Video by 3 Maui students
wins them a New York trip

The documentary on hula takes top
honors in a national contest

Three Maui High School seniors got a whirlwind tour of New York City this week as a prize for their video, "Hula: The Voice of Hawaii," which won two national awards in a contest sponsored by Panasonic.

"We were really excited to get the awards, and we were more excited to go to New York than anything else," 18-year-old Wendee Murayama said yesterday, back on campus in Kahului.

Competing with 225 schools nationwide, Maui High took first place in the documentary category and also received the top technical award for videography in the Kid Witness News contest. It was the third time the school has been honored in that contest.

Murayama and her classmates Lindsay Higa and Shayna Doi were in their AP physics class last month when their video teacher, Clint Gima, popped his head in and announced they were headed to New York.

"We just screamed our heads off," Higa said. "It was very overwhelming."

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PANASONIC A Maui High School team received two national awards for their video, "Hula: The Voice of Hawaii." Emcee Storm Field, left, poses with students Wendee Murayama, teacher Clint Gima and students Lindsay Higa and Shayna Doi.

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The three teens and their teacher were flown to New Jersey last Friday and treated to a tour of New York City, taking in "Lion King" on Broadway and other sights. They visited Panasonic's research lab in Secaucus, N.J., and attended the awards ceremony Monday night before heading home Tuesday.

For their three-minute video on hula, the students did research, interviewed kumu hula Uluwehi Guerrero and filmed hula dancers at practice. Gima credited the students for their win, saying, "They did all the work."

"I think the message had a lot to do with it," Murayama said. "We portrayed hula as not just an art form, but as a form of communication in the ancient Hawaiian days."

For Higa and Doi, it was their first trip to New York, but Murayama got to go in 2003, when she was part of another winning Maui High School team, whose video "Mochitsuki Time" was chosen as best documentary and received the technical award for writing. The school also won an award for a news video in 2001.

Through the Kid Witness News program, Panasonic provides video equipment to public schools and encourages students to develop their abilities and creativity. Maui High was one of eight teams flown from schools around the country to receive awards this year.