Hawaii’s students stand out nationally as digital storytellers

As a seventh grader at Waianae Intermediate, Crystal Cebedo got straight A’s and led the color guard team while navigating her toughest road ever — and capturing that journey on film.

“I lost my mom to cancer when I was 13,” said Cebedo, now a senior at Menlo College in California. “When we filmed the story, she was still alive. When the story aired, she had actually passed away. I learned that there are things you cannot control.”

The short video chronicling her efforts to care for her mother and come to grips with her impending loss aired in one of the early episodes of Hiki No, PBS Hawaii’s student news network.

Before Hiki No launched in 2011, it was an open question whether teens at a wide range of schools could produce news and features worthy of a statewide public television audience every week. Stories like Cebedo’s helped answer that: “Hiki no” means “can do.”

Today 90 public and private schools in Hawaii are part of Hiki No, the nation’s first statewide student news network. It has evolved into an educational force as well as compelling television. And its students have made this small state stand out on a national level.

In March, Hiki No students from 23 Hawaii schools scooped up 35 awards — nearly a fifth of the total — at the Student Television Network convention in Seattle. About 3,000 students and teachers from across the country took part, competing in deadline projects on-site as well as work from the school year.

Hiki No executive producer Robert Pennybacker, director of learning initiatives at PBS Hawaii, recalls his main concern when starting the half-hour program was to set high standards to ensure “we weren’t embarrassed.”

“What happened that I didn’t expect was just the quality of the work, the storytelling and the depth of it,” said Pennybacker, a noted filmmaker himself. “The students are able to reveal and to communicate in ways that so-called professionals are not able to do. They don’t judge. They don’t even start from a certain perspective. They just show what they see.”

Taking video comes naturally to a generation raised with smartphones in their hands. But telling news stories on a professional level requires far more. Hiki No, one of Hawaii’s first broad-based forays into “project-based learning,” has given students an outlet for their creativity as well as induction into the “real world.”

Along with mastering technical skills and equipment, students learn to work together, analyze community issues, solve problems on the spot and meet deadlines. Plus, with every story they pick up new perspectives.

“I see everybody so differently now,” said Cebedo, who has stayed connected to Hiki No, coming home as an intern this summer. “Nobody is one-dimensional. Any time you work in news, you have to think about all the different angles.”

Students choose a wide range of topics: lifestyle issues like restrictions on minors in ride-sharing; profiles on overcoming adversity, such as a man whose “one bad decision” led to his paralysis but who became a respected basketball coach; inspirational tales like a Konawaena High School alumnus who contributed to Nobel Prize- winning research.

Most Hiki No students don’t go into journalism, and that is not the program’s goal. Cebedo, for example, is majoring in marketing and human resources. But the “soft skills” the program imparts smooth the way for many careers.

“Hiki No prepares you for life because all these skills that come with it — being adaptive, cooperative and even contributing to the community — are central to it,” said Rebecca Meyer, who graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy in May and is studying at Creighton University in Nebraska.

“I consider my Hiki No experience a resume because it can show people what I’m capable of,” she said. “I never thought I was something special until Hiki No. I want to be known for my work. I feel like Hiki No is a way to do that.”

Searider Productions, the multimedia program founded at Waianae High School, forged the path for Hiki No. With Candy Suiso at the helm, its students took top honors at national competitions and, as early as 2003, began producing work for commercial clients. She readily shared their expertise with other schools.

Several public school teachers banded together as Hawaii Creative Media, offering workshops for teachers and students in digital storytelling and helping Hiki No spread through the island chain.

Hiki No projects can be part of a regular class, an elective or an after-school club. In any case, they require deep commitment from both students and teachers, with projects often spilling into weekends and late nights.

“I’ve got to admit it’s a lot of hard work, a lot of long hours, but the students are really driven because they know that this is what it takes in order to succeed,” said Charleen Ego, digital media teacher at Farrington High School. “It’s worth it in the end because you really see them grow.”

Kevin Matsunaga, media teacher and technology coordinator at Chiefess Kama­kahelei Middle School in Lihue, wears many hats including “fundraiser, counselor and extra parent” for students in his program.

“A lot of the time I get kids who don’t speak two words, don’t make eye contact with you,” he said. “Over the course of a couple years, you see them get more confidence and step out of their comfort zone a little more. It’s the coolest thing. One of the things I enjoy most about being a teacher is being able to build confidence in a child.”

He also appreciates another skill they develop along the way.

“They have to communicate with each other, settle differences, get along, be open to critiques and suggestions and figure out ways to compromise,” Matsunaga said. “We are seeing less and less of that in society these days. We are trying to promote that.”

Hiki No relies largely on charitable contributions, with Bank of Hawaii Foundation, Kamehameha Schools and ABC Stores as its lead sponsors.

Momi Akimseu, president of Bank of Hawaii Foundation, says it has sponsored Hiki No from the get-go because it “gives voice to students.”

“They gain skills they can use in so many aspects of their lives, whether you’re an engineer or a banker or a reporter,” she said. “Hiki No gives our future leaders an opportunity to engage in the community, understand what’s happening and see that they have a role.”

Check it out

>> To watch Hiki No, tune in to PBS Hawaii on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. or Sundays at 3 p.m. or go online anytime to pbshawaii.org/hikino.