In 2020 a group of students from Kealakehe Intermediate School embarked on a journey to Washington D.C. to compete in a national media competition but had to return home after two days because COVID shut down the event before it even started.
Four years later, as seniors in high school, they got another chance when their intermediate school media teacher Mathieu Williams moved up to the high school and took them to the Student Television Network competition in Long Beach, California on March 14-16 where over 3,000 students showed off their broadcast skills.
The STN competition is an annual event that draws middle and high school students from media programs across the country to compete in digital media competitions such as podcasts, music videos, short films, news stories, commercials and more. Students are given the prompts the day of and are given 3-6 hours, depending on the category, to produce and edit their project.
The Kealakehe team joined students from 10 Hawaii public schools along with schools across the nation. Hawaii schools received 41 awards in various digital media and filmmaking categories. The schools that competed are also participants of HIKI NO on PBS Hawaii, the first and only weekly student news show with a statewide network of schools.
Kamalie Ferreira recalled the 2020 trip as exciting and disappointing.
“I was really excited to do that. We did lots of fundraising for it. We all went up as a group and then COVID hit. It was supposed to be a two week trip but the night before that we were supposed to leave for New York, there was a spike in cases so we had to cancel that. But we still thought we were going to compete but the day before our competition STM posted that the competition got cancelled. People were crying in the streets and in the hotel rooms. We were bawling our eyes out because we worked so hard,” she said.
When the group found out Williams was going to be teaching media at the high school this year, they decided they needed to give it one more chance.
“It was a redemption,” said Kaleihua Medeiros.
When Williams came back, the students felt like they were given a second chance.
“All of our hard work in eighth grade didn’t get to be shown, so when he came back, we had small competitions. We all were trying to sharpen our skills again because we weren’t where we were in eighth grade,” said Mei Kawakami,
The class produces a weekly broadcast for the school which has helped with scripting and filming skills.
“We focused on that a lot this year,” said Kawakami.
“We did a lot of smaller state-wide competitions where we figured out areas we could improve upon,” said Aaliyah Ballesteros.
Categories included short film, weather report promo videos and PSA.
At the national competition, students chose the categories they wanted to compete in. The Kealakehe team entered vlog, anchoring and weather report. Students are given a prompt such as articles, and their team needed to create a script. Kawakami and Duke DeGuair entered the weather category and needed to report on a tropical storm coming into Tampa, Florida. They needed to create a script, film and edit within six hours. That team took home a first place win for their category.
Students from Hawaii took home a total of 41 awards.
“It’s interesting for each group how they think about creative confidence and the chemistry they use together to work through it. Ultimately they finish, have fun and be successful,” said Williams. “It teaches them how to deal with the reality and challenges in the moment. You have to solve the problems.”
Medeiros said the experience has led her to pursue a career in broadcast journalism.
“When I started in eighth grade I was doing a lot of scripting. We would go to small businesses and piece together videos and interviews. That’s when I thought I really wanted to write. When I got into high school my interest evolved because I really liked being on the broadcast, so now I would like to be an anchor,” she said. “Going through the steps of STN helps you try to regulate stress. Being able to experience that level once helps you learn from it.”
Kawakami agreed the class has taught her skills she can use in real life.
“This class makes you learn time management skills and teaches you how to work with different types of people and you can apply that to your outside life. It opens up a lot of doors for opportunities. It’s a really cool experience,” she said.
Williams said he hopes that when the students look back they will realize the importance of perseverance.
“This is why you push a little bit more because in the world, everyone’s vying for something and so it’s about bringing your best self. Our level of best flows depending on situations, but when working with a team, my best might not be that good today but someone else has my back because their best is at their highest level. Then you are able to create and do great things,” he said. “I’m proud of each one of them. They are developing a skill set that goes far beyond a competition,” said Williams. “This class pushes people to go from good to great.”
Kealakehe students have been competing in various national events, with their Global Studies class recently making it to the “Sweet 16” round of the International Public Policy Forum debate competition. Unfortunately they did not make it to the “Elite Eight,” but were proud representatives from a rural school in the middle of the ocean.
In February, the US Department of Education announced Kealakehe students won the nation-wide CTE Momentum competition, Our Place in Space, and have earned some exceptional prizes and partnerships to build out their project and to work with lots of aerospace programs in the coming months to further build on their work.
Students also won the Hawaii Island Science Olympiad competition and will compete for HSSO State Championship on April 6 at UH Manoa. Also, AP 3D art students won several Scholastic Gold Keys at the State Art Museum Awards in February.