Schools across Hawaiʻi are entering unfamiliar territory as teachers, students, parents and administrators start the new school year in the midst of a pandemic. Don’t miss a special edition of INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAIʻI What’s it Going to Take?, when we’ll discuss going back to school during COVID-19.

Students from Aliamanu Middle School in the Salt Lake district of Oʻahu explore the effects of military deployment on family members. The story focuses on how the impact of a parent’s deployment can be more problematic for younger children than it is with their older siblings.

James Kauahikaua has witnessed some of the planet’s most awe-inspiring spectacles as a geophysicist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on Hawai‘i Island. While his research frequently leads him dangerously close to molten hot magma, a dire cancer diagnosis may have been his most humbling encounter yet.

On this Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox, we hear from Nona Beamer, or Aunty Nona as she was fondly called. Aunty Nona was an educator, author, hula dancer and a champion of Hawaiian culture, known for her integrity, scholarship and love.

Hear from Alice Inoue, the founder of Happiness U, as she reflects on how her curiosity and entrepreneurial nature led her on an untraditional path to her current position of helping others find their life’s purpose.

TOP STORY “Kauaʻi Resilience Project” Students from Kapaʻa High School on Kauaʻi tell the story of their community’s effort to address a serious problem with Kauaʻi’s youth. A 2018 study showed that 9% of high school students on Kauaʻi attempt suicide, and 28% reported feeling sad and worthless over extended periods of time. In response to these alarming facts, the Kauaʻi Resiliency Project was formed to create programs and opportunities for Kauaʻi’s youth that help them navigate life’s challenges.

Students from Ke Kula Niihau O Kekaha Public Charter School on Kauaʻi tell the story of how members of their school’s archery program created, through a process of problem solving, an activity that produces wildly colorful, spontaneous works of art.

For three years, Takeshi Yoshihara and his family lived in two small cubicles in a Japanese American internment camp. The experience, while traumatic for the young Takeshi and his family, did not leave him bitter. This Nisei would grow up to be the first Japanese American appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy, and he enjoyed a long military career. Yoshihara talks about what made him an unlikely Naval Academy candidate, and his journey through the ranks and, eventually, to Hawaiʻi.

During April and May of 2020, twenty-five HIKI NŌ students from across the state created video reflections on how COVID-19 had changed their lives as they sheltered-in-place in their homes, giving Hawaiʻi’s youth a prominent voice during the pandemic. This Student Reflections compilation show presents all twenty-five reflections, offering a rare glimpse into the lives of local teens and pre-teens in these challenging times.

Learn how John Morgan, president of the 4,000-acre Kualoa Ranch on Windward Oʻahu, diversified business by opening up the lands to recreational tour activities and to movie crews from blockbuster films like Jurassic Park and Jumanji.