Wai'anae, Hawai'i
October 28th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

Hawaii is home to over 7,500 farms, covering over one million acres. On a few of these acres sits Maili Moa, or Maili Chicken. They’re an egg farm on the Leeward Coast of Oahu who’ve been rolling out their product for almost two decades. The owner, Mark Takaki, is all about quality and control on his farm. “Quality control is so important to us here, which is why everything we do is all hands on. It keeps things regulated and just gives us a better egg for our customers,” said Takaki.

A lot of work takes place to get these eggs from the chicken to the customers. Everyday, eggs on the farm are washed, sized, graded, and the packaged. Some will be delivered to customers who subscribe to monthly deliveries while others will be packaged for sale on the farm. Regardless of destination, the process and care of the eggs is always the same.

Providing the consistent service and product isn’t cheap though. Hawaii does not have a feed mill, so it has to be flown in for an enormous cost, which left Maili Moa scrambling to make ends meet. Takaki said, “Feed prices went through the roof overnight and basically we needed to downsize because we couldn’t compete with the mainland eggs coming in so cheap.”

Still, this didn’t keep the chickens on the farm from cheeping. To ensure their survival, the farm separated themselves from the flock and switched to producing cage-free eggs. Takaki is the only farmer in Hawaii who has made the switch, and the difference really shows. “I enjoy when my customers come and they really say, ‘We don’t wanna buy from the mainland, we prefer your eggs, your eggs are the best,” Takaki said.

For now, Mark is still trying to get the word out about what he and his farm are doing, and what it could do for Hawaii.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
October 25th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

It started with a jump. The stadium lights blinding, the cheers deafening and the coaches on the edge of sanity. Chaz Bollig goes for the ball, which is a little too far- so he springs into the air. Catch! Then suddenly...nothing. In the game of football, the chances of sustaining an injury are fairly high.

Take Varsity football player Chaz Bollig, for example. In the past few years, he’s broken his collarbone, knee, seven fingers and in pop warner season had an intense concussion. Injuries like these are all too common among student athletes now, with over 2 million occuring each year, according to U.S. Center for Disease Control. For Bolig. one affliction in particular stood out. “I lost memory for a long time after my concussion. I think it was for about a whole week, maybe even longer. It was scary, I had no clue what happened or anything,” Chaz said.

A concussion is a brain injury that occurs from a serious hit to the head or body. Of the 2 million student athlete injuries that do occur, 300,000 of them are traumatic brain-related. Chaz recovered from his injury slowly, eventually returning to the field to play once again.

In Hawaii it takes a student athlete 23 days on average to be cleared to play a sport again. Even with recovery time and new studies being done regarding the effects of concussions, The Department of Education has had an increase of 600 reported injuries from the 2007 to the 2012 school year. This jump in accidents has caused concern among sports officials and athlete's parents. "You don't want to think of the death part, it's just more of how is going to be after he recovers or even if he recovers," said Randell Bollig.

On a global scale, the recognition of concussions and its harmful effects on athletes during sports season has arisen. For instance, the NFL has been sued by more than hundreds of their players or the player’s families because of wounds that cut too deep to mend. "Trainers always try to take it pretty serious and try to make sure you don't have a concussion," said Chaz Bollig.

Overall, many adolescent sportsmen and sportswomen from across the nation are encountering numerous injuries difficult to bounce back from. Whether the blame can be pushed on the athlete or the sport, cannot be determined.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
Emil Muroka lives for the catch. He gets up at 8am and is out the door with his fishing gear in tow, ready to spend countless hours at his favorite fishing spot.

“I fish for passion, I fish for excitement, I fish for my own joy,” said senior Emil Muroka. As a recreational fisherman, Emil fishes as a hobby and a way to keep busy during his free time. Others, like Eileen Bebeau, have a different reason.

“It started out recreational and you kinda get hooked on it so we do it quite often now commercially and we supply the market in this area,” said commercial fisher Eileen Bebeau. Both Emil and Eileen rely on fishing, something that might not be around in the next thirty years.

According to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, more than 3/4 of the world’s fish stocks are overexploited. This overexploitation creates countless changes to the ocean’s environment, as well as those who fish in it.

Bebeau said, ”there is a difference when we fish, it’s already showed a decline from 30 years ago. We used to catch 6-7 ahi in a couple hours fishing close to shore and you can’t do that anymore."

In thirty more years, the changes will follow the same trend unless something is done to cut the line of overfishing. If nothing is done to balance the ocean’s sensitive environment, the world’s fish stocks will be depleted by 2048, according to a journal in Science Magazine. The drastic changes from thirty years ago give fishers an idea of what thirty more years of overexploiting fish populations could do.

“If I couldn’t fish anymore, I don’t know what I would do. It’s something I can’t even imagine. I would be lost.” said Muraoka. The instability of the ocean’s future causes concern but it does not have to be a fear of the unknown.

Department of Land and Natural Resources Director WIlliam Aila said, “What you wanna do is manage the amount of fish that get taken out in a relative ratio so that balance continues to exist. When you have balance, you’re not overharvesting and the environment is at its optimum potential.”

As the scales of the fish population are balanced, fishing as a lifestyle, or even a hobby, becomes more secured.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
October 29th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii

Cheerleading requires a lot of dedication and commitment, “Yes, especially when they compete with other schools, there’s a lot of stunts, flips, and all that kind of stuff” says Athletic Trainer Ben Joven.

Straddles, liberties, and back handsprings, cheerleaders have to learn them all, all while supporting and encouraging their team. Despite all the work involved in cheering, many people still don’t consider it a sport, but to others, cheerleading is more than that.

“I like cheerleading because, it’s exciting, and it pumps you up,” junior and Waianae High School Cheerleader Jasielle Phillips said.

Some people think of cheerleading as less of a sport because they only ever get to see cheerleaders on the sidelines.

“I think people say that cheerleading isn’t a sport because they only see us at football games, and they don’t normally see us at competitions and our practices, and they don’t really see what we do here,” junior WHS Cheerleader Angelika Ayau said.

At each practice cheerleaders run a mile, and do extensive cardio and strength training exercise. What many people fail to realize is that cheerleading can give you a boost throughout college by earning scholarships up to $1,000 or more. There are also nearly twelve to fourteen schools that offer full-ride scholarships to cheerleaders. Although some others may not see cheerleading as a sport, the fact that colleges are willing to pay for their schooling proves that a cheerleader is a valued college athlete.