Journalism Students Say Yes To ‘Hiki No’

Kalaheo High teacher Kathy Shigemura (left) and her students present a $5,000 Educating the Heart grant to PBS Hawaii’s ‘Hiki No’ producer Robert Pennybacker (center) during the school’s senior farewell assembly. Students include (from left) Houston Lowry, Connor Doane, Joshua Ballesteros, Carson Chiu, Thomas Capllonch and Sierra Freitas. Not pictured: Shauna Perry. Photo from PBS Hawaii.

Kalaheo High School has participated in PBS Hawaii’s Hiki No program since its inception in 2011. No surprise, then, that the journalism students wanted to give back.

Working with Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the teenagers recently presented $5,000 to the statewide student news network.

Seven Kalaheo students — Joshua Ballesteros, Thomas Capllonch, Carson Chiu, Connor Doane, Sierra Freitas, Houston Lowry and Shauna Perry — along with teacher Kathy Shigemura, worked with the foundation as part of its Educating the Heart program, a semester-long project that pushes students toward philanthropy.

The students spent 100 hours working with American Heart Association of Hawaii to create a public service announcement for the organization using the skills they learned from Hiki No.

For more information on the show, or to view some of Kalaheo High School’s earlier productions, visit pbshawaii.org/hikino.