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< Back You Can't Always Park Where You Want Copy link Limited Space, Rising Frustrations, and Calls for Change Jersea Borneman March 15, 2025 at 6:43:48 PM Student Life Previous Article Next Article “This campus was designed before the idea of having so many students and staff,” said Vice Principal Christopher Webber. “As we’ve grown, we just don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate everyone.” To park at Lahainaluna in the paved lot, there are rules. According to Uncle Tommy Akima, all students who park in the upper lot must have a parking pass, which costs fifteen dollars. To get this, they must present their vehicle’s registration, driver’s license, proof of insurance, and school ID. “Without a parking pass you parked on the lower dirt parking lot.” Yet, not every student who has parked on campus has had a pass. Some have parked with much less. Also, recently, parking spaces have become harder to find. Again, the main parking lot is for the drivers who purchase a parking pass. Seniors get priority for parking, but lately this hasn't been happening. “Even though I paid fifteen dollars for my sticker when I get to school sometimes there isn't enough spots,” senior Anuhea Coon said. One reason for this, offered senior Stasia Pililani, is because “a lot of sophomores are getting their licenses, and so then once they get their license, they think that they can park up top.” She thinks this is unfair and that “the freshmans and sophomores need to just stop parking in our parking spots and we'll be fine.” There is currently no requirement for where to park based on grade level. Yet, if all the spots are full, the dirt lot is an alternative. Some students may even choose the dirt lot for other reasons. An anonymous senior admitted that “when I was a sophomore and a freshman and I was driving with no license, I would park down in the dirt because I didn't want to steal a spot—If you don’t have your license you don’t have a spot.” Unlicensed students may be contributing to the fact that the dirt lot, according to some students, has also become full. Junior Giana Pogni offers another reason: “over winter break everybody got cars so now there's like ten times more cars then there were.” Junior Isabella Higgins relates the difficulty of parking now in the dirt lot since “You need to park between a lot of cars and there's usually not a lot of room.” Parking in Restricted Areas Without a pass, students should be in the dirt lot. Yet, Uncle Tommy observes that “nobody wants to park in a dirt parking lot.” Students like Coon have started to find other places to park, such as the gravel area by the portables. She says, “I’ve had to park in the dirt lot and then I've also like resorted to parking in the upper lot. Not like the staff lot but like the upper grass lot.” Vice Principal Webber has noticed students are starting to try to park in the trainers’ lot next to the trainers’ room. This has led them to close off the area. This is not the only off-limits place they are parking. “Students are taking the initiative,” says Webber, “to park just below borders field.” Uncle Tommy has seen students parking in the administration lot as well. Japanese teacher David Esselburn says that sometimes when he goes up to the library during the day, he “will see student vehicles up there.” More Cars, More Problems “It’s hectic to go out of the parking lot,” says Isabella Higgins. Webber thinks a reason for this is because “You’ll be in line trying to get out and some people will just cut in front of you.” “We don’t actually have assigned parking spaces,” Webber notes. “So the way that students park may be sort of haphazard and that might make it difficult for some kids to get in and out as well.” Junior Higgins thinks, “We need to expand the parking lot to get more parking so everyone can fit.” To this, Webber notes that “we cannot magically make more parking spaces on campus,” but he thinks that “maybe we can designate proper like parking spaces, chalk out some lines, and maybe that will have people park more orderly so that we can fit people in better.” There was a time at our school when we had this. Webber recalls, “Two or three years ago we had designated spots for each student in the student lot. You had your spot with a number and you as a senior, you could even decorate it.” Webber admits, “We have talked about maybe doing that for next year again.” Jersea Borneman is a staff writer for Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back Endangered Kāhuli Copy link The Chain of Events Trinity Guiza April 17, 2024 at 12:09:42 AM Science & Technology Previous Article Next Article Last year 2023 was officially dubbed as “The Year of the Kāhuli” in Hawaii. Kāhuli is the name of the Hawaiian land snail in ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, the Hawaiian language. Tiny creatures that have many different shapes, sizes and colors. When asked, a handful of Lahainaluna students offered the following associations with the word “snail”: “slow,” “slimy,” "gross,” “annoying,” “cute,” ect. Though they may be slimy and annoying, they are also responsible for maintaining the lush environment of these islands. That is, Hawai‘i’s ecological health rests on the tiny “shoulders” of snails, more specifically the land snails endemic to the Hawaiian islands. Kāhuli have always been prominent in Hawaiian culture. They feature in their own stories wherein they sing beautifully in the trees. Their shells were used in lei and jewelry that was of great importance to Hawaiian people of status. Queen Lili‘uokalani once owned lei pūpū kuahiwi ("Land Snail Shell Lei") made of the shell of many different land snails, including the Achatinella land snails. This lei is currently held at the Bishop Museum in Kalihi, O‘ahu. Achatinella along with the Partulina genus are kāhuli belonging to the Achatinellidae family. Many know them as O‘ahu tree snails or pūpū kani oe. They have many different names and come in many different sizes, patterns, and colors. Both generally have smooth and glossy shells, which are conical (like an ice cream cone) shaped, and both play critical roles in Maui's ecosystem. Kāhuli are nocturnal and known to live on land in the trees, bushes, and the forest floor of the mountains and valleys on our island. They live on one tree their whole life, not once leaving their trees unless they are blown away. All 40 or so species of the genus Achatinella are listed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as endangered. Despite this fact, little can be done to regulate the tide of their main predators in the islands, namely, rats, Jackson's chameleons, and Rosy wolf snails. These predators were all introduced to the Hawaiian islands with the arrival of foreign trade and biocontrol against other invasive species. Kainoa Pestana, conservation manager at Pu‘u Kukui Watershed preserve (PKW) said that he tries to help people understand the ecological importance of the snail with the catchy slogan “No snail, no whale.” He explained the whole chain of events that will damage the Hawaiian ecosystem if these snails were to go extinct. First the kāhuli eat and clear the leaves while their feces acts as nutrient rich fertilizer for the plants. Without the obstruction on the leaves the plants can photosynthesize better and produce more plants effectively. If the snails do not do their job, the plants will soon die off. If that were to happen there would be no roots to hold the dirt together in the valleys and mountains. When it rains, dirt would runoff into the rivers and oceans. The debris from the run-off would prevent new limu growth, leading to the small fish having no food. Without the small fish, there is no food for the bigger fish. Long story short: “no snail, no whale.” Pu‘u Kukui Watershed preserve’s job is to protect and maintain a steady supply of fresh water “so that there is enough water in 500 years from now for us to drink and use” Kainoa stated. The threat to snails, again, is a threat to native Hawaiian plants. Kainoa mentioned an important Hawaiian proverb “Hāhai nō ka ua i ka ulu lā‘au,” which he translated “the rain follows the forest. No forest then no rain.” Without rain the island will become just like any other rock in the middle of the ocean. When people think of extinction they imagine it happening over a long period of time. But all of this could happen in a single lifetime, and after the loss of a single organism: the kāhuli. To stop this from happening the Pu‘u Kukui Watershed preserve on Maui protects the fragile native Hawaiian rainforests by protecting native fauna and flora, endangered or not. They are the largest preserve on the Hawaiian islands with more than 9,000 acres of regulated and protected land. The division of forestry and wildlife in the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) in the State of Hawaii has authorized $2,080,000 in funding for Pu‘u Kukui Watersheds 2024-2030 long range land management plan. This is part of the Natural Area Partnership Program (NAPP) which encourages the management of private lands that contain some of Hawai‘i’s most intact ecosystems and endangered species. The PKW has built a snail enclosure to protect the rare native tree snails from predators and habitat destruction. One of PKW’s management plans is on Pu‘u Keka‘alā‘au at an elevation of 2,358. This is one of many special ecological areas for the land snails. PKW continues to give these kāhuli a fighting chance by joining with SEPP (Snail Extinction Prevention Program) to save these endangered snails and record the emergence of new species. SEPP encourages the reproduction of hawai‘i's rare land snails by providing predator-free living conditions with optimal laboratory controlled enclosures. Kalena Lee-Agcaoili said, “Part of our work is to make sure that these kāhuli get to do what it does, to give them the space they need to live.” During the 2022 Lahaina wildfire that went above the L at Pu‘u Pa‘upa‘u, some snails went extinct . Most people believe nothing lives up there, that fires don’t reach the rainforests, but the kāhuli does.Because these snail species are on the endangered species list, every snail could cost upwards of 20,000 dollars for their loss. The way the PKW and SEPP calculate the worth of these snails is by going up there and walking through the forests to survey and collect data on how many there are and where they are. The fewer there are, the higher their worth. To help save the kāhuli, you people can make a small donation to the Pu‘u Kukui Watershed preserve. It’s also helpful to simply just recognize their presence and to talk about them with others. Like the kāhuli, impact has little to do with visibility. If creatures as small as these Kāhuli can make such a difference, then think of how big of a difference you can make. If we don’t acknowledge the importance of the kāhuli, the next generation may not grow up to see or hear them singing again among the trees. Trinity Guiza is a staff writer at Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back From the Classroom to the Polls Copy link On the Issues, Misinformation, and Parental Influence Keyla Jimenez and Lucia Mejia November 2, 2024 at 7:02:04 AM Politics Previous Article Next Article Most students do not meet the age requirement to vote, but this election still greatly affects us. It still “affects the whole United States,” says senior “Mary,” and “as long as you're a citizen of the United States, no matter what, you're affected by who's president.” Students will be impacted greatly in various ways depending on who wins this election. It's important for us to understand what’s going on with the people who have our future in their hands. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. The following statements from students are their own opinions that they freely offered. That’s the whole point of this article, and frankly of Ka Lama Hawai’i . Giving a voice to those who typically don’t have one is important. It gives us and others a different perspective on the topic. In the following, we were sure to respect students’ privacy by asking them if they preferred to speak anonymously or whether they wanted to be publicly associated with their opinions. Instead of using their real names, students were given names inspired by famous Americans, including US presidents. “...what are we doing at this point people?” “I love Kamala and I hate Trump,” states one anonymous freshman. We can call him “Jefferson.” “Literally, just watch the debate,” he said. “He's like a convicted felon on multiple accounts, like, how is he allowed to be our president?” “What the heck? Like, what are we doing at this point people?” For Jefferson, Supreme Court appointments are crucial. The Supreme Court, is “a lifetime position, so since Donald Trump, he appointed a bunch of Republican Supreme Court judges, they're gonna be there for a lifetime and determine the outcome for the next 50 years.“ “Donald Trump is too egotistical and a felon,” said another anonymous student, “Tyler,” who added that Trump has been “proven to be a sexual abuser and made many racial remarks against minorities. He’s just a bad person.” Tyler suspects that Trump’s policies favor the rich and, like many democratic voters, sees abortion as a crucial issue. “A bunch of old men shouldn’t have the right to control what women do with their bodies.” “If you include abortion with all that, with healthcare, it's really restrictive and only certain people can get it. I feel like everyone should be able to,” said “Martha,” a sophomore. While Martha wants Kamala to win, she thinks that “both of them have some qualities that can benefit us, but in different areas.” “Ida,” a sophomore, also thinks Harris and Trump “have their strengths and weaknesses, but because of what Kamala’s offering then I would vote for her.” The deciding issue for Ida was climate change. Describing the importance of the environment, Ida was emphatic. “Moral of the story is that we're not gonna have immigration, we're not gonna have violent crime, not gonna have anyone on this earth if we're not taking care of it.” The “OG” “Warren” also thinks that “climate change is the biggest factoring issue in today's world because of how much it affects our world right now.” Yet, when asked about his candidate, he stated, “They both suck genuinely as people,” but “Donald Trump would be the lesser evil. I feel like Kamala isn't really fit to be president.” “Donald Trump is the OG. Donald Trump is the best!” said one freshman who was “against abortion.” “That’s like killing the baby,” he said. “It’s messed up.” “I want Trump to win,” said “Caroline.” “I think he just has his facts straight. And I don't think he's trying to pretend for anyone.” “I think Kamala is just a likable idiot,” said “George,” a sophomore. “People aren’t voting for her, they're voting against Trump.” “The way the Biden and Kamala administration runs the border is very poor as thousands of people illegally come into the country every day. America has legal ways to enter the US.” While George agrees that “Immigrants don’t harm the economy,” he still thinks that “they shouldn’t be able to just walk into the country.” While George admits that Kamala and Trump are “both idiots honestly,” he nevertheless favors Trump. “We have seen Trump run already and he honestly did not do that horrible of a job.” In his opinion “Kamala just doesn’t seem to really know what she is doing and she fumbles more and more every day and it is depressing to watch.” Unlike the other students interviewed, Mary is less certain. However, she did say she was concerned about violent crime. “Everyone deserves the right to go outside safely, knowing that they're gonna come home.” Neither candidate seemed to be right for her concern and she thinks that Trump and Kamala are “both good candidates. They both have their issues. They both deserve the equal amount of respect.” Overall, she added, “This election is a very tough one.” Misinformation A freshman, “Madison,” stated “I wish there would have been, like, a little bit more [media coverage] so that more people can, like, understand what's going on, because otherwise they don't really know who to vote for, and or they just won't vote at all.” Madison added, “We should know what is going on with our country.” “As far as students are concerned, whoever has the loudest voice on social media may be able to affect the thinking process of the student,” says Math teacher, William Tatro. Like many voters, Tatro has noticed the increased importance of social media in elections. Yet, this information is not always trustworthy. Science teacher, Kevin Tennison said that “If students choose to be informed, there's plenty of information, and they can access that." Yet, he also thinks that “they're [students] more so influenced by social media.” “Politics is so extremely complicated,” says Social Studies teacher, John Borge. “If I do not spend hours and hours researching the things that I see on Instagram or TikTok or the things that I hear my community saying, then the misinformation has won.” Mike Landes teaches AP Government at LHS and says that “most people, not just students, but most people in general, are not highly informed.” Tackling this lack of information, he continued, is “part of why we have classes to teach it in school, because they know that educating people about it makes people more likely to be informed voters. We tend to get most of our information from social media and from ads, and neither of those is a good source of information or reliable.” Tennison agrees, “Schools should inform students, teach students both sides” so that they are able “to make up their own minds.” Landes argues that civic education is important because “How are we supposed to continue to have a functioning democracy if we don't know how it works?” He continued, “It's been shown statistically that the number one thing determining what your political beliefs will be is your parents’ political groups.” Rather, as Tennison notes, students mostly learn from their parents about politics when they (politics) are “discussed at the dinner table.” Sophomore George thinks that “kids honestly just believe what they see on social media” and that “kids probably age 1-10 who can’t formulate an original opinion will just agree with what their parents agree with. But as we grow we generally distance ourselves from our parents and what they agree with.” “This is the most important election of our time” “People think that their vote doesn't matter, but if everyone thinks that then we're gonna have no one to vote,” states Caroline. “A lot of impacts will eventually affect our rights when we're older.” To secure our future, she said, “It's important for everyone to know what's going on in the election.” Warren thinks that “this is the most important election of our time” because it “would affect the many generations of today and even the ones ahead of us. It could set off a really big change in the country.” “It's just good to know as a citizen, to be well informed about these topics,” says Madison, since being informed “will make your life easier.” Ida warns that “if you were to ask someone our age or 18, they wouldn't have, let's say, enough knowledge to be able to make a good decision.” “One of the greatest failures of politics is that it does not bring in that group, that 18 to 25,” says Borge. “If you do not vote, you are allowing someone else to care for you, and those people that are making those decisions are expecting you to sit down, shut up and do what you're told.” Keyla Kimenez is a staff writer for Ka Lama Hawai'i. Lucia Mejia is a contributor and an LHS student in her second year.

< Back It’s Getting Hard to Stay Copy link On Our Teacher Shortage Keyla Jimenez February 6, 2025 at 11:11:03 PM Education Previous Article Next Article “There are many careers that educators can take that will pay more,” says science teacher Arica Lynn. But “many of us are currently here because we are invested in our students.” The economic risks of becoming a teacher are huge, especially in Hawai’i where the cost of living is 30 points higher than Washington D.C, the second most expensive place to live in the United States. In Hawai’i, teacher pay is the 13th worst out of all other states in the US. This may not seem that bad, but what it means is that it may cost tens of thousands of dollars more to live here than in other places in the US where teachers are paid significantly more (figure 1). NEA Educator Pay Data, "Average Teacher Starting Salary," "Minimum Living Wage." This is even worse in rural areas like Lahaina where costs are higher. Teachers in Lahaina receive small financial incentives to teach, but these don’t do much to draw qualified teachers who are just not willing to live on so little. Principal Carosso explains that these financial incentives come from the fact that Lahaina is considered “a hard-to-staff area.” But these incentives only add five thousand dollars to teacher pay. “Even with that little extra bump, it’s still so hard to find people,” says Carosso. You could argue that this “bump” could make some difference, but with Hawaii's prices, either the price of rent or the price of groceries, these incentives might not be enough to draw in and keep qualified teachers here. Moreover, all teachers begin at a salary that is ten thousand dollars below the cost of living. Aftershock This was all, of course, before the 2023 wildfire that left such a lasting impact on the town, its schools, and its children. The problem gets worse when you consider Lahainaluna’s dwindling student population after the Lahaina fires, which caused many students to move away from West Maui. Between 2023 and 2024, LHS lost nearly four hundred students. Principal Carosso explains that the school’s funding is based on enrollment: “We have what’s called a weighted student formula, which is a certain amount of money per student. Our budget is tied to our enrollment.” The smaller the number of students the lower the funding. From one perspective, we could be okay. We have fewer students, so we should have enough teachers. But after the fire, several teachers also left and continue to leave for better opportunities, and the school is still understaffed. Principal Carosso presents his concerns, but also what he hopes for. He states, “At some point in time, I hope, as the town rebuilds and as families are able to move back, or more people are able to move in, we will have to bring staff back up to the level we were probably at pre-fire, and with housing costs as high as they are, it's going to be hard to re-staff.” This combination of lack of funding and high cost of housing produces our problem: hiring qualified teachers. The school is currently facing the same challenge that it did before the fire. We cannot find teachers to run our classes. Yet, when students finally return, who will teach them? The solution was, is, and will probably be substitute teachers. Substitute for Teaching One anonymous freshman currently has a class that has been run by four different substitutes. She feels that all they do is read off the board only to “write it down and not learn anything.” She added that she once had a great teacher in middle school who focused on “really hands-on learning.” It’s difficult for her “coming over here, without any teachers like that.” Freshman David Cedillo has the same four-substitute class and described his frustrations: “You just have, like, a paper that tells them (students) what to do.” “Frustrated and concerned.” This is how sophomores Julio Gonzalez and Kaliyah Cutty feel about their education after the fires. Cutty is concerned about how this situation will impact her future, stating, “The lack of funding a lot of times comes from the lack of resources or lack of opportunities” and how ultimately this “harms the students' futures.” She explains, “It's a little frustrating as my education is at a disadvantage. It's not being furthered and it's kind of being harmed.” Cutty is concerned, but she also understands the situation at hand. “A lot of teachers want to live next to where they work and most of them won't drive out of their way to go to work,” she said. “So the lack of housing could be why we have a lack of teachers.” Gonzalez points out that sometimes “With these under-qualified teachers, some people are not learning proper things such as proper grammar—how to read.” He told a story about how his fellow English-speaking classmate was unable “to pronounce democracy.” “If you don't have enough materials for the students, it can harm the way these students learn.” He added that “with unqualified teachers on top of not having the adequate supplies, it just harms the learning environment.” Although these issues make Julio feel “frustrated,” he understands there are two sides to every issue. “So like money. Very important. The price of which it costs to live here many cannot afford to live on this side or to just drive to the side every day for school.” Junior Daisy Rain Austin thinks that, without good teachers, students “Won't learn anything, they won't know the right information. They get farther behind and like, like, go college and all that, and they won't be set up.” Giana Elaine Bayudan worries that with the loss of teachers who have the right background, too much of the responsibility for learning is given to the students. She recalls some teachers where “They were given the job, but that wasn't what their major was. They give us the work to learn on our own, but the thing is some kids aren't self-directed they need the teacher’s guidance.” Consistency Students' concerns are not only shared among their peers but by teachers. Lynn states that “Without consistency in our staff, students cannot plan to take specialized classes because they may fear that a staff member won't be on campus to offer the class.” Using a recently canceled automotive class that many students were upset about, she felt for the students who “are not being offered the full array of classes that we were once able to offer.” Math teacher Cornelio Ancheta adds to that idea stating, “To attain high academic achievement, a school should have Highly Qualified (HQ) teachers in their specific content areas to teach, and at the same time have enough financial resources to provide the students with proper technology tools to help them improve student engagement.” Fewer teachers mean larger classrooms and, as Ancheta notes, “It is a known fact that in overcrowded classrooms, teachers are challenged to provide effective small-group or individual attention leading to decreased student engagement.” Solutions? The former Biden cabinet member and Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, visited Lahaina campuses in December to discuss a range of problems the community is facing. I took the opportunity to attend the press meeting and ask him what options rural schools have. Presented with the problem of funding and staffing for rural schools, he talked about “the ABC’s of teaching,” which meant “Providing agency for teachers, better working conditions, [and a] competitive salary.” He then explained the problem this way: “How do we get people interested in the profession?” Cardona’s larger recommendation was to recruit student teachers (“get people interested”) and offer them fair pay to work in schools while they earned their credentials. This is a good long-term plan, but the problem presented is occurring right now. “As a former teacher myself,” said Cardona, “I felt like we didn't have a teacher shortage issue in the country, we had a teacher respect issue in the country.” Sadly, I think we’ve discovered both problems to be true. With a high cost of living comes a huge sacrifice for teachers who want to live in Lahaina. The cost of housing and basic amenities leaves teachers with a hard decision. Either they can accept this low-paying job and high cost of living because it’s their passion, or they can leave this amazing community in order to seek financial stability. Keyla Jimenez is a staff writer for Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back Under a Cloud at Lahainaluna Copy link Vaping on Campus Trinity Guiza May 29, 2024 at 10:33:32 PM Student Life Previous Article Next Article “I don’t feel pressured at all, I’m a good person, not a delinquent like them,” said a Lahainaluna sophomore when asked whether they felt pressured to vape by others. To the same question, a senior offered an anecdote: “I would get asked if I wanted to hit it but when I said no they weirdly congratulated me and said how good of a student I was while they still went on to continue vaping their flavored air.” The vaping situation on our campus has been on everyone’s minds. But students who do and don't vape have opinions on the issue that you aren't likely to find on a poster. Most students are concerned, but they aren't sure how concerned to be or whether school leaders care. NOTE: given the sensitivity of the subject, many of the students interviewed preferred to remain anonymous. I refer to students by their favorite colors rather than their given names. Lahainaluna has rules against vaping on campus. These rules are based on Hawaii’s administrative rules found in Chapter 19 of the Hawai’i Department of Education Administrative Rules Manual. Rules from Chapter 19 have been included in every LHS student planner and on the school website. Under “Chapter 19,” vapes and e-cigarettes fall under the class C offense sections of contraband and controlled substance use in this chapter. It reads that students may receive penalties such as suspension for 92 days for possession or being under the influence of controlled substances. See the whole text here . Perspectives Students who don’t vape also don't seem to care too much about vaping since, as one sophomore student, Baby Blue, said, “it’s just a normal occurrence now.” Another student, a sophomore I’ll call Rose Gold, added that they “really don’t like how it’s normalized, we even have presentations or lessons against vaping, I mean you're even writing an article on it too.” A significant portion of students shared this weariness about the prevalence of the issue. Things started looking different when students were asked how they felt personally about vaping. A sophomore named Emerald stated, “I care but not really–not enough to report anything.” They added not a minute later, however, that “it doesn’t give the school a nice environment.” Other students like Crimson, a sophomore, reported feeling “threatened” by vaping students. Simply something upon groups of students hanging out in the bathrooms seemed to be the primary cause of “awkward situations” as Rose Gold said, “so I try to run out of there as fast as possible, I don't like their flavored air.” Asked if a younger sibling or family member were to start vaping like him, Gray, a junior, replied a bit defensively, insisting that “that wouldn’t happen, they are too young for that.” “You know what, never mind, I don’t care, I’m done” they finally said before walking away. When asked why they vaped and why specifically on campus, sophomore Yellow said, “I just feel good, it’s not that complicated” and “I do it anywhere so why not.” “Most people think vaping helps with the stress,” said Purple, a sophomore. “But the reason why they vape in school is because they have a feeling, the need to do it, feening.” Yellow and Purple said that people vape in the bathrooms for the obvious reason that “teachers are in class, so they aren’t in the bathrooms, and there are no cameras either. It's the one place you have the privacy to do what you want,” Purple said. Forest Green, a senior, said that in their opinion, vaping happens more often during breaks. Who Cares? Many students are sure that there is no solution to the problem. They complained that staff don’t care or that they don’t even know what’s going on. Purple claims that she vapes, but knows “it’s a problem.” But, she continued, “they,” that is, the administration, “just simply don’t care.” Dubious stories about students getting away with vaping circulate among students, but few of them seem credible. Black, a freshman, is sure that admin doesn’t care simply because of how many students he sees vaping—8 in the bathroom daily. Nicole Heinlein, the freshman vice principal at Lahainaluna, confirmed that it is a problem they are working on. “We often get reports of students vaping in the bathrooms and students saying they don’t feel comfortable going into the bathroom because they are worried about being around people who are vaping,” she said. “I think this is affecting how other students feel about being on campus. And that’s a problem.” Sophomore vice principal, Debralyn Arellano added that she thinks “there should be no vaping on campus, if there’s even one student vaping then that’s a problem.” “It makes me wonder if they are fully informed about what they are doing,” Ms. Arellano continued, “because from what I know nobody knows the long-term effects of vaping.” “It makes me nervous,” said Ms. Heinlein, because students shouldn’t be “doing unhealthy and illegal things on campus.” “If students are breaking the law now as teenagers,” she said, “it makes me worry that they may continue to break the law later in life.” Every Cloud… On the topic of solutions, Ms. Heinlein reported that the administration had made informative posters “that we are gonna be putting up around campus and in bathrooms this summer, to educate students about vaping and options for quitting vaping. Ultimately, we are hoping that educating students on the dangers of vaping will cause them to think twice about it.” She said that vape smoke detectors had been “discussed,” but other vice principals from other schools doubted their effectiveness as well as their high cost: “if they don’t work well then it doesn’t seem like a good solution.” Solutions volunteered by students revealed a wide variation in perspectives. A sophomore student, Pink, proposed a “scared straight program” but instead of prisoners “we do a face-to-face confrontation with people who have suffered from vaping.” Their friend Emerald questioned the idea, suggesting that “helping someone who doesn’t want help is just cruel.” To this, Baby Blue said “we could just smack’em in the head.” Purple suggested taking away their phones and vapes, so they sit in class with nothing, the torture of boredom.” She also suggested “more officers or have the staff be more strict.” Multiple students suggested sensitive smoke detectors in the bathrooms, but one student was opposed to this idea. Green mentioned that “in my old school there were smoke detectors in the bathrooms but all that did was set an alarm off every week and drove students to find another way.” Another student suggested a compromise solution: a “green room” so that they can do what they want while also staying out of other people’s business. Presented with Pink’s scared straight program, Arellano and Heinlein were on board. “Educating students and empowering them to make informed decisions is the most impactful thing we can do,” said Heinlein. “It would be wonderful to welcome guest speakers from the community to come in and have some sort of public service announcement.” Both reacted predictably to the “green room” proposal. Heinlein laughed and said “no way, nope. Plus, you have to be 21 years old to legally vape and no one on campus is 21 so absolutely not, nice try.” Nobody knows when vaping on campus became a problem. Most speculate that it simply just transitioned from smoking to vaping when vapes became available. Arellano said “I started working at Lahainaluna in 2019, that’s when I learned what a vape was.” One thing is for certain, be it a student or an admin, everyone has opinions and everyone feels a responsibility to promote and maintain a safe and secure educational environment here at Lahainaluna High school. Trinity Guiza is a staff writer at Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back School Lunch: Cutting Waste, Cutting Taste Copy link Students speak out about school lunch. Bryson Aquino September 25, 2024 at 1:56:33 AM Student Life Previous Article Next Article A student looks down at a bright yellow blob of mac and cheese running into a chunky scoop of rice. A damp side of frozen vegetables sits in a nearby indent of the plate. The milk sitting nearby expires the next day. “The cheese looks faker than McDonalds cheese,” says senior Jackson Hussey, gesturing at his lunch. According to nutritional facts on the county menu page , this dish (see image) provides 710 calories, assuming there was also a side of fruit. This would need to sustain students for 6 to 8 hours on campus each day. And some students often stay later for extracurricular activities. According to credible estimates , the average teen may burn over 115 calories an hour doing less than moderate activity. A person who is thinking hard may spend 100 more calories a day . Free and Unwanted This year the Hawai’i DOE has expanded a USDA program that provides free “nutritious school meals” to all students regardless of household income. Earlier this year, the school released a letter stating that they would be participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program in which all students are eligible to receive free breakfast and lunch, even if some of them do not qualify. According to the Hawai’i DOE , any qualifying school has “a minimum of 40 percent or more of its students eligible for free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program.” However, many of these lunches are going uneaten. According to a 2023 survey conducted by the Food Research and Action Center, students in Hawai’i are now 17 percent less likely to eat school lunch. KHON2 investigated this in February and found that students around the state saw school meals as unhealthy, unappetizing, and small. Kids interviewed claimed that “they’d take all of what was offered if it just looked and tasted consistently more edible, more local and fresh.” “I don't want to serve this,” says John Alexander, our Cafeteria Manager, who orders food for the Lahainaluna cafeteria. “I don’t get much say in the food we get,” he explains. “The food portion is held by a national standard.” Also, the DOE, he said, “is the one sending out the menu.” According to Alexander, portions are determined on a USDA portion method called Offer Versus Serve (OVS), which is meant to cut back on waste and allow students to choose the foods they want to eat. It is meant to give students “all five food components in at least the minimum required quantities” according to a USDA OVS memo . LHS students are “actually receiving a half cup more than the minimum requirement,” Alexander added. Nevertheless, students like Vi Nguyen, a senior, think that “the school’s lunch portions aren’t enough for growing teens especially since we are nearly adults.” She added that “the school should put more quality into the food they provide as students may be able to perform better and have a more energized attitude throughout the day.” “Prison food” Student Alexa Torres Perez, thinks that some school lunch items are enjoyable such as the kimchi cucumber or Korean chicken. Yet, some items are “almost inedible or taste artificial.” “School lunch isn’t consistently bad,” said Perez, “the meals that are higher quality are so much better and make me feel better, but when certain items are obviously frozen or low quality they make me feel gross.” Differently, senior James Queja thinks that school lunch “looks like prison food half of the time.” Band student Dhennico Cabading said that while “the food at school is proportionate to last me through a normal school day as a small meal,” he thinks that it is “hard to finish because I genuinely think that the food is not appetizing.” He added that he thinks “the DOE should give us more food with better quality.” “I’ll eat it if I’m hungry,” says senior Dylan Paul Lat, “but I’d prefer something else.” Taking the loss Athletes on campus are particularly concerned with the size and quality of school lunch. Or, as senior Jackson Hussey said, “If I were to only eat the school lunch I would probably be malnourished.” Hussey stays after school almost every day for football practice so his calorie needs are much higher than the average student. According to a fact sheet hosted by NBC Sports , “energy needs” for student athletes can be “as high as 3,000 to 5,000 calories per day.” This is 3 times more than what school lunch offers. “This stuff is bad, it's dry,” said senior students Micheal Rayray and Kawika Kaili when discussing school lunches they’ve eaten. Micheal and Kawika are both football players that spend as much as 12 hours in school because of afterschool practice. When asked if they think the school lunch is enough to sustain them throughout the day, they said “No, we need more.” To questions about improving the quality of school lunches, they just said “automatic.” What we can do Mr. Alexander felt for the students, but explained that fixing the problem was out of his power. He encouraged students to take their complaints a step further. A poll asking what food options students want would be helpful, he said, “I can make as many suggestions to the DOE about what the kids want to eat but it's more likely they will listen to students rather than me.” Bryson Aquino is a senior at Lahainaluna. He’s a student reporter interested in shedding light on and writing about problematic issues on campus. He likes to interact with school institutions. A movie that he really resonates with him is called Not Without My Daughter because its main idea is how one person will go so far just for someone they love. A funny fact about him is that high blood pressure is hereditary in his family, so don’t make him mad!

< All Candidates Ka'iulani Balinbin Treasurer 🟢 PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES: Do you have ideas regarding how to provide development opportunities to students (i.e. college fairs, scholarships, and campus policies to promote clubs and student involvement)? If so, explain: I believe students would be interested in camps that are specific to their interest, as well as more college fairs. Our students will also benefit from having guest speakers from professions they are interested in. Having more interactive opportunities like these would allow students to learn through real world experiences, instead of being cooped up in the classroom. EVENTS PLANNING: If you were elected to student council what school events do you deem important and why? I deem class assemblies and class banquets/parties important. As a class, participating in these events is important because they give us a chance to bond and grow closer. I find it important that we form a connection with our classmates, especially since we are the future of our community. PARKING: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what changes would you want to make on the parking and car policy? If I were elected, I would work to create a system in the parking lot after school. This way it would be less of a hassle when trying to leave each day. ENVIRONMENT: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what changes would you want to make to the appearance, cleanliness, or safety on campus? If I were elected, I would put together campus cleanups to better the overall appearance, cleanliness, and safety on our campus. PHONE POLICY: If you were elected to the position you are running for, how would you change our phone policy? I believe having the freedom of being on our phone whenever we want during the day is working well, and we don't need a change. SCHOOL LUNCH: If you were elected to the position you are running for, what would you do to improve the quality of student lunches? If I was elected, I would request that the HIDOE provided better tasting, more nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch. Previous Next

< Back The Downfall of Human Competence Ari Abut Philosophy The Work Seventeenth-century philosopher, René Descartes, famously wrote the words “Cogito ergo sum,” "I think, therefore I am” in his 1637 Discourse on the Method. By this, he meant that thinking is the only thing that is guaranteed to be true in this world and that maybe a person’s worldview shapes the identity of the person themselves. Unfortunately, AI demotes thinking to something optional, something that isn’t necessary when AI is doing the thinking for them. In this way, AI may stunt the development of the people using it, countering the development of self. Researcher Helms Potter claims that “individuals who have been exposed to high cognitive demand tasks throughout their lives tend to exhibit higher intellectual abilities." This means that people who have been assigned hard tasks that require a large amount of thinking are more likely to be intelligent individuals and can solve problems more efficiently. Yet, AI creates a situation in which intellectual tasks do not need to be solved by people. As researcher Umberto León-Domínguez argues , the use of AI deteriorates how humans process information, as AI can easily contextualize it in a more digestible way, making people use fewer of their intellectual resources. He describes a concept, “cognitive offloading,” through which the action of relying on an external resource (in this case, AI) to complete a cognitive task, such as memorizing dates or creating lists, makes individuals less reliant on their own brain to organize these tasks. As he states, “a risk remains that for a certain segment of the population, the pervasive use of AI chatbots may diminish specific cognitive skills—particularly if individuals do not utilize the freed cognitive resources for other tasks that pose cognitive challenges.” In short, individuals who don’t overuse AI to offload tasks will likely be intellectually inclined. As technology advances and becomes more competent, human abilities will decline in response. In the modern world, this process is already happening. Humans often use AI for assignments and tasks. And as humans realize tasks can be done effortlessly and quickly with AI, they will eventually start relying on it entirely. Anything that is considered difficult is dumped onto it, leaving users with all the easy tasks. As humans grow more incompetent and find out the AI can take care of such tasks, they will put those minor tasks on the AI as well. The cycle repeats and spirals until humans are unable to do anything at all. Most people view AI as a revolutionary program. It learns by itself, can mimic human behavior, and even create art and literature on its own. Many companies use AI to edit their work, generate ideas and business pitches. It molds itself to fit the preferences of customers, and even increases productivity in the workplace. This, it is thought, will result in the human employees needing to do less work. Yet, it is more likely that company revenue will increase while employee pay decreases. As AI gets exponentially better and better, it will become more competent and efficient than most humans, resulting in higher unemployment rates. The rich (who own companies and the new technology running them) will become richer, and the poor (out of work) will become poorer. It becomes a cycle in which fewer people are able to hold their jobs, and could result in exponential recession and unemployment. While AI has its merits, it still has the potential to hurt the way we function as of now. Perhaps in the future, when we as humans (our brains specifically), evolve to coexist with modern technology without hindrances on both ends, we can incorporate AI more effectively into our lives without the cost of our own humanity. Since 1995, it seems, Albert Einstein has been associated with the quote "It’s become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity." Yet, there is no evidence that he actually said this. In fact, it comes from a 1995 movie called Powder . Despite being associated with Einstein, they are actually words spoken by Donald Ripley, played by Jeff Goldblum. The film builds itself on the premise of embracing what is not perfect and how human bias and bigotry (mental laziness) can get in the way of that. Einstein’s actual quote goes like this: Our world faces a crisis as yet unperceived by those possessing power to make great decisions for good or evil. The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe. It comes from a New York Times article published in 1945 where Einstein described humans as ignorant and sadistic individuals with the power to enact that cruelty onto others. He asks: why would we trust anything with that capability to humans? Similarly, AI represents a scary combination of voluntary ignorance and danger. For those who ignore information, technology takes on that burden for them. However, this can result in the distortion of information in the world, reducing authenticity to something a computer came up with. The misattribution of the Einstein-Goldblum quote is an allegory for how humans are easily misled, and how false information can be spread disturbingly quickly. This, some people warn us, is what AI will do. Without recognizing the importance of using our own intelligence to create our own conclusions, that ability will eventually diminish until AI replaces it entirely. About the Creator Communication is not my strong suit. I would like to interact with you, but I must admit that first meetings are almost guaranteed to be awkward. I enjoy philosophical and psychological discussions and finding out more about how people work. I also enjoy analyzing media such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Madoka Magica . If you’re interested in either of these masterpieces, contact me immediately. I look forward to hearing your insights. Previous Next Subscribe to our weekly newsletter Send Email

< Back Do I Have Your Attention? Copy link Why students can't put down their phones. Keyla Jimenez September 5, 2024 at 3:39:11 AM Student Life Previous Article Next Article A teacher is talking and the students are zoning out. Most of them are on their phones. Some might argue that as long as they are getting their work done, there’s really no problem with this scenario. You at least wouldn’t expect students to disagree with the idea. Yet, many of them do. Senior Zhi Clark admits that easy access to social media leads to procrastination. “I feel like once I get on my phone,” she said, “I could scroll for like hours.” Sophomore Jaelyn Galasinao also regrets the effect of phone use on her studies, saying that, without the distraction, “I could have done my homework this weekend…so much earlier.” Senior Kamaile Kulukulualani thinks that phones prevent kids from “getting a full education.” Confidence and Multi-tasking According to a 2022 survey, 41 percent of Lahainaluna students felt that they had no problem staying “quite focused,” despite sometimes being in situations with lots of distractions. Yet, 47 percent said that sometimes they were unable to “pay attention and resist distractions,” and 30 percent admitted to “frequently” or “always” “waiting until the last minute” to complete their assignments. Something is distracting LHS students from their work, though somehow they feel good about their ability to tune out those distractions. Danial Felisoni and Alexandra Godoi argue that students may be too confident about their ability to simultaneously scroll and stay on task as they “often overestimate their ability to multitask, which could eventually lead to academic underperformance.” As a result, when “cellphones are commonly used in class for purposes unrelated to the discipline, it is likely that students may be distracted during lectures or activities.” Addiction While students are generally aware of the problem, they nevertheless find it difficult to put their phones down. As Venice Gallegos describes it, “I think social media is just, like, a really easy way to get stimulated quickly, so when you’re not on it, you can kind of miss that…and have like, withdrawals.” Similarly, sophomore Ariana Lara Rodriguez stated, “When I’m in class, all I think about is watching Netflix and finishing my series or playing dress to impress.” Jack Pope, a new English Language Arts teacher at LHS, says that grabbing a student’s attention is “a problem that teachers have been dealing with since the beginning of time.” Part of what makes this problem difficult now, says Pope, is “the accessibility of having it (the distraction) right in your pocket.” “You do get a lot of that dopamine rush from getting on your phone,” Pope said. “The attachment is something that’s very difficult for kids, for teenagers, to pull themselves away from.” English Language Arts Teacher, Ryan Granillo, has taught at Lahainaluna for 22 years and says that he has noticed a change. “I would really say that once cell phones became prevalent in the classroom, it became really difficult for the students to manage both classroom instruction and discussions and like the desire to be on their phone,” he said. “How many TikTok videos can you go through in like, five minutes?” he added. “They might not think it’s a big deal because it’s only five minutes, but then they just, it’s that addictive quality that makes it really bad.” He added, “It doesn’t help that there’s no real policy, school-wide policy regarding use of phones in the classroom.” Granillo states, “Everywhere you go, adults, kids, everybody in between has them (phones) out all the time, and even to the point where students do their classwork on the cell phone. And so in that regard, you have to, kind of, as a teacher, you just kind of deal with it, but it’s never going to go away. Cell phones are part of our lives.” Annika Yucua thinks that social media can affect you somewhat but that it “is honestly not that bad of a problem.” Taking that idea further, Kimberly Hernandez says that social media is actually of help in a school environment and claims that “you can use social media for, like, many things. You make projects about posts and you just look at the post like to see, to give you an idea.” It’s Me, Hi, I’m the Problem Jack Pope notes that the problem doesn’t just lie with phones since “there are some students that are completely capable of pulling themselves away from that device and holding attention.” Zhi Clark also thinks that “It’s honestly like your own self-reflection on how well you can stay off your phone, how interested you are in what’s going on.” On the other hand, Pope again pointed out, “grabbing a student’s attention” is a teacher’s job. “I need to make this interesting enough to where they want to pay attention to what I have to say and the content that we’re learning, rather than, you know, going straight to their device.” Jaelyn Galasinao says it another way, “If they (teachers) don’t care, I don’t care.” Keyla Jimenez is a staff writer for Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back 5% Proficient in Math, 100% Concerned Copy link Keyla Jimenez March 15, 2025 at 6:53:35 PM Education Previous Article Next Article From the 2020-2021 to the 2023-2024 school years, Lahainaluna students' proficiency rates in math and reading dropped. Math declined from 14% to 5%, and reading from 57% to 28%. Many at LHS agree that there’s a learning issue on campus and that something should be done. However, no one can definitively say why. Was it COVID-19? An overall decline in motivation? Are these scores just inaccurate? Is it the way we gather data? Perhaps it’s a combination of factors. “How are you gonna, like, achieve stuff?” Many are concerned about the drop in reading specifically. English scores in the 2022-2023 school year decreased to 49%—a drop that we might connect to the effects of COVID-19 and remote education. But the 28% drop for 2023-2024 is more concerning. The decline immediately after COVID was only 8%. The problem is getting worse, not better. Freshman Wendy Moore thinks, “Literacy is a really big thing to understand for your future. If you don’t even have a bare understanding of it,” she added, “how are you gonna, like, achieve stuff?” Brianne Lagazo agrees: “I think being able to analyze what you're reading and understanding what you're reading is really important, especially at a young age—to be able to understand what you're reading and expand.” Ending on a sad note, she admits, “A lot of people my age are not able to do the same thing.” Sophomore Jaylee Vierra suspects that LHS students, per our StriveHI scores, “aren’t reaching our full potential, like we could be doing a lot better.” Without reading comprehension and basic math, we essentially lose “a key function in adulthood.” Yet, she also guessed that LHS students struggle with “these basic concepts because we don’t care to learn them.” “Being able to think deeply about information, and maybe not even deeply, but critically about information is really important because you guys are making decisions based off of information that you're gathering,” says librarian Tara Nakata. “It's different for everybody.” Math scores were even worse, and some students are concerned about what this means for those leaving high school to look for jobs and greater levels of education. Thinking about her classes, sophomore Yaretzi Flores observes that students “don't really truly grasp [the subject being taught].” She thinks that students are being promoted without the skills their teachers need them to have. Flores notes that teachers often have to reteach material because students didn’t learn it the first time. "If you can't learn one topic,” she explains, “like, there's no way you can hop on to another and, like, fully get the concept of that.” This situation presents teachers with a dilemma. They can move their classes onto the next subject, leaving students behind, or they can reteach. In both cases, students are negatively affected. Describing this situation, junior Shalany Hadley says, “It’s a little disappointing.” Students who are ready to learn “won't grow” when teachers have to reteach. Yet, Hadley empathized that “It's different for everybody.” Personal experiences or mental health issues may affect those who benefit from reteaching. “If something's going on in your personal life, it does make it harder for you to focus and, like, truly give your full attention to what you're trying to learn.” Presented with the data, junior Gonzalez Cruz related to those who are struggling. “I'm in Algebra Two. I was learning this one equation, and I couldn't figure it out, because all the kids remember it from last year, or, like, the years before, and I didn't really fully get the concept down that year.” Systems and School Funding Cassie Jacinto or “Aunty Cass” is our current Student Activities Coordinator, though she used to teach math at LHS. “There are so many people that are under, like, the poverty line at Lahainaluna,” she said, referring to the fact that poverty can contribute to less parental involvement and a shift in priorities for some students. The problem with priorities, in particular, presents the possibility that the scores themselves are not accurate. Pointing to testing culture, she asked, “How many students actually think that those test scores matter?” Even students who are well-off may see no value in the test if it doesn’t gain them anything. “There's no accountability anymore,” said Jacinto. “Like they just take this test? Are they even gonna really try?” If it doesn't matter to the students, she reasoned, then how accurate is the statistic in the first place?” “They don't care. It's not tied to a grade,” she said. “That's what motivates people most of the time, right? Yeah, like, 'Oh, does this test affect my grade?' No, okay, so are you really going to try then? Does it matter? Right? The answer is no, right, it doesn't matter to the students.” “How do we make test scores better?” Jacinto questioned. “Like, well, why are test scores so important?” The answer: “Because it's tied to funding. Where are our priorities?” Priorities Since 2020, educators and officials have accounted for low test scores by blaming the pandemic, but it’s been three years since then, and the problem is only getting worse. “I think we can only blame COVID for so long, you know, I think we're cycling out of that group of kids that were affected by it,” says English teacher Jennifer Ariemma. Instead, she thinks the problem could be our low expectations. “I don't think we hold ourselves to a high enough standard for kids. We have a tendency to pass students who shouldn't really, necessarily, be passed.” “Some students know more than the test gives them the capacity to show,” says Ariemma. “If we had a different way of testing our students, if we had a different way of monitoring their progress, I think we'd be able to help them a little bit more than taking a test.” Keyla Jimenez is a staff writer for Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back Do you have a work of art or a piece of writing to share? Copy link Write for Ka Lama Hawai'i Ka Lama Hawai'i May 11, 2024 at 12:30:21 AM Education Previous Article Next Article Submit an article to our Student Life & Academics section, a piece of written or visual art to our Back Page section, or a short opinion to our Talk Story section. Have something important to share about Lahainaluna sports? Submit an article to our sports section. We will consider all submissions as long as they are: student-authored, appropriate, and, for articles, in some way relevant to student life. All submissions to Ka Lamaʻs Campus Life section: must report rather than make or advance opinion; must begin with an engaging lead; must be focused on something relevant to campus or student life; must be grounded in the voices of/interviews with LHS students and community members. Topics are not limited and may be focused on art, entertainment, education, school administration, etc. All articles are subject to a thorough review process. Any submission may be rejected if it fails to meet quality standards established by Ka Lama student staff and faculty advisors. Submit to the contact form on this site or send it to kalamahawaii.info@gmail.com . This was posted by the editorial staff of Ka Lama Hawai'i.

< Back Student Sells Artwork Inspired by the Fire Copy link A Symbol of Strength Sequoia Pelletier-Yamasaki May 28, 2024 at 6:42:18 PM Student Life Previous Article Next Article Following the Lahaina wildfire, Devyn Gruber, a senior at Lahainaluna High School, decided to “turn that grief into art.” She made two vases decorated with memories of Lahaina, which she sold for $900. Lahaina Town “was where I grew up, it was my entire childhood,” said Devyn, who was so heartbroken after the fire that she didn’t know what to do. She had made paintings and other things in the past. Though it was unclear why she finally chose to make the vases. Nevertheless, the process, she said, “really helped with my grief so much, it made things come to their senses.” Her first vase, Remembering Lahaina , is covered with representations of Lahaina: people's houses, the rock wall that goes through front street, the “Welcome to Lahaina'' sign, Nagasako’s, the Banyan tree, and many other things that made Lahaina Lahaina . At the top of the vase there are 101 crosses, representing everyone who was lost on August 8th. The second vase, Unity , has an upside down Hawaiian flag. There is an L with a hole in it, representing “the hole in our hearts that will forever be empty for Lahaina town and the memories we made.” Devyn also added a beautiful poem in Hawaiian that Kumu Jamie Palakiko helped her translate. The poem reads “We Together, are Lahaina Together we are one We are the people of Lahaina And together we will rebuild.” By making the vases, Devyn didn’t just hope to heal her own pain, but all of the community’s pain as well. “I want my vases to touch everyone’s heart and help them relive the memories of Lahaina.” She had her vases displayed at the student showcase where she had everyone write down their memories of Lahaina and put them inside the vase to keep forever. “It’s just like a keeper of our memories.” The details Devyn included on each vase are things from her personal experiences in Lahaina. “There’s not a single little part that isn’t meaningful to me,” she said. The first vase took Devyn around 5 months to make, and the second vase took 6 months. “It is definitely my favorite piece of art I’ve made. It has touched so many hearts, including mine.” Devyn’s auntie bought her first vase for $500. The second vase was bought for $400 by a woman named Holly, who saw Devyn’s speak about her work at this year’s student showcase, an event attended by students from several Lahaina schools. Devyn donated $450 to Lahaina Strong, and the other $450 went towards her college fund. In the future, Devyn plans on opening a ceramics studio or a space where people can do ceramics. “I want to make an entire business to help people grieve for the loss of our town. I want to help the community through ceramics.” She hopes that others can make art for Lahaina to help them grieve and heal, the way making the vases helped her. Devyn’s beautiful vases have touched the hearts of our Lahaina community, and hopefully will continue to touch more hearts. Sequoia Pelletier-Yamasaki is a contributor to Ka Lama Hawai'i and was a junior at the time she wrote this.