[intro music] HIKI NŌ, Hawai‘i's New Wave of Storytellers.

NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

I’m Izaya Edmonds, a junior at West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy on the Big Island.

We're so glad you joined us for this latest show produced by Hawai‘i's New Wave of Storytellers.

In this episode, I get to share a special collection of stories from the second round of shows this winter season.

We'll explore two special family legacies in the islands, one behind a farm in Waiāhole, and another behind a shave ice shop on O‘ahu.

We'll witness art in the making, as well as hula as healing in Lahaina on Maui, and how youth in Wai‘anae are giving back to their community.

We'll hear from some of our youngest HIKI NŌ students about what it's like to produce a hydroponics tutorial with some tasty results, and we'll learn about a shark research initiative at my own school, West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy.

Let's start the show with a piece produced by Waiāhole Elementary School on O‘ahu.

The story focuses on a grandfather who has helped steer his family farm through decades of change.

and I don’t know where the years went.

That was my grandpa Papa Norman Sadoyama.

He is a farmer in Waiāhole Valley.

I help my Papa Norman on the farm with my family.

I am proud to be from Waiāhole's farming history.

My dad, when he was 19, came from Okinawa and started farming in Waiāhole Valley in 1948.

This land was very, very raw, and it needed a lot of clearing.

He started planting sweet potato.

My desire was far from farming.

Because I grew up on a farm, I realized that the hard work of producing sweet potatoes and bananas and papayas is very hard work for my family.

So, we decided to plant easier crops to maintain.

The challenges of farming in Waiāhole is there's a lot of rain, and now, especially, there's lot of different viruses, disease, different kind of pests, but the challenges of farming is what builds a person's character.

The crops are not the only challenge.

My Papa Norman has to fight to keep farming in Waiāhole Valley.

Every 15 years, there is a negotiation of the lease rent, and at this time, development is always in the back of people's mind, government's mind.

It's been a battle.

My Papa's faith is how our farm got its name, Living Seed Farm.

I became a Christian, a born-again Christian, and I started to realize the principles that I could learn from the Bible.

And one of the principles is owing.

I think farming is such a educational means of, you know, instilling good principles in my grandchildren, my great grandchildren, and maybe my great-great grandchildren.

from Waiāhole Elementary School for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Not many people can say this, but our school has a pet shark.

Well, he's more than a pet.

Let's visit my campus at West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy on the Big Island and learn more.

To me, sharks are the most graceful, intelligent and intuitive animals to inhabit the ocean.

They are aware of everything going on around them.

Their sensory system is magnificent.

On the leeward side of West Hawai‘i, a charter school houses a black tip reef shark named Nahoa.

Located in the Natural Energy Laboratory in Kailua-Kona, students at West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy care for Nahoa in a tank that mimics his own natural environment on campus.

Nahoa, a 16-year-old shark, shares a 20,000-gallon salt water tank with native reef fish and serves as a research facility for students and staff.

The school prides itself in educating others about the shark's misunderstood nature.

When you look at a shark, for example, a sand tiger, they don't look friendly at all.

However, documented bites on humans by the sand tiger is minimal.

I think it takes a little more effort to understand the shark, and it's really easy to love a cute, happy dolphin.

The main idea of the shark project is to reshape the reputation of the animal.

The movie Jaws came out in 1977, and it changed the public's view of the animal, and ever since then, overfishing, finning for shark fin soup by catch and long lining and net fishing has occurred.

Senior Brody Hammer has been working with the shark tank since his freshman year, and now has transitioned into a mentor for other students interested in the sharks project.

Couple years, we've been doing a lot of feed data, so, different foods, and the time it takes to eat them, and trying to figure out what he likes best, and stuff like that.

So, we try to change up our research every year.

So, we try to come up with a new idea, something new to focus on, possibly a new project or hypothesis for the shark tank.

We've done behavior.

We've done how sound, how magnets affect the shark, food affects the shark, stuff like that.

Nahoa’s journey to West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy got off to a rough start.

Nahoa almost lost his life during the transportation from a local hotel to the charter school.

But thanks to the quick thinking of director Eric Swenson, the shark made his forever home alive.

We had a tank set up on the back of a flatbed truck.

We moved Nahoa into the tank.

On our ride to WHEA on the Queen, we were pulled over by the police.

As the police were pulling us over, Nahoa went belly up.

Nahoa stopped breathing, so I was resuscitating Nahoa, giving shark CPR.

been the only shark to inhabit the tank.

Several years ago, Kainoa, another black deep reef shark, passed away from a cyst in his liver.

While the death of the shark was sad, it also provided opportunity for students to learn about the biology of sharks.

The shark tank has become a legacy project and a place of wonder at West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy.

one of the best things, having the animals on our campus, is being able to introduce the animal to people who have never seen the animal before.

I've seen tears, obviously big smiles, excitement, laughter, a lot of wows.

This is Oland Carlson from West Hawai‘i Explorations Academy for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Students at Honowai Elementary School on O‘ahu take us along the process of growing bok choy using a special method first documented by a professor at the University of Hawai‘i.

Let's watch.

you could grow a garden without soil?

Here we will show you how.

We will plant bok choy and water instead of soil.

It uses the Kratky hydroponic method of hydroponics, which doesn't use any pumps.

Instead, all you need is containers full of water and hydroponic nutrients.

Then your plants grow.

plants like bok choy, lettuce and cabbage.

Also, here's a quick fun fact for you.

The Kratky method was developed by a professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

His name is Bernard Kratky, and he documented this concept in 2009.

The first step is to germinate your seed.

You will do this by getting some rockwool cubes and a germination tray with a vented dome.

Pull apart the rockwool so that you'll have 10 pieces.

Wet your rockwool under cool water.

Then you are going to get a little poker stick and open the hole in the rockwool.

Then you pour the seeds into a small plate.

Get around three seeds of bok choy and put it in the hole of the rockwool.

You can wet your poker stick to put the seeds in.

Pinch the rockwool closed so none of the seeds are exposed.

Then you put your rockwool in the container.

Make sure the container has a little bit of water on the bottom, enough to cover the bottom of the rockwool.

Then observe and once the seedlings start producing a second set of leaves, open the valves of the container.

Keep it open until you see that the roots have grown to about two to four inches.

While waiting for the roots to grow, ask an adult to help you prepare the next part.

Ask them to make holes in the cover of your water container.

Make five holes in each container, equally spaced apart.

Make sure that the holes can fit the neti pots in them.

Once your seeds have roots about four inches long, you take them out and put them in the neti pot and place them in the holes of the container.

You will need to add the water up to the halfway line on the neti cup.

You will need to check the water level and match it to the neti cup level.

After that, turn on the lights and you can observe and watch it grow.

Baby bok choy takes about a month to grow back, so you'll be able to eat it after you grow it.

After you grow your bok choy, you can have a ramen day with your friends.

HIKI NŌ staff got the chance to talk with those kids to hear more about their experience producing the video.

We did a story on HIKI NŌ about how to grow bok choy without using soil.

So basically, I was like the person who like, showed them how to do it.

I was behind the camera recording.

I'm still recording.

Keep recording.

Never stop.

the steps on how to do it.

The Kratky method was developed by a professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

when we turned it into him, he gave us a lot of like, things we needed to improve on, which we didn't realize at first.

So being able to, like, do it over and over until we got the perfect stuff was kind of hard, and it took, like, lots of time and effort.

I think getting the feedback made our video a lot more better.

After you grow your bok choy, you can have a ramen day with your friends.

I'm very excited to see the story so I can show it to my mom.

This next story was produced by students at Wai‘anae High School on the west side of O‘ahu, where a youth led initiative has powerful results and boosts community pride.

Morning.

Morning.

Keep coming.

on the west side of O‘ahu, ‘Elepaio Social Services and Searider Productions came together to create Pa‘a Pono 96792.

This community and youth-focus campaign held their second student-led food distribution event in June 2025 feeding the community with not only food, but aloha and pride.

to know that other people are getting the things they need, and when people are getting things they need, it makes me feel that our community is stronger and is more important than ever.

Have a wonderful day.

Thank you.

empower the younger generations, it represents both the Wai‘anae and Nanakuli communities, creating a larger vision of unity on the west side.

I think for this particular event, it's just any opportunity for us to be able to give back.

Our youth are the next generation, and I'm super proud of our students for, you know, stepping forward and really wanting to take leadership and make our community better.

Although this is only the beginning, ‘Elepaio Social Services hopes to continue making an impact through these events.

I feel proud.

I feel so proud.

It's personal work, and so to be able to have youth come out here and get to feel that feeling and understand that there's issues that are going to come across our coast, but we can also be part of the solution by banding together and uniting and doing stuff together as a community, uplift each other.

We're all community experts, and we all have certain superpowers that we can contribute, and that's what is needed.

community resilience and narrative.

Together Wai‘anae and Nānākuli stand firm in uplifting the youth of the west side.

for helping other people and to be a leader.

This is Jhera Mae Paulo from Wai‘anae High School, reporting for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Gymnastics turned out to be a healing outlet for this next HIKI NŌ correspondent from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy on Hawai‘i Island.

I was six the first time I saw someone perform a gymnastics routine on TV.

The way they were moving, flipping and the music of their floor routines, it may want to try doing the same.

My cousin found out I was going to start gymnastics, and she gave me my first ever hand me down leotard.

I started taking classes.

I was hooked.

I didn't realize that at the time, but making this my passion would be the best decision I could have ever made.

Because in the fifth grade, my parents separated, and everything changed for me.

I didn't know what to think of the situation, whether it be sad or mad; I was lost, overwhelmed, feeling all the emotions.

Gymnastics was a way out.

It was something I could focus on instead of all the stress and tension at home.

My gym became like my second home, and my teammates were like my second family.

They were very supportive of me.

They understood my situation and what I was going through.

The feeling of tumbling on the floor made me feel free, like nothing was holding me down.

The natural feeling of balancing on a beam was grounding for me, and I could find a peace of mind.

Gymnastics helped me accept my parents’ separation and allowed me to move on and process the big emotions I was feeling.

Now, with all the overwhelming emotions gone, I've grown to be a more independent and grounded person.

If you're going through the same thing I did, I suggest finding something you enjoy doing that can help you distract yourself from your problems.

And remember you're not the only one on this journey.

This is Savannah Sunahara from Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

This next story received first place in the middle school division of our Winter Challenge contest.

It is a touching look at a hula halau and their life after life-changing fires on Maui in 2023.   to remember this place that has gone through tragic times.

2023, fires ran rampant through Lahaina, leaving the people of Maui devastated.

Now, three years later, members of the Ka Pā O Kalama are here at Waiola Church to give a ho‘okupu ceremony to the caretakers of these lands to honor those that passed in the fires.

Auntie Malia Pasqua lost her home to the fires in 2023.

To help him through this tragedy, he turned towards hula.

Hula has helped me throughout these difficult times by giving me peace.

When I dance hula, I feel like I am at peace.

I'm not worrying about anything that's happening throughout my life.

Hula brings me a lot of joy.

Like, I would say, out of all the things I do, hula is one of the main things.

is a healing hand for many others in the community.

In these tragic times, hula has been an uplifting force, and it was very difficult for me to see, to even drive here today and to still see dry and barren areas.

And so, we're still living through this, and that's the purpose we're here today, is just we haven't forgotten.

My hope and dream is that we rebuild this place so that we can bring life and we can honor our ali‘i and all that we have to do in our kuleana, I just would like to bring glory back to Moku‘ula.

the caretakers of this land, it means everything to be here today.

I think if we look at it, yes, the physical aspect of Lahaina is gone, but the spirit of Lahaina is still here.

The people are strong, and they're rebuilding.

The community of Maui will keep working towards recovery from the tragedy, holding on to their traditions and helping them step into the future.

This is Keely Cabreros for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Let's stay in Lahaina, Maui to watch this story from Lahaina Intermediate School, which documents how their campus got a new burst of color thanks to a community mural project.

that celebrates all kinds of creativity.

Fest came to Lahaina Intermediate School and gave it a whole new look.

They painted 17 murals and 4 benches.

I even got to interview Wooden Wave, a husband-and-wife duo who painted one of the murals here.

Spectra, like the word spectra could mean, like, all these different colors.

Like oh, the colors on my hand.

I'm Roxie Ortiz.

I'm Matt Ortiz.

One of the reasons we like doing it in community spaces like this is that everyone gets to enjoy the art.

Whatever they're doing to, you know, driving by on their way to work or to school, you know, walking on their way, you know, home.

It's just really nice to encounter people in their regular lives.

And that's what's fun is, you know, people of all ages get to enjoy the art.

And see the process, too.

Yeah, exactly.

You don't always get to see an artist paint their painting from start to finish.

And then also, the idea for us is that each person who puts a little painting on this wall, they have ownership in that wall.

This is now their painting as well, and it'll be there as long as this wall will be here.

And so, you'll always be able to drive up Lahainaluna road and go, ʻYeah, there's my little honu.

There's my coral reef.ʻ You know, and it's there.

The people of the community got to make different ocean animals and coral, making the painting something the whole community got to help with.

And every single person had a little spot on the wall that they could call their own.

Speaking for myself, because we work together as a husband-and-wife team.

I'm really, really, really enjoying doing landscapes right now, because we're kind of known for these treehouse illustrations, that we do these paintings, which are fun.

But there's something really relaxing about painting trees, mountains and coral, and I could see myself doing that.

That's what's actually cool about each mural that's being painted here is everyone is using the same material, but their ideas are completely different.

So, you're getting all of these different scenes and characters on each wall.

And that's what's really fun, is everyone's new ideas kind of coming together to create something different.

creative experience.

Nagasako at Lahaina Intermediate for HIKI NŌ on PBS Hawai‘i.

Time to end on a sweet note.

Let's learn more about the history of a shave ice shop located on the North Shore of O‘ahu.

You know, it's a part of Hawai‘i's culture.

Ice has been built from the ground up, becoming a hot spot in the town of Haleiwa.

The history of Matsumoto started back in 1951 of February 13.

My parents, Mamoru and Helen Matsumoto, started as a grocery store.

This store previously was owned by Mr.

Tanaka, and he gave my dad the chance to open up his own business, and he was the one that really helped my dad a lot.

Mr.

Tanaka, that previously owned, told my dad what, to try selling shave ice.

Mr.

Tanaka even went to Japan to buy the first shave ice machine.

shave ice would become one of Hawai‘i's most well-known desserts.

It was the local people that made Matsumoto what it is today.

So, I never forgot that, and so I just want to make my style of shave ice more like the old plantation days.

I just want to keep it the same and try to tell the tourists that come here that, you know, I just want to keep it the old style.

I don't want to make it like a little really fancy shave ice or something.

The business is kept alive by the smiles and support from people around the globe.

is important to the people of Hawai‘i because there's also a history with it.

It was brought over by the Japanese immigrants, and we have this whole plantation history, and I feel like the Japanese were able to turn this into a very iconic dessert here in Hawai‘i.

a lot of tourists and everything, but I just won't forget where I came from, or where my parents came from, or how they struggled and everything.

serving people that visit from all over the world and locals as well, and it really puts a smile on my face when we serve the shave ice, and they have, like, a really great reaction.

just go to the shrimp trucks and then go check out some of our friends that are at another little beach.

But then when we saw that there was no line, then we're like, okay, we should actually go by and check it out this time.

that Matsumoto Shave Ice is special compared to other businesses because we started close to 75 years ago.

We are still a family owned and operated business.

We have a very simple menu, but we also serve it for a very cheap price.

So, that's something that we take pride in.

you can get a shaved ice, but it's nothing as good as this, for sure.

Matsumoto Shave Ice is now a part of Hawai‘i's culture with every bowl served.

This is Kanna Nakagawa reporting for Now Loading News.

That's it for our show.

Thank you for watching the work of Hawai‘i's New Wave of Storytellers.

Don't forget to follow PBS Hawai‘i on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

You can find this HIKI NŌ episode and more on pbshawaii.org.

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

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