Creative keiki win awards for community forest video

How do trees root us to Hawaiʻi and help us grow? This was the question posed to K-12 students across Hawaiʻi participating in a video contest as part of the “Year of Our Community Forests” campaign.

The Year of Our Community Forests was one of several categories in the Youth Xchange student video competition organized by ʻŌlelo Community Media and was sponsored by the Kaulunani Urban and Community Forestry program at the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife (DOFAW).

In 32 videos, students shared the stories of trees and forests that helped shape their lives.

Kealakehe High School students won their age division with “Rooted in Kaloko,” an artistic video showing how the forests of Kaloko, near the Honuaʻula Forest Reserve, have supported their growth and shaped their identity.

Students at Honowai Elementary School, who won the Elementary division, created a video about the benefits of trees in their neighborhood and planted new koa and ʻulu trees on their campus. Moanalua Middle School created a winning video about their “Power Tree, Lucky Tree,” a special tree on campus that hundreds of students use as a sanctuary and whose trunk they touch when they need a boost of inspiration and power. 

“When we grow trees, we sustain our communities,” said Dr. Heather McMillen, coordinator of DOFAW’s Kaulunani program. “It is so encouraging to see these issues described in the voices of our keiki, and to see them use their creativity and their connection to forests to create these videos. They’re the reason we do this work.”

All student video entries are available for streaming on the website for the Year of Our Community Forests and will be broadcast on ʻŌlelo Community Media. The campaign is coordinated by a large number of conservation partners across Hawaiʻi, who are collectively providing over 1,100 events this year to celebrate trees, put trees in the hands of Hawaiʻi’s residents, and engage people in volunteering.