DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Allen Taylor, a senior at Nanakuli High School, posed Friday with his Judges' Choice award for his music video, "The Love of My Life." Behind him are Naturalee Puou, left, teacher Royden Apana, Shaina Garcia, Ujena Johnson, Ikaika Palakiko, Ashley Gomes and Abcdee Callejo, all from Nanakuli.
Drugs among top
issues for winners
of student video contest
A young man paces, drink in hand, his anguished words rapping in staccato rhythm. His wife's melodious voice and enticing image haunt him, until despair over her death drives him to follow her.
"This video shows in real life what Ecstasy can do to you," said Allen Taylor, a Nanakuli High School senior who produced the overall winner of the first Olelo Youth Xchange Video Awards. "He ends up taking the drugs that killed her."
The contest, launched by Olelo Community Television, called on students from kindergarten through grade 12 to create videos on issues important to them. More than 150 entries poured in from public and private schools statewide, with drugs and teen suicide emerging as top concerns.
The finalists, some barely as tall as the podium onstage, gathered Friday for an awards luncheon sponsored by the JW Marriott Ihilani Resort and Spa. Each winner received a digital video camera donated by Sony.
Making videos has taken off in schools, as a creative means of learning and communicating that resonates with the younger generation.
"Ten years ago, there were very few schools doing that," said Candy Suiso, multimedia program coordinator at Waianae High School. "Now you have elementary, middle and high school students telling stories through video production. With a camera and a laptop, you can tell a story very beautifully."
Waianae's Searider Productions, which has won numerous national awards for its work and even landed commercial clients, helped sponsor the contest instead of entering it.
Nearby Nanakuli High and Intermediate School took on the winner's mantle this time, scooping up five first-place finishes, including mini-documentary, news, public service announcement, music video and "Judges' Choice" award.
Royden Apana, multimedia technology coordinator at the school, said his students poured themselves into their entries, which ranged from a slice of Hawaiian history to a drive to provide school supplies to the needy.
"Some of it was kind of edgy for high school, like that music video," he said, which contained some language that was "bleeped" when aired at the banquet.
"The students didn't want to dilute the message," he said. "I'm willing to stick my neck out to offer that opportunity to express themselves."
Finalists included entries from private schools such as Mid-Pacific Institute and Hawaiian Mission School, whose mini-documentary "Gluten: A Healthy Choice for Kids" took first place in the intermediate school division, and tickled the audience. Ahuimanu Elementary School won a top award with the first video it has ever produced, titled "Homeless."
"There's a lot of public schools here, and if the public schools are broken, I'd like to know what part is broken," said Michael Miyamura, principal of Kapolei Elementary School, which fielded two finalists. "There's so much focus on test scores. They're not looking at the whole child."
Kawananakoa Middle School took two first-place finishes for the music video "Drug Anthem" and the short video "When She Started to Take Ice." Eighth-grader Bronson Pactanac, who created "Drug Anthem," said he was inspired to make his film after his favorite actor died of a drug overdose.
Moanalua High School won two first-place awards for its public service announcement "Drunk Driving" and the short video "Permutation," a gut-wrenching tale of guns and jealousy that tells its story from finish to start, and still surprises viewers at the end.
"It's all about angles," said DJ Ramos, the lanky senior who made the video, with a knowing grin.
Olelo would like the video contest to be a springboard for community discussion on the top concerns raised by contestants: drugs, teen suicide, the environment, school values, health and drunken driving. It plans to hold televised forums featuring students who made the videos, legislators and community experts.
"You don't have to ask students to dig deep to come up with a subject," said Moanalua High School teacher Dan Hale. "These issues are part of their lives. It's a matter of giving them a forum and letting them express it."
"The community can benefit from different perspectives," added Lurline McGregor, president and CEO of Olelo Community Television, who came up with the idea for the contest. "We should not underestimate what our youth have to offer."
All videos named as finalists will be aired on Olelo Channel 56 next Sunday at 10 a.m. They will repeat Feb. 8 at 3 p.m., Feb. 14 at 8:30 p.m., and Feb. 21 at 9:30 p.m.
BACK TO TOP |
Olelo Community Television
Youth Xchange Network WinnersMINI DOCUMENTARY
Elementary Division
"Konishiki Story," Maili Elementary School
Intermediate Division
"Gluten: A Healthy Choice for Kids," Hawaiian Mission Elementary and Intermediate School
High School Division
"Makalapua Hou," Nanakuli High and Intermediate School
MUSIC VIDEO
Intermediate Division
"Drug Anthem," Kawananakoa Middle School
High School Division
"The Love of My Life," Nanakuli High and Intermediate School
SHORT
Elementary Division
"Homeless," Ahuimanu Elementary School
Intermediate Division
"The Good Decision," Montessori School of Maui
"When She Started to Take Ice," Kawananakoa Middle School
High School Division
"Braggin' Wrongs," Kalaheo High School
"Permutation," Moanalua High School
NEWS
Intermediate Division
"Ready to Learn," Nanakuli High and Intermediate School
High School Division
"Reality of the Landfill," Maui High School
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Elementary Division
"Don't Drink and Drive," Maunawili Elementary School
Intermediate Division
"Reading," Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School
"Suicide I," Kohala Middle School
High School Division
"Drunk Driving," Moanalua High School
"Fighting," Nanakuli High and Intermediate School
"Life on Ice," Leilehua High School
JUDGES' CHOICE
"The Love of My Life," Nanakuli High and Intermediate School
