Two events last week provided eight Maui youth with unprecedented experiential learning opportunities at Akaku. The aspiring video journalists enrolled in Akaku’s Young Reporters Media Camp were flown to Honolulu Monday, Mar. 17 to witness activities at the Hawaii State Capitol; and on Tuesday, they were surprised with a live video chat with Emmy-winning war reporter, Hanson Hosein.

“There is no better classroom–or newsroom–than the real world,” says Jay April, President/CEO of Akaku. “Budding cub reporters like to hang out at the station and learn how to use cool video technology; but video journalism is not just about cameras and editing, it’s about telling a story or what they see going on in the world.”

Led by Akaku Education Director Sara Tekula and instructor Matthew Robinson, the eight aspiring video journalists interviewed people coming and going from the offices of the State Senate and House of Representatives.

“The Young Reporters Media Camp is Akaku: Maui Community Television’s answer to the growing interest of today’s youth in becoming engaged in their community through media,” said Rep. Joseph Bertram before his fellow State representatives in the House chambers on Monday, acknowledging each young reporter by name.

“I’m excited about this important experience for young reporters. We’re always looking to highlight media as a means to bridge cultural as well as geographical divides,” says Tekula. “Because of Hawaii’s diverse and unique geography, Maui youth don’t always have the luxury of being where laws or news take place.”

Hanson Hosein, an Emmy-winning former NBC News reporter who has extensively covered the Iraq War and the fall of Kosovo, spoke to the young reporters via live video chat on Tuesday. Campers interviewed the affable and experienced journalist with questions they crafted after viewing a reel of his career highlights. The entire event was captured to tape in the Michael Clark Studio.

“A Conversation with Hanson Hosein” will premier on Tuesday, Mar. 25 at 9:00 p.m. as a stand-alone program on Akaku Channel 52 and will also be available on-demand on Akaku Channel 54, by visiting www.akaku.org and programming it via the internet. Additional airdates for the program include:
- Friday, Mar. 28th, at 7:05 p.m.

- Monday, Mar. 31st at 6:00 p.m.

- Wednesday, Apr. 9th at 6:30 p.m.

- Thursday, Apr. 17th at 5:30 p.m.

The Young Reporters Media Camp is a program for teens offered several times a year by Akaku’s Education Department. During the week-long camp, students learn what it takes to become “Young Reporters” for The Maui Daily—Akaku’s latest community-based news program that airs nightly at 7 p.m. on Akaku Channel 54. In five days, they become “youth certified” to borrow cameras and use editing equipment free-of-charge in order to create short video segments for the program. Need-based scholarships are always available for motivated students accepted into the program.

For more information, call 808-871-5554, or visit Akaku: Maui Community Television at 333 Dairy Road, Kahului.

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