Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 11, 1 November 2011 — Teen earns seat at APEC CEO summit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Teen earns seat at APEC CEO summit

A Kamehameha Sehools-Kapālama junior wrote his own tieket to attend the APEC CEO Summit this month, where President Ohama will address attendees. Shane-Justin Nu'uhiwa was one of the five winners of the APEC 20 1 1 Hawai'i Host Committee's high sehool essay eontest that asked the question, "Why is sustainability important to you, Hawai'i and APEC?" Nu'uhiwa says writing the essay gave him "a broader perspeetive of sustainability" and taught him that Hawaiians "have a speeial

eonneetion to the land and we should always eare for it like our aneestors did." In his essay, Islands of Sustainability: The Way ofOur Kūpuna, Nu'uhiwa writes that the Asia-Paeifie Eeonomie Cooperation's vision statement commits it to "protect[ingj the quality of our air, water and green spaces and manag[ing] our energy resources and

renewable resources to ensure sustainable growth and provide a more secure future for our people." "This vision," he writes, "reflects a very traditional Kānaka Maoli way of life." At the same time the 17-year-old says, "When I think of APEC, I think of globalization" and the connection between globalization and sustainability isn't always apparent. So when he's ringside at the CEO summit, he said he's most

looking forward to "seeing how they're going to address sustainability" as well as "how they're going to affect the small businesses in Hawai'i and all across the Asia-Pacific region." Nu'uhiwa, who plays timpani in the school's marching band and is a member of the Publications Club, says his parents were proud of his accomplishment. "They were happy that I won," he says. "They told me that I should be representing Kamehameha Schools in a positive way." Read the winning essays online at apec2011hawaii.com. — LisaAsato ■

Nu'uhiwa