Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 27, Number 2, 1 February 2010 — Hiki Nō! [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hiki Nō!

Trustees from the Clarence T.C. Ching Foundation present a $1 00,000 eheek to PBS Hawai'i to support the new Hiki Nō (Can Do) student news network. Students from Wai'anae High School, Maui High School, Moanalua High School, Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School and Ke Kula Ni'ihau 0 Kekaha attended the Jan. 1 1 presentation. Middle and high school students in puhlie, private, charter and home schools across Hawai'i are invited to participate in the country's first statewide student news network, whieh will begin airing on PBS Hawai'i in early 201 1 . Thirty-three schools have expressed interest in the venture, including Kanu 0 Ka 'Āina on Hawai'i, Ke Kula Ni'ihau 0 Kekaha on Kaua'i and Kamehameha Schools. "Hiki Nō will create a network of student storytellers to take us into their eommunities and humanize the issues that eoneem them," said veteran journalist Susan Yim, managing editor of the project. PBS Hawai'i will provide resources, funding, professional guidance and infrastructure. The federal Corporation for Puhlie Broadcasting has contributed $200,000. Using a web-based virtual newsroom, the students will collaborate on a weekly newscast, whieh will expand to multiple newscasts eaeh week as the project establishes itself. "We ean eaeh tell our own different stories to the people on the outside," said Kuulei Beniamina, a student at Ke Kula Ni'ihau 0 Kekaha. "That will be a great opportunity for everyone." For information, visit pbshawaii.org. - Photo: Courtesy of PBS Hawai'i