Hawaiʻi keiki compete to win ʻŌlelo YXC

HONOLULU (KHON2) — When you walk into the ʻŌlelo Youth Exchange Awards, you immediately encounter hundreds of some of the most talented keiki in Hawaiʻi.

The Youth Exchange (YXC) is a program that ʻŌlelo Community Media has been building for more than 20 years. This year’s YXC took place on Tuesday, April 23 at the Hawaiian Hilton Village and hosted 717 teams of hopeful students.

Wes Akamine, who is ʻŌlelo’s Director of Operations and Project Management and the brainchild behind one of Hawaiʻi’s largest youth training in media programs in the United States.

Although ʻŌlelo is Oahu’s public access station, they YXC offers keiki from across Hawaiʻi the opportunity to become a part of the awards celebration.

“We have come a long way in elevating the work of these kids so that people in the community can see what amazing things they are doing,” said Roger McKeague who is ʻŌlelo’s President and CEO.

The awards are segmented into different categories, like environmentalism, PSAs, etc…, and are sponsored by different businesses and organizations from around Hawaiʻi such as Alaska Airlines, the Department of Health, the Department of Education, just to name a few.

One such sponsor is the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

“Handmade bird puppets, lab scientist costumes, moʻolelo, and animated infographics are just some of the tools that K-12 students across Hawaiʻi used to create video projects about forest birds as part of the 2024 ʻŌlelo Youth Xchange Video Challenge,” said a spokesperson for DLNR

For the 2024 YXC awards, the category called “Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele: Year of the Forest Birds”, was sponsored by the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW).

“Seeing students share their voices to talk about the importance of native birds in Hawaiʻi is so inspiring,” said Dr. Josh Atwood, Information and Education Specialist for DOFAW. “They did a lot of research to produce these videos. You get the sense from these videos that even if they haven’t seen these birds in person, the students take pride in them as part of what makes these islands special.”

The way the awards works is like this. Each sponsor is tasked with judging the videos that were created for that category, and the sponsor’s choose the winners.

This year, there are 24 student groups that submitted videos they created for the forest bird category. DLNR’s judges narrowed those 24 down to nine finalists which included three video submissions each from elementary, middle and high schools in Hawaiʻi.

The judges ended choosing the video submission from Pearl City Highlands Elementary School, Kaimukī Middle School, and ‘Alo Kēhau o ka ʻĀina Mauna High School as this year’s winner for the Makahiki o Nā Manu Nahele: Year of the Forest Birds Award.

“Participating in the contest was a way to further Hawaiian language and learn more about the birds of Hawaiʻi,” shared Kaniele Tubon, from ‘Alo Kēhau o ka ʻĀina Mauna on HawaiʻiIsland. “Because they were one of the first inhabitants to live here, even before humans, it’s important to be able to protect them and help them live on.”

The winners from each category were awarded trophies and equipment that will be taken back to their video classrooms along with some gift certificates to Hawaiʻi’s own Zippy’s.

If you or someone you know want to learn more about ʻŌlelo’s YXC, then click here.

“I love that people visiting our website can now learn about these birds directly from Hawaiʻi’s students,” added Atwood. “They are the future of conservation in Hawaiʻi – keiki who will grow up to inherit the results of our actions today. Who better to tell us what’s important to protect?”