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[INTRO MUSIC]
Hi, guys!
So, before we start, I would like to have you guys introduce yourselves.
I'm Caleb Cainas, and I graduated from Moanalua High School, here on O'ahu.
I'm Haven Luper-Jasso.
I graduated from Kaua'i High School, on Kaua'i.
And I'm Katherine Swor, and I graduated from H.P. Baldwin High School, on Maui.
So, Caleb, could you please describe to us the HIKI NŌ story
that meant a lot to you?
The first one that actually comes to mind is "Heart Over Height."
It's about a soccer player at Moanalua High School.
He was a sophomore at the time, and I was a senior.
His name is Rylan, and he loves soccer.
However, he is a little different.
He was born with a disease or this rare condition that, you know,
kind of limits him to his height.
And you know, filming that and interviewing him, it really showed his
true passion for what he loves to do.
He started with AYSO soccer, and it was just for fun, just to see if he liked the sport.
When it comes to soccer, Moanalua High School sophomore Rylan Sakai has always had big dreams.
Rylan works super hard.
Whenever he's trying to go for a ball and there's another person trying to go for
it as well, he pushes himself hard so he can beat the person to the ball.
I don't think that he would be able to fight for a ball fifty-fifty if it wasn't because
he's thinking ahead.
And that's what separates him from other players.
But it didn't take long for Rylan to realize that the goal was much bigger than he thought.
He was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.
I'm short, but it still doesn't stop me from the thing I do, the thing I love, my dream.
As a parent, we worry about the kids being so much bigger than him.
When I was in elementary school, I was teased a lot about how short I am, and people put
me down.
I felt like quitting after my parents told me that
I couldn't make it, 'cause since they told me that, like, I didn't
really have a point in doing soccer.
Despite the criticism, he refused to let the negativity get to him.
As I grew older, I just learned to block them out, and whoever teases me, it doesn't really
matter.
I thought I would see a lot of struggles that he goes through, but Rylan takes it in stride.
He knows what he's capable of doing, and he just does it.
He can become the best player in the team.
He has the same opportunities, just like anyone else.
The difference is, yes, he's working harder than
anyone else to be able to get there.
He knows what he wants.
I'm trying to go big, because I'm trying to shoot for something that people think I can.
He is hungry for the win.
He wants to win, and he wants to do good.
And I believe that the way that he is will allow him to do good in life.
He knows that he's Rylan, and this is what he's capable of doing, and he's not gonna
let that bother him, no matter what.
'Cause he knows in his heart that he can do it.
I still want to play soccer for the rest of my life.
For Rylan, it's all about heart over height, and achieving his dreams will never be out
of reach.
This is Mari Kimoto from Moanalua High School, for
HIKI NŌ.
Wow, Caleb, that was a really good story.
Thank you.
Very inspiring.
I love the flow.
The cinematography was great.
I really enjoyed that.
And also, I just think it was so cool how ... what a neat message
for our society and kids who think that athletes have to
look this one certain way, and you can't achieve greatness if you're so small, and just like,
breaking that stereotype.
It's a truly unique story.
And you could just see that hard work all paid off, just because of his
determination and perseverance, just for his passion.
What have you learned on this story?
I think it's the questions that you are most uncomfortable with asking are the best questions.
Because you know, those are the ones that have, you know,
the deepest thought or like, you know, they're maybe the
meat of the story, you know.
So, like, you could ask a question like, Oh, why do you wear that necklace?
And like, Oh, my mother gave this to me before she passed.
You know, it's like that kinda stuff.
So, you know, you never know 'til you ask.
So, Haven, can you describe to us a HIKI NŌ story that has meant a lot to you?
Yes.
Okay, so one that comes to mind actually happened way back in the day when I attended Chiefess
Kamakahelei Middle School as a seventh-grader.
I was new to media, and super excited.
And I ended up doing a piece on Bethany Hamilton.
And that kind of came about because I was thinking, What kind of
pieces do you want to share with people?
And I wanted to do something really inspiring.
Bethany Hamilton is best known for being a young shark attack survivor.
When she was thirteen, while surfing on the north shore of Kaua'i on the
morning of October 31, 2003, in a tragic accident, a shark took
her arm and nearly took her life.
From then on, she was able to pursue her dream of becoming a pro
surfer, and is an inspiration to many.
It hasn't been easy, though, and she had to persevere through a lot
to get to this point.
I think for Bethany, some of the biggest challenges were having patience.
I don't think she struggled for a long time, like, losing her arm, but I think
at times, there was like the reality of like, Wow, I don't have
an arm, like you know, I'm not gonna have an arm for the rest of my life.
After losing my arm, I wasn't really sure if I was gonna be able to continue surfing.
However, surfing was one of the first things she did after losing her arm.
There was definitely like, hard times where I would go in from surfing, just so frustrated.
Like, didn't have any fun and like, just felt like the
ocean just was trying to destroy me.
But I decided after talking to my dear friend Mike Coots, who had lost his
leg to a shark a few years before myself, and he actually
learned how to surf with one leg after he had lost his leg.
So, he kinda like inspired me to like, you know,
maybe I will be able to surf with one arm.
And I decided that I had to at least try it and give it a go.
I just remember she kinda, you know, was in a groggy state, and we just talked kinda like
whimsical about things.
And she had talked about, you know, wanting to get into photography and stuff, and I kinda
told her, you know, it's a great thing, but I really think that she's gonna be back surfing
again.
Bethany didn't just stop at getting back in the water.
I see how giving she is.
She's always looking to donate to different foundations, or you know, people
that have need, and just willing to travel and always be sharing her story.
I started my own organization, Friends of Bethany Hamilton.
And with that, I get to reach out to amputees and shark attack victims, and people
just going through hard times, and it's been really fun to
just meet other people that have gone through similar things to me.
She still gets involved, you know, even though she doesn't have time, with the local church
and the youth.
And even though she's traveling a lot, you know, she makes time for the things that she
believes in.
Bethany Hamilton inspires me by the way she lives her life, the choices she makes, the
decisions she does with her time.
You know, she doesn't have much free time, but the things she does with her free time
and the way she gives back to the community, and
the way she influences a lot of people across the world.
Bethany inspired me just by her great attitude, overcoming tragedy and really taking the situation
that she had to deal with, and she ran with it.
I'm still surfing today, and able to share my story with so many people, and make a difference
in this world.
Despite the unexpected tragedy of the loss of her arm at a very young age, Bethany Hamilton
has changed from a victim to a victor.
For HIKI NŌ, this has been Haven Luper-Jasso reporting.
I mean, wow.
Like, that was your first story.
It was amazing.
Like, I loved how she's the iconic rise from the ashes.
I gotta say, too, for your first story, that was pretty good.
I mean, you know, the fact that you even got Bethany Hamilton, you know, that icon, it
was crazy.
You know, you were only in seventh grade?
Dude, that's amazing.
Yeah, and too, the story was great, the scripting was great.
I mean, it looked like you'd been doing that for a while, and that was
only your first story.
So, I mean, yeah.
I mean, I can't imagine what you're doing now.
Well, thank you.
Yeah, for me, it was kinda crazy.
All of a sudden, I'm doing media, and all of a sudden,
I'm interviewing Bethany Hamilton.
And one thing that people don't know about this story is that it's
largely a story of her ... not failing, but going through something hard, and then trying
again.
And for me, that happened in the story.
I remember ... oh, this felt like the worst thing to me.
I called her up to interview her.
I'm like, she's kind of a celebrity, she said yes.
I interviewed her.
I imported the footage, and the sound was terrible.
Oh, no.
I couldn't use it.
I was like, of all people to mess up an interview with, it had to be Bethany Hamilton.
And at that choice, I had to make the decision to give up at that point, say I tried and
I failed, and am I gonna give up, or am I going to be humble
and admit my fault, and try again.
I ended up doing that, calling her on the phone, just explaining
everything.
And I did, I had to interview her again.
And she was so kind to let me do that.
But it kinda taught me, you know, that everyone makes mistakes, and you
just gotta persevere.
So, that was one really cool thing about this story.
So, Catherine, you know, enough about us.
What about you?
What HIKI NŌ story are you most proud of?
Well, I'm most proud of my very first, like Haven.
But I didn't start way back when I was in seventh
grade.
I started when I was a junior.
And I was pretty new to media, as well.
But my teacher decided to put a group of us through the HIKI NŌ workshops
which were held on Maui.
And my very first story was about Karina Bhattacharya, and she was
a typical high school student.
But during her junior or sophomore year, she was diagnosed with bipolar
disorder.
I really love doing art.
It's something that I've done even before my diagnosis.
It's really important for me to use as an outlet to express myself.
This one is kind of fun.
Karina Bhattacharya is seventeen years old and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder
since November 2014.
Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes mood swings of mania or depression.
My first episode, I wasn't really aware of what was happening.
I thought that I was feeling fine, and that other people were acting strange around me.
So, it had been a really stressful day at school.
I had a problem with one of my friends, and that was
really bothering me.
And then, I just started acting very strangely and erratically.
I felt sudden impulses to do things that I normally wouldn't be comfortable
doing, and I was speaking very fast.
No one could understand me, really, and that kind of frustrated me
as well, because I had that block of communication.
Although Karina has gone through negative experiences, she continues her life by finding
the brighter side of a dark situation.
For instance, studies show that there might be a link between bipolar disorder
and increased creativity.
I definitely saw it as a shock.
I wasn't really sure what was happening to me, and I wasn't even sure of
what bipolar was when I first was diagnosed.
But eventually, I did see some benefits.
People with bipolar disorder are naturally more creative
and intelligent, so I found that to be to my benefit.
I could see everything the way it was, and I even started
noticing small details.
I noticed that my paintings became more vivid.
I used new colors, and I was able to make a positive situation out of the negative one
about being diagnosed.
Art definitely represents me as an individual.
I really enjoy painting other people, and I
like how I express myself.
I noticed that my paintings are very individualistic, and I've also noticed that
in my paintings, I like to experiment a lot.
And that just shows another factor of my personality.
By using art as a way to cope, Karina has been able to advance through the difficulties
of bipolar disorder and reach new heights.
I'll definitely be creating more art in college.
I notice that it's a whole new community and a whole new
group of people, so I hope to be inspired by the people I meet, and I hope that their
personalities can be expressed in my artwork.
As Karina prepares for college in the Mainland, she copes with her disorder by painting away
her thoughts and feelings.
This is Katherine Swor from H.P. Baldwin High School, for HIKI NŌ.
Wow, what another neat story.
That was a very intense storyline, bipolar disorder and the way that you
were able to handle it with such maturity, and in such a positive light.
That was amazing, especially for your first story.
I think you really did a good job showing her struggle.
You know, it definitely was something that caught her by surprise.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with her, too.
I mean, for your first story, you know, tackling a subject
like this, you know, bipolarism, that's kinda heavy, you know.
And I mean, you also going in with, you know, kind of no experience on like how to
interview and, you know, what to do in situations, you
handled it pretty well.
I mean, it sounded like you got the best answers that you could have.
Thanks.
[CHUCKLE]
What do you think that you learned or took away from the story most, Katherine?
Well, I was so captured by just having that power to share someone's story, even though
it's such a deep topic.
I never knew that I would be able to just have a chance to share that once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity with one another.
And I was very nervous at first.
Like, a couple minutes before my interview started, I
just started shaking, because I just didn't know.
Like, I was just so nervous about talking to her.
And once we started talking and interviewing,
I just felt like, wow, I have to start doing more of this, you
know.
[CHUCKLE]
So, how has the HIKI NŌ experience prepared you for college?
Ooh ... well, I think the HIKI NŌ experience ... teamwork, first of all, and collaboration,
because you're working with a bunch of creative individuals
who might all bring their own ideas.
And I think an important part is learning to identify their
strengths, and hear everyone's ideas, and then bridge together
the best parts and utilize everyone's unique talents to put together the most, best quality
video that you can.
So, teamwork is definitely something I've taken away from this, and will apply in college.
What about you?
I think it would just have to be, you know, just meeting people.
Going into a room, and not labeling the people I see.
You know, just kinda keeping an open mind, and not making a judgment 'til I meet them.
You know what I mean?
Because, you know, everybody has a story.
You don't know what that person's going through, you don't know the life they've
lived.
So, I think with me, when I meet people, it's always gonna be an open mind.
I think that's something that, you know, HIKI NŌ has prepared me for.
What about you, Katherine?
I feel that HIKI NŌ has prepared me in producing quality work.
So, my teacher, Mrs. Roy, at the beginning of every single school year, she's
always talked to us about the difference between good and
great quality work.
And so, by being a part of HIKI NŌ, I've realized that there really is a difference
between good and great.
And great is what gets you higher up in that understanding.
So, how do you think HIKI NŌ has prepared you guys for the workplace?
I mean, HIKI NŌ has opened a lot of doors, how you said, of meeting people.
And I believe that this experience has really brought me to network
and learn how to communicate effectively with other people.
It's actually opening a new door to a better conversation.
Yeah.
Like, HIKI NŌ is a real, actual television station.
And we are having these real, actual workers at
these television stations talking to us, and giving us constructive criticism.
And we're having to communicate with them, which is how it's gonna
be when we're working.
And I think that really built communication skills and confidence for talking
to these people, and having respect, but also knowing,
wow, they're human, and I can do this, I can talk to them.
So, I think that's really prepared me for the
workplace.
For me, I think it's kinda humbling.
Like, it's taught me to be humble.
'Cause like I said before, when you meet somebody, you know, you're trying
to do a story on them, and they're the expertise, so you sit
back and you let them talk.
So, being in the workplace, you know, you gotta know your role, you gotta
know your place.
So, I think for me, you know, sitting back, soaking in all the information I can and just
kinda learning from those who have been there for a while is something that HIKI NŌ has
taught me, to be ready for the workplace.
What about life in general, how has HIKI NŌ prepared you for that?
Well, HIKI NŌ has really taught me to work hard, you know.
Yeah, the fruit of your labor.
Yeah.
HIKI NŌ, their thing, you know, we all know it - can do.
And it's so true.
And so, HIKI NŌ taught me that if you're willing to go for it, opportunities
can definitely happen.
And that's a mindset that I want to carry on throughout my entire life.
I think for me, what HIKI NŌ has taught me, as well as the teachers, you know, that saying
- good to great.
I think that applies to my life.
'Cause I mean, you know, you can always be good at something,
but to be great at something, it's something completely different.
Not a lot of people are great at things.
They're good, but they're not great at things.
You know, if you want to be great at something, you gotta
put in the time, you have to put in the effort.
You know.
And there's gonna be struggles along the way, and you know, you're obviously gonna see that,
but it's how you persevere, you know, and how much
you want it.
So, I'm gonna be attending St. Martin's University, which is located in Lacy, Washington State.
And I'm gonna be majoring in early childhood education.
St. Martin's is a super-good fit, because they allowed
me to play on the golf team, while they have a good education department.
And it's located on the West Coast, so it's kind of close to home.
Well, for me, I'm going to Norwich University.
It's in Vermont.
The town is called Northfield.
It's like, twenty minutes away from the capital, which
is Montpelier.
I'll be majoring in accounting and management, the program there, the accounting
program kinda crosses over with the management program.
So, I'll be doing that.
And then, hopefully, my plan is, I'm hopefully gonna come back home
and then, you know, apply to the law school here, and then practice law in the state of
Hawai'i.
I'll be attending Chapman University, which is in Orange, California, and majoring in
film production.
I felt extremely lucky I got into their pretty
selective film program.
And it's just such a neat opportunity, because they have just super-cool resources,
rooms modeled after Warner Brothers and, you know,
industry level sets, and sound equipment, and professors in the industry, which will
be extremely valuable for me.
HIKI NŌ has really opened doors for me, in a sense, because I was just kind of shy.
I was a shy person.
And so, after doing HIKI NŌ, I was really open-minded.
I was able to just figure out my path.
I would definitely say that HIKI NŌ has shaped me into, you know, thinking like, what is
the right college for me.
So, it would probably be like, people who are motivated, and people who are willing
to work.
You know, there's a lot of connections within the school, so I feel like having that connection
and building bridges like that is something that
HIKI NŌ has taught me.
So, that's something that I valued.
I think HIKI NŌ definitely influenced my decision to major in film production.
I was a little hesitant, for sure, to go to college for something that
seems kind of impractical.
You know, film production, it kinda seems like a childhood dream, a little bit.
But HIKI NŌ showed me that media is alive and well, and
there are a lot of different jobs and opportunities, and so many stories to tell.
So, yeah, HIKI NŌ definitely inspired me and prompted me to
want to major in film production.
Well, I had this conversation with my mom about just going into the workforce, and no
need for college.
Because college is expensive.
You know, it's not cheap.
And this was before my recruitment for golf.
I just couldn't handle the idea of just being
in that debt.
You know, having so much loans after college, like what's the point?
But once I got recruited for golf, I noticed that I might be able to do this.
You know, I can become one of the first people
to get a college education in my family.
So, that kinda really helped to motivate me to work harder than
most people, and to start thinking maybe college is the right
thing for me, because college will also help me discover myself as a person, and also help
me meet new people outside of Hawai'i.
Yeah, I think one big thing, I was also very worried about the cost and the practicality
of it.
And one thing that really spoke to me was that my
parents said, People invest and spend money on a lot of things
in this life.
Some people invest in cars, fancy houses, clothes.
You're gonna invest in something, so why not invest in yourself and your education.
And I thought that was an extremely good point.
Because I really don't think it'll be a waste, regardless
of if I specifically use all the knowledge from that degree.
I just think that these next four years, kind
of transitioning from a kid to a young adult, and finding my
place in the world, college is gonna be an extremely useful place to kind of figure out
more of who I am, and just gain, yeah, personal growth skills
and stuff.
I think being independent is something that, you know, kids like us need to develop.
Because especially being in Hawai'i, like, your parents are okay
with you living with them 'til forty.
You know.
And for me, it's like, no, I kinda want to be my own
person.
You know.
So, I think going to college, to me kind of will force that out of me, kind of find,
you know, the man that I want to be, and show myself that, you
know, you can do this, you will be a part of this world.
You know, and you're self-reliant, you don't have
to worry about anything.
As long as you can take care of yourself, you know you'll be okay.
So, I think being independent is the reason why I want
to go to college.
So, my HIKI NŌ experience was life-changing.
I have to say, HIKI NŌ has opened a lot of doors for me.
Because before HIKI NŌ, I just wasn't really outgoing enough, as compared to the other
kids in my class.
And it was a life-changing experience for me to just listen to people's stories, instead
of just talking.
You know.
I was able to learn how to listen properly, and tell someone's story effectively.
For me, it was worth it.
I mean, you put in so much time, and you put in so much effort, you know,
looking for a story, editing it, editing it over again, looking over the script, looking
at a computer screen for four hours, burning your eyes.
I mean, it was all worth it.
I mean, you look, you sit back, and you get to watch your project, and you're like, wow.
Yeah, it was worth it.
I think, in short, being a part of HIKI NŌ has been empowering.
Who would have thought that a little Kaua'i girl with not much confidence could
make stories that would be broadcasted to a bunch of people
across the islands, and that some of her videos would spark conversations about truth, and
the nature of truth.
And just, I don't know, inspire people in small ways to live better lives.
It's been incredible.
[END]
Hiki No #924 Class of 2018 - Part 3
Page 2 of 9
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