HIKI NŌ #1219
Thurs., June 10, 2021 7:30 pm

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of HIKI NŌ, outstanding alumni from the first decade of the program are profiled in this first installment of a two-part series. Featured in this episode are:

Waiʻanae High School graduate Crystal Cebedo who, as an eighth-grader at Waiʻanae Intermediate, helped to produce a story about her terminally-ill mother, which set the bar for the intensely personal, highly emotional stories that have become a hallmark of HIKI NŌ.

Kua O Ka Lā Miloliʻi Hipuʻu Virtual Academy graduate Hoku Subiono, whose story on the Mauna Kea Thirty Meter Telescope dispute served as a model for how HIKI NŌ can report on complex, controversial topics with objectivity and neutrality.

Kaitlin Arita-Chang and Monica Schmidt, who both graduated from H.P. Baldwin High School on Maui during the first season of HIKI NŌ. During their senior year, they partnered on a HIKI NŌ story about Maui’s plastic bag ban, which won 1st Place for Best News Writing in the very first HIKI NŌ Awards. Kaitlin went on to become press secretary and deputy communications director for U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono and is now working in public relations in Honolulu. Monica has gone on to become the executive producer of the morning show at FOX5 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kapolei High School graduate Joshua Saludez, one of the very first HIKI NŌ writer-reporter-editors, who is now the broadcast media lead at New Hope Leeward church.

Waipahu High School graduate Victoria Cuba, who discovered the power of storytelling when, as the subject of her first HIKI NŌ story, she revealed that she was homeless. Victoria has gone on to become an evening newscast producer at KITV4, Hawaiʻi’s ABC affiliate.

HIKI NŌ 6|10|21: HIKI NŌ Alumni Profiles, Part One