My HIKI NŌ experience was one of a kind.

I found a way to express myself.

It was kind of like therapy for me at the time.

I got to share my story in front of people, and it made me feel like, important.

I think it's a really good opportunity for you to kind of get something out that you really think is important in the community.

The only thing I would do differently is join sooner.

I would have joined my freshman year, for sure.

Hi, I'm Taylor McCann, a HIKI NŌ graduate from Waiākea High School Class of 2022.

My HIKI NŌ experience was one of a kind.

I've never heard of a program or a station, or even another state PBS station, that has a program like HIKI NŌ.

And so, across the whole country, I've, I’ve never met anybody who's had the opportunities that I have had.

This program is like, truly a gift.

This is Taylor McCann from Waiākea High School for HIKI NŌ.

So, kitten yoga was a story that I did my sophomore year, and it was my first piece that ever aired with PBS.

So, it was the first time I ever got to work with you guys.

And I had worked so hard on it.

I had been studying the process and how to perfect a story and everything you're supposed to do for so long and I felt so ready for it.

And then even before I gave it to you guys, when I was working with Uncle Donn on it, and he was giving me feedback.

We went back and forth a couple times.

So much work had been put into it, and I was so proud because I thought I followed everything to a T, and I did the best I could.

But it really just, sending it to you guys and getting the feedback from Shirley really opened my eyes to how much the little things matter.

But it's definitely eye opening and a little bit like, jarring and humbling at first, because it's kind of scary.

Like, I really thought I was putting forward my best work, and I was, but then to get all that feedback, it was almost like, took me down a couple pegs and made me feel like maybe I'm not cut out for this, like, I made all these mistakes.

But after I started editing it again and getting the revisement comments back in, I realized that that's just how it is, and I'm a student.

So, obviously there's a lot of room for improvement and a lot of things I don't know.

And that's when I started to just love getting feedback, because then it was things that I knew and that I knew how to do and how to change and that I wouldn't do again next time.

And then I felt more confident each time I would turn a project to him because I knew that at least I did that stuff right that I messed up before.

Well, we love him.

He brings us a lot of joy.

As I said, it's a labor of love when I was out there walking him with a leash.

One of the things that I love about HIKI NŌ is that they really, these producers who are mentoring these students as they produce their projects, they really honor the producers.

Because it's, it's again, it's very hands off, because you – the whole point of HIKI NŌ is to tell the stories from the community by students because of that refreshing perspective.

The most important thing about HIKI NŌ is that it's, it's all about the student's voice.

My mom is still working a 9 to 5 job, five days a week.

Every day when she gets home from work, she immediately disinfects her shoes and protective mask outside and throws her work clothes into the wash.

When the pandemic happened, and we had to get more personal or like find stories within our reach, like of family members or close, close friends that we were still able to see or be in contact with.

It just, if anything, made that experience even deeper.

Up until two months ago, I was able to keep my head afloat during all of this until my dad's business, Volcano House, was forced to close down indefinitely.

In order to continue to provide for our family, he was temporarily transferred across the country to work at another national park in Maine.

Not only was I documenting it, but I was documenting it from a unique perspective as a high school kid.

And so, it's really weird to look back on because I feel like that's something that can be reflected on and used as a resource for years and years and years, dare I say like, decades to come, just because, I mean, even like, at school, like I learned about things, but it's so different to see it from like a firsthand perspective, and have someone just telling you like, I was there.

This is how it went down, and this is what it was like.

Today is March 14.

And I will feel everything I already felt on March 13.

Nothing.

So my film, Alexis Ann, which got the best writing award in the film excellence competition for the Student Television Network this year in 2022, was about a young girl who is waking up and getting ready for school.

So, it sounds pretty simple in theory, I guess.

But it's pretty dark and a little bit twisted.

It's pretty obvious she's struggling with some, some mental health issues, some body image issues, maybe some eating disorder content in there.

And so, it, it's a little bit creepy and it's a little bit unsettling.

The warmth stings the fingernail in dense coating the back of my throat.

But I don't mind.

After a while, I can't even feel it at all.

So, after awards, there were just so many young girls that came up to me, and girls my age, that came up to me to talk about how it had like, really spoke to them and moved them, and how they felt like, almost like, called out in a sense because it was so like, true to their own experience.

Just emphasized like, the power of the voice you have with visual storytelling.

But I will not step on the scale.

So, my plan for after high school is in January, I'm going to be moving out to LA.

I have a production assistant job lined up, and I could not be more thrilled.

I've known that I wanted to be in the industry since I was in elementary school.

HIKI NŌ has given me real life experience on the job.

I feel like it's helped me develop my professional self, which needs some work.

But it's given me a lot of opportunities to work with adults and professionals, and just do some amazing stuff that high school kids don't get to do, like get my stuff aired on TV and work hand in hand with producers on, on projects that I'm making, and get to have so much creative control and do so many different kinds of projects.

I really feel like I have a leg up because of the experience I've gained from HIKI NŌ.

Getting to work with HIKI NŌ gave me the opportunity to make new stories, which I love.

But it did help me realize that I want to stray a little bit from that and go into film, and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

Hi, I'm Holden Aniya.

I'm a HIKI NŌ graduate from Sacred Arts Academy Class of 2022.

I loved Ms. Myers.

She, she was the very one that helps me with everything.

She taught me everything that I know about video productions.

She helped me with speaking in front of the camera, my shyness, um, the script.

But she, um, she really cared about us.

It wasn't just like, ‘Oh, I'm just your teacher.

It's just my job.’ It was like, ‘No, like, I'm passionate about this, and I want to teach you so that you can love it, too.’ Once COVID hit, I was just starting to get comfortable in my classes, especially in video productions class.

I just learned, um, how to work the cameras, how to be behind the camera, the whole productions, like, being with a team.

And when COVID hit it was like a total change.

And it felt like oh, I just got used to this, um, this environment, being around people and creating shows, and then now I have to stay home and like do everything myself; do it virtually.

And I think a big part of that was also the equipment, like, I literally just had my computer and my phone.

I'm recording this at my home at Ewa Beach on January 10, 2021.

COVID-19 forced me to rethink my lifestyle and establish a new routine.

My HIKI NŌ mentor, Terri Inefuku, she really pushed me to my limits, especially just with making videos because I was never used to having to remake videos and do it over again, redoing voiceovers.

So, when she was my mentor, she kept telling me, "You have to redo this, you have to redo this.

You're doing this wrong,” and I, I wasn't used to it.

But now that I look back at it, I realized that she was just trying to help me create the best video I can make.

But eventually I learned to recognize the important blessings in disguise.

Staying at home meant I got to spend more time with my family, and when restrictions eased, I got to visit my Papa and Tutu in the safest way possible, and I love spending time with them.

When I go to their house, they make me food and we stay up all night watching movies and playing cards.

I see them more now than ever before and I know that I can't take these opportunities for granted.

COVID also helps me rediscover my love for volleyball.

Before the pandemic, I was so burnt out, so I decided to take a break.

It was a hard decision because I knew that I couldn't return at my absolute best, but COVID stopped everyone from playing.

When my student reflection finally aired, it was definitely nerve racking.

I've never been on live TV.

I was so used to just my school watching me on, like, our Lancers Lately Show, so it was definitely different.

But I, I found a way to express myself.

It was kind of like therapy for me at the time.

I got to share my story in front of people, and it made me feel like, important.

At that point, I was ready to go back to, to school and see everyone.

Um, it was still different.

We had to wear a mask.

We had to social distance.

But it was still good for video productions because everyone was all together, and we got to do things together again instead of just doing things separately and having to figure everything out on our own.

And it was better because I actually had Ms. Myers right by me to help me and guide me.

My goals for this year's team are to win and to have fun, but mostly to win.

We’ve beat most of the competitors in our region, and hopefully we'll see how we do when we get to the playoffs.

This is Holden Aniya from Sacred Hearts Academy for HIKI NŌ.

I love asking questions to people.

Um, it's kind of different when you're getting asked questions like, when you're the ones speaking, you ask them the best questions possible to help them, um, get out whatever they want to get out.

And I just like hearing what they love and like, what they're passionate about, what they want to put out to the world.

I did, um, public elementary school and public middle school.

I went to Keone‘ula Elementary School and ‘Ewa Makai Middle School, and then I came to Sacred Hearts Academy from freshman year to senior year.

And honestly, it was a huge change for me.

I think it takes away the male domination, or just like, the gender stereotypes.

It's all girls.

And so, when you see us thriving or like, some girls thriving and doing things that you wouldn't normally think that they do, it's a normal thing there because it's all girls.

In the fall I'm going to be going to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and I'm going to major in Aeronautical Science.

The school is in Arizona, and, um, my plan is to be a commercial pilot.

When I spoke to the female pilot, she told me that, um, it can be way too expensive, and it's like, kind of a waste of time if you're not passionate about doing that.

Um, the fact that it's male dominated, it takes a lot of patience to be flying for that amount of hours and, uh, sleep deprivation.

I still even though I heard, um, all of like, the disadvantages, I still wanted to do it.

My mentor, Terri, taught me perseverance and working hard for doing something that I'm passionate about and not giving up on it.

It was a good lesson to learn.

It's something that can be applied to anything in life.

Hi, my name is Hunter Prior.

Uh, I am part of the HIKI NŌ class of 2022, and I graduated from Konawaena High School.

Throughout all of high school, I've always been in some media class because my advisor, Ms. Obregon, she, uh, is the media teacher.

So, I've always been kind of close to her and we've always interacted.

Uh, when I first heard that I was going to do the story for HIKI NŌ, um, I was pretty excited.

I had previously worked on the Martin Charlot one coming out of Konawaena , and, um, I had a lot of fun working on that, and it was a lot more professional than the usual bits that I make.

So, I figured it'd be a great experience for me.

My teacher came to me, and she told me that the centennial was coming up, the 100-year anniversary of Konawaena, uh, which was in 2021.

And I kind of thought that that was the best thing I could do.

It was, it's really fascinating to know how it came about, especially being 100 years old.

It predates the Second World War.

It's, there's a lot of history there.

Konawaena has long been a gathering place for the Kona coffee community.

It's in the name you know, Konawaena, so Kona, middle; it's the pinpoint area where everyone comes together.

The community is gathered.

Students come here to learn, and students come here to participate in activities.

So, I feel that, um, Konawaena’s role is to be the pinpoint.

I'd say I was pretty much involved in just about everything in the video.

Um, I did the editing, I worked on the scripts, I filmed, I interviewed.

My teacher, Ms. Obregon, um, told me that I would have a mentor.

And I thought that that was really interesting because I've never really had like, an oversight like that.

Um, and so I met her.

Her name is Terri Inefuku.

She's great.

Um, she walked me through a lot kind of at the beginning of when we had originally thought to do that, or cover the centennial, we were going to cover the celebration itself.

So, um, the one in the video where Billy V is hosting that whole thing and how COVID kind of affected it and, uh, made it harder for us to actually go through with that.

Good evening.

Aloha [Hawaiian] My name is Billy V., uh, Class of 1983, Konawaena High School.

Due to COVID, original in-person plans for the Centennial Celebration shifted to virtual events hosted by prominent alumni.

Uh, so that was our original pitch, um, and I was kind of okay with it.

But I didn't really get it that much.

And Terri came in, and she kind of saw it and gave us some great feedback, which totally made sense in my eyes.

Um, so I think we kind of blended the celebration itself in with the history of Konawaena, in which I enjoyed a lot more.

Konawaena has been a place where generations of memories have been made.

It took about a semester for me to film this video and do all of the work on it.

I learned a bunch, I think, from technical skills to how to interview people, um, just how to interact in a professional environment, um, and learn how to pitch, write scripts.

It's, it's a lot that I knew before, but just needed a lot of refining.

Uh, there were a lot of revisions.

I think I had around maybe five to ten rough cuts in total, and we spent a semester doing it.

So, there was a lot going on, and I'd always like, finish the video, I always think that it was good, satisfied.

Um, and then I sent it into Terry, and she'd kind of respond back and like, “Maybe you can work on this, maybe you can make this longer, maybe more elaborate on this.” And, um, although I had to like, go back and redo it, it was definitely very helpful, and it definitely made the video better.

And even like, when I kind of disagreed and I had some like feedback to give to her, she kind of understood that.

And she was like, “Oh, okay, so that makes sense.

That's where this is going.” Having someone who has like, real life experience and is kind of working behind the scenes, uh, it was really helpful.

She helped me kind of revise my technique and how I wanted to go about it.

[singing] And so I had brought my parents with me, um, and my two daughters were there and the grandkids were there.

So, we all stood up and she said, "Let's sing the alma mater together."

And the four generations sang the Alma Mater together, and my parents still knew the words.

[singing and cheering] Personally, I think why it was important for me to kind of cover the centennial is because I felt it was going to be very important to the community.

I felt it was kind of my way of leaving my mark on Konawaena, uh, graduating from that class.

And having a video covering the 100-year centennial, I think was very important, and that's kind of my way of leaving my legacy at Konawaena.

Pretty much everybody, every person in Kona has some memory, connection, some story to this place, to Konawaena High School.

After I made it, my teacher found out when it was going to air and she, she like, went on the school broadcast and told everybody that it was going to air and that they should watch it.

And I got a lot of feedback from that, uh, from teachers and classmates, uh, from around the school.

Um, I think it was pretty well-received, and Konawaena is a really big deal in the community.

It has been for the past 100 years, and I think it holds a spot in the hearts of a lot of people living on Big Island.

Um, there's a lot of memories there, uh, nostalgia that I think I might have brought back by reviewing the history of it.

Learning the whole process, uh, from start to finish of having to pitch a video to a large broadcasting network, having to learn how to work with a mentor and a producer, um, working with a script and interviewing people, I think that was definitely the largest takeaway.

In the fall I will be attending the University of Northern Colorado.

I will be studying Communications as of right now.

Uh, HIKI NŌ provide me with a lot of kind of insight on to the field and just using that experience in college, I think I'll definitely have an advantage.

I'm Jasmine Gardner, HIKI NŌ class of 2022, and I graduated from Hilo High School.

My HIKI NŌ experience was a big learning opportunity, um, for everything production-wise, like the three-act storytelling, how to make a script, how to make a good script, how to make a shot list and connect the script with the shot list, uh, camera angles and everything, like, in between.

All the technical stuff was, I learned through HIKI NŌ.

The only thing I would do differently is join sooner.

I would have joined my freshman year, for sure.

I would have done challenges because then I probably would have learned a lot more then.

It definitely has opened my eyes to what I want to be doing with my future.

KVIKS Media is a program at, uh, Hilo High School that is connected to the Technology and Communications Department of Hilo High School.

We started off as a club, I think, to help the techs, um, doing what needs to be done, because a lot of teachers need help with like, their computers and stuff like that.

And then it became a chartered club at the school.

And then it, we were asked to broadcast sports as well as school events.

Uh, the club advisor, Luke Eclipse-Ujano, he was a, uh, HIKI NŌ student as well, uh, and he's basically run this whole club by himself, a lot of volunteer work put into it.

And he has taught me so much.

I think Luke does KVIKS because of the same reason that I want to get into, uh, film, because he, he feels this sense of like, passing things down, uh, to the next generation, kind of like how HIKI NŌ, pass down their, their knowledge and information to him.

So, he's passing it down to us.

And then students, because it is a student run program, can pass it down to the next students.

Shirley Thompson, our HIKI NŌ mentor, um, really helped us see a bigger side of video production.

And so, I always approach it to the students, how can I be helpful to you?

What are your questions?

Um, what are things that have been, you know, things that you're not sure about?

And let's just talk it out.

So, when I worked with Cameron at Hilo High on his student reflection, we started working in a summer workshop.

And right away, I could tell that this idea that he had about, um, learning to be a financially stable adult was just fresh and new.

My dad would always tell me that there is more to life than just being in front of your computer screen.

He was right.

After a while, I grew tired of it.

It doesn't always have to be serious, and it doesn't always have to be to the dot, uh, perfect.

It can be funny, it can be, uh, authentically you.

And I think we all, our whole team, learned something about that.

Now I am focused on reaching my goals of becoming a financially stable adult in the future.

I’d definitely like to do more videos where we're letting other people give their stories and put that out into the world.

A lot of people have really good perspectives on things that I think the world needs to hear.

And I don't necessarily do it, uh, I don't necessarily do it, because I'm good at it.

I do it because it just makes me feel good knowing that I can let somebody else have a voice and they can be heard.

When my Tutu passed away, her death hit me very hard.

Thinking about her stories and her horse brought me comfort, and I knew this was something I wanted to do.

I started watching horseback riding competitions at Panaewa.

There, I met my first trainer who taught me how to ride.

As the years went on, I started going to other trainers and eventually ended up at state Horse Stables.

A few years ago, a new horse was brought in.

His name was Nui, when he started, he wouldn't let anyone touch him.

I think HIKI NŌ really gives so many people a voice, it gives communities a voice.

Um, I think the Big Island is big, but it's also small, and Hilo's a small community; so is Kona, so is so many other places.

And HIKI NŌ, gives them a voice.

It gives them a story.

And when other people see that, and they can relate, or they can find comfort or inspiration in that, I think it's very inspiring.

And it's great to, to hear and to know that there is something like HIKI NŌ.

Having character and having these values instilled in yourself is very important, especially going out after post high school and trying to get a job, or going into college, or wherever it may be for him.

My experience with KVIKS and HIKI NŌ has definitely affected what I wanted to do with my life.

Because at first, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, like, I had ideas, but going through it, and this experience has really opened my eyes to a whole ‘nother world that I want to be a part of.

In the fall, uh, I will be attending Hawaii Community College and I will be studying Creative Media.

Eventually I want to create a business, um, where I do videography for events, like weddings, birthdays, for people to um, make a request and I would do videography for them, for social media, or just for them personally, as well as, um, bring myself to the community.

I think ‘cause I grew up on a small island and like, in a small community and knowing very few people, I think being able to give back to those people, being able to give back to the city that I have grown up in is very important to me.

And it's not necessarily about making it big; it's about making and doing for others.