, and like that. But for Gems, it's more than learning the
basic skills of the workforce, it's learning about life. Okay, I come here for learn about the real
life for working. In Thailand, I have a car. I never take a bus. I
never have the schedule. I never do that before. And it's real life. It's real work. [INDISTINCT] Thank you. [INDISTINCT] This is Brooke Kanna from Kaua'i High School,
for HIKI NŌ. We're here in the new classroom building of
Pacific Buddhist Academy, a small high school located on
the slopes of Punchbowl near the intersection of the Pali Highway and the H-1. Hello, my name is Daniel Kohn from PBA, Pacific
Buddhist Academy, and we're about to investigate this building. I heard it has ghosts in there. Our classroom building is so new we only finished
construction at the start of September. OK, we are on the second floor right now. Our boy, Tadashi, is looking for some paranormal
activity. So there are as yet no reported instances
of paranormal activity that we are aware of. Student safety is key, however, and for that
reason we sent a team of student ghost hunters to
investigate the interior of the facility seeking evidence of spectral disturbance. Looks like an all clear. Should be safe for the student body. The following story from students at Pacific
Buddhist Academy is about the ancient art of kendo,
which is a class taken by all ninth graders at our school. Kendo, which translates as, the way of the
sword. Kendo stems from the creation of the sword
in the Heian Era of the late 700s. Ancient samurai warriors used moves from kendo
to help with self-defense in close combat. A person that practices kendo is known as
a kenshi. The purpose of someone practicing
kendo is to mold the mind and body, to cultivate a vigorous spirit, to associate with others
with sincerity, and to promote peace and prosperity among
all. Kendo requires mental stability and physical
stamina. It
is great for someone who wants to add exercise to their daily life. Practice starts with seza, which means
quiet sitting. Seza enables a kendo student to meditate and
become centered within themselves. There are three basic areas on the body that
the person can practice striking. Men, which means head, is a
clean shot to the top of the skull. Kote, which means wrist, is a clean hit to
the opponent's wrist. The last
area you can hit is do, which means stomach. Now that you know the basics of kendo, continue
to practice, have fun, and train your spirit
to be compassionate to others who are weaker than yourself. This is Ashley Galicinao-Ripley from Pacific
Buddhist Academy, 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. We hope you enjoyed watching them, as much
as we've enjoyed sharing them with you. Stay tuned after the show to find out what
some students learned working on the show. More proof that Hawai'i's students HIKI NŌ... Can do! [MUSIC] Stick around after the credits to find out
what students from Kalama Intermediate School on Maui learned
from their HIKI NŌ experience. [MUSIC] [END] Hiki No 903
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