Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 6, 1 June 2013 — Kia ora to the High Tech Youth Network [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kia ora to the High Tech Youth Network

Aloha from Kaua'i and Ni'ihau! Mahalo this month to Malia Smith and Kevin Vaccarello of Sustain Hawai'i (sustainhawaii.org), who gave me a tour of Palaka Moon Farm, a sustainable farm in Waimānalo. It was refreshing to see firsthand their efforts to help Hawai'i create loeal, healthy and affordable nontoxic food

options. And some of the fruits of their efforts ean be seen and tasted at S weet Home Waimānalo (sweethomewaimanalo.com); they generously provided some delicious samplings of sustainable food for our visit. These are exactly the kinds of people we need to ensure a healthy Hawai'i for generations to eome. Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting a small group from Aotearoa (New Zealand), representing the High Tech Youth Network (hightechyouth.org). Sam Chapman (HTYN chairman), Ann Milne (principal of Kia Aroha College) and Mike Usmar (HTYN CEO) eame to Hawai'i nei to share information about HTYN and to see if any Hawai'i groups would like to join and partner. HTYN is a community of closely afflliated High Tech Youth Studios and people that support eaeh other, young people and underserved communities across the Paciflc. Their work has been featured online, in movies and on TV - it's that special Native storytelling ability that we got to see in the movie Whale Rider. But really, it's more than that; it's an opportunity for us as Native Hawaiians in the year 2013 to be authentically native and still live in a modern world. One of the

best qualities of HTYN is that it is grounded in core cultural values, whieh result in and from strong relationships of trust, sharing, friendship and guardianship. Our Hawaiian ancestors were always curious and innovative, so I think HTYN is an opportunity they would have jumped on. And that is why I am sharing it here. I truly believe this is such a great

opportunity that it's something we ean and should have in Hawai'i nei. Yes, it takes money and other resources, but if there is interest in and commitment to something, by enough people, we always flnd a way to make things happen. HTYN already has a track record of bringing together leading technology businesses, governments, philanthropists and community entrepreneurs. So eheek them out for yourself and see if this is something you would like to support here. Finally, I want to send a shoutout to a group from Kaua'i's Kawaikini New Century Public Charter School (kawaikini.com). These nine women - seven seniors and their two chaperones - eame to OHA's Honolulu offlce on a visit to O'ahu. Over the course of several hours and luneh, we discussed issues affecting Kaua'i, talked about the challenges our charter schools face and looked ahead at their future academic careers after graduation. They even attended a meeting of our Beneflciary Advocacy and Empowerment (BAE) Committee to learn about legislation and other important policy issues my fellow trustees and I received updates on. Mahalo nui loa ! ■

Dan Ahuna

TrustEE, Kaua'i and Ni'ihau