Wai'anae exceeds expectations with media program
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
Off in a nondescript corner of Wai'anae High School, over a ditch and behind metal doors, a media empire is in the making.
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Dozens of students squeeze together — some sitting on tables — so they can fit into a writing class. A few yards away students work on computer animation or show off their most recent promotional videos, an MTV-worthy montage of life on the Wai'anae Coast and a series of public service announcements and commercials.
Wai'anae High sophomore Cherell Keamo, left, works on her video project while adviser Christine Ludewig, second from left, teaches other students a video-editing program.
Adviser John Allen III shows Keala Naehu, 16, how to frame a subject for on-camera interviews. Wai'anae's multimedia program, Searider Productions, has won awards and students' work can be seen on local and national television.
It's a high-tech classroom in one of the state's poorest areas.
Welcome to Searider Productions, where students shatter stereotypes and let loose their creativity.
Under the instruction of Candy Suiso, Lorraine Gershun, Ric Gresia and part-time KGMB photographer and editor John Allen III, students have created a multimedia learning mecca that has won national recognition — and earned money as well.
"We beat the stereotype of Wai'anae," said senior Holly Stephens, 17, a television producer. "We're one of the best in the state at this and we're recognized nationally. People don't expect this kind of program to come out of Wai'anae."
The multimedia program has won local and national awards. Their work has aired on CNN. Students have been hired for commercial work by local companies and have produced public service announcements on preventing forest fires and other issues that can be spotted on local and national television stations.
Scott Sivik, regional vice president for American Healthways, based in Kapolei, said the company was so pleased with a 10-minute instructional video the Wai'anae students produced on its diabetes and cardiac program that the corporate office in Nashville wants the students to produce a video for it as well.
"It's hard to believe they're still in high school," Sivik said. "Any stereotype you might have gets blown away."
Where you can see the work of Searider Productions: • Searider News airs Sundays at 8:30 p.m. on 'Olelo. Later in the school year, the school will also start SPTV, a half-hour variety show that will follow the news show. • The school's Web site is under construction and off line now but should be back up soon. It has examples of student work. • Look for public service announcements about the public schools to start later this fall on KITV.
Most recently, Ko Olina Resort & Marina hired Searider Productions to create 15- and 30-second commercials as well as a 20-minute promotional video highlighting the resort properties. The Hawai'i State Teachers Association just contracted them to produce public service announcements on the public school system, which will air this fall on KITV. Joan Husted, executive director of HSTA, said they hired the students after seeing their work and hearing from the union's public relations firms that the work was of commercial quality.
At a glance
"The Wai'anae kids everybody sort of poo-poos, but they win award after award after award," said state Sen. Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha). "You can't take anything away from those teachers. They've done an amazing job building the program. You've just got to put the right stuff into the kids' hands."
To generate the awards and the commercial contracts, students devote time in class, after and before school, during recess and at lunch to writing, designing, shooting video, editing and producing. "We call this our second home," said Jameson Liu, 16, a senior and co-editor of the school newspaper, Ka Leo O Wai'anae.
No form of media is left untouched. Students write for the monthly school newspaper; create the yearbook; produce Searider News, a show that can been seen on 'Olelo at 8:30 p.m. Sundays; and design the school's Web page. They also produce music videos, documentaries, public service announcements and commercials.
"This class is just like a job," said Stephens, who has had to scale back her regular job at Ko Olina to weekends because television production takes up so much of her week.
More than 200 students at the school fill the newswriting and video production classes — so many that teachers have to turn away dozens of kids each year. Teachers say it's the largest multimedia program in the state.
But it wasn't always so.
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The program started out 10 years ago with 30 students. School officials were happy as long as a student newspaper showed up quarterly and students had yearbooks to sign at the end of the spring semester. Even when the program started growing, facilities and equipment took years to follow.
Pi'ilani Matutino, right, practices her interview skills with fellow sophomore Jessica Tolentino as Keala Naehu operates the camera. More than 200 students fill the newswriting and video production classes.
"We started out very humble," Suiso said. "We had six cameras for 100 students and one editing bay. The class was working out of closets. The kids out here appreciate what they have. They don't come from a lot. They've never grumbled about the heat or the equipment."
After sweating it out for several years in a building without air-conditioning and unsuited for the high-tech equipment, the school received a $400,000 Housing and Urban Development grant geared toward Native Hawaiian or Alaska Native institutions with the help of U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye and Hanabusa.
That money helped renovate an old mechanic shop into a digital media and video center — the Wai'anae Coast Telecommunications Center. The center is a joint project with Leeward Community College, Wai'anae High, 'Olelo Community Television, the Wai'anae Coast Coalition and the Hawai'i Technology and Trade Association.
'Olelo's Wai'anae Coast office is housed in the center, which has allowed students access to additional equipment.
In October, the program will move into a new $1.4 million building that is finishing construction. Teachers say it's a dream come true for a campus that has often done without.
Because Searider Productions is a nonprofit group, the money earned from commercial work helps the school give college scholarships and send students to national high school journalism and film conventions on the Mainland. Students who produce that commercial-quality work also earn a stipend.
"They're considered free-lancers," Suiso said.
Students are starting to work on the HSTA's public service announcements in groups of three or four. The three groups that produce the best work will split $160 and have their work shown on KITV.
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American Healthways, the first company to contract with the school, donated $5,000 to a scholarship fund in exchange for the video work. Sivik said he received thank-you notes from students, but believes the company got just as much out of the relationship. The video has been used in a variety of business settings.
"This class is just like a job," said Holly Stephens, 17.
"When I told one of my colleagues what we were planning her face crinkled up and she said, 'What?' I said, 'Just trust me. They are a diamond in terms of what they're capable of doing.' "
Students will branch out this year with the creation of a new show called SPTV, a variety program that will air on 'Olelo after Searider News.
Mika Pitolo, 17, said SPTV will showcase student work, longer feature stories and music videos. "It's going to be a lot more laid-back than the news program," Pitolo said. "People will get to see us as students."
Besides the satisfaction they get from creating stories and shows, the teens enjoy seeing the reactions adults have to their work.
"We've been here when we're running tours of our facility," said Nick Smith, 17, a senior who hopes to study film in college. "Their jaws drop. It's a good feeling."
They're also aiming not just to become the top program in Hawai'i, but in the country. "We're not the best yet, but a lot of people know about us," said Ashley La'a, 17, who hopes for a career in broadcast television after college.
Hanabusa has another dream. She hopes that someday families elsewhere on O'ahu will transfer their children to Wai'anae High because of Searider Productions.
"My dream is that we'll get those geographic exceptions for Wai'anae someday," Hanabusa said. "That would really be something."
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
