Wai'anae, Hawai'i
Nov 27, 2013 - Halawa, Hawaii

The clock is ticking down, the roar from the crowd is deafening and there’s only one click of a camera that separates a cover quality photo from a lousy one. The pressure of getting this great shot is one that Eugene Tanner lives with everyday as a photojournalist.

Eugene works with the University of Hawaii as a sideline photographer. It is his job to capture the action of a game in a single moment. He’s been working in this field for over the last two decades and his work has taken him all over the country. During his travels he has lived in five different states and has worked for various newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register. While working for the papers, Eugene has covered news,sports and even award ceremonies. “I got to help with the photo coverage with the emmes, and even did logistical work for the Oscars,” Tanner said.

From the bright lights of Hollywood to the field at Aloha Stadium the pressure to capture that perfect shot remains the same. "The pressure that I feel is just a sense of urgency,” Eugene said.

The sense of urgency comes from snapping the perfect picture, editing the photo and sending it out to the clients as soon as possible. As a journalist getting content out there first is the biggest challenge, “my clients are in Colorado right now, Colorado State is the visiting team, so I’m really trying take care of newspapers in Colorado,” said Tanner.

Although covering college sports may be fun, for Eugene it doesn’t compare to enjoyment he gets out of high school football games. “It’s just so much fun, there’s so much passion, so much joy, so much emotion, that’s what really cool,” Tanner said.

Photography is a profession of the pure joy for Eugene, and though Eugene doesn't consider himself a rich man, it is not the income that keeps him holding the camera on the sidelines. “It is an extraordinary career, it’s very rewarding. I hope to do this for the rest of my life,” Tanner said.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 8th, 2013

Not a lot can happen in 26 seconds, but in the United States, thats all it takes for one student to drop out of high school. However, some students do make it out in time, 69% at Wai’anae High School according to Counselor Shane Nakamura.

In America, children are taught that if you sit in a classroom for 15 years and get good grades, and then sit in a lecture hall for 4 to 8 years, you’ll be successful. The road to college is perceived by some high school students as the only option, but others have found another way.

“We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back, to educate them for jobs that no longer exist. We have become ‘profoundly disconnected’,” Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs said on his website mikeroweworks.com.

His website is dedicated to educating students in jobs that do still exist, such as trades. Apprenticeships are programs you can enter that are centered around a specific trade. For example, in a construction apprenticeship, you get hands on learning on a job site as well as one or two classes such as trigonometry and surveying building layouts to help you further understand work in your trade. A new study done by Purdue University shows that hands on learning helps people to develop a deeper understanding of a subject as compared to lecture or book based learning.

As compared to college, an apprenticeship program takes about four years, and you start working right away at about ten dollars an hour. At Wai’anae High School, there is an entire building dedicated to College and Career planning, and a college presentation almost every week, but not many students are aware of apprenticeships as an option after high school. According theguardian.com, an estimated 55% of this years college graduates will fail to land a job that requires a degree, but in an apprenticeship, you start work as you learn, and progress to a full-time position upon program completion.

College just isn’t for everyone. “After my first semester of college, my teachers told me to stop wasting my money. I was failing all my classes so they told me to just not come back,” said John Bator, a non-working foreman and graduate of the apprenticeship program. For him, an apprenticeship was the right choice,”I was already working three jobs, so when a friend of mine told me about the program, It seemed like just the best answer. I’ve been working in Construction for 25 years and I’m the boss now.”

John started in the apprenticeship program working for about 10 dollars an hour, and has worked his way up to about 40, learning valuable skills with real-world application along the way. “I would definitely tell any kid out there that learns better hands-on to check out the program.”

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

Sweating all day long, sweeping and mopping, from cleaning floors and picking up after the students, some people who work hard to keep Waianae High School campus clean feels unappreciated due to the fact of graffiti.  

Over the two decades public schools had issues with vandalism, and it has been one of the highest concerns throughout the past years. Many schools struggle with money because some of the students that attend there destroy school property by vandalizing the school property. The federal government spends more than 20 billion dollars on public schools in the U.S and thats only for the things they need like reconstruction. Students who attend Waianae High School have their different perspectives of the atmosphere of the school and how it looks.  Many concerns turn to the custodians and cleaners, opposing that custodians don’t do much and that they lack cleaning the campus. 

"I feel bad cause I feel that everybody should take responsibility for their own actions.” sophomore Jaychelle Kamali’i said.

However, many students don’t know that the struggle and hard work our custodians go through to keep our school environment clean and healthy for the kids.  

Many criticize custodians and that custodians only do nothing but clean what they are told to. Little do students in Waianae High School know that the custodians care and they take there time to clean the classrooms and campus for the students. 

“Chairs are always all messy that’s why I do take the time to fix it and I would’ve appreciated if it was you know pushed in or set straight.” custodian Helen Kepo’o said. 

“I don’t think it’s right of them to do that and I don’t know why they take the time to even draw on walls” Kepo’o said.

Caring and spending hours cleaning room after room Kepo’o does her best to keep classes clean. Many students vandalize and they don’t see how it affects the people who do their best to make the campus look healthy and clean and Kepo’o does her best to make the students have a good clean campus.

Wai'anae, Hawai'i
November 27th, 2013

Here in Hawaii, when someone thinks of a University of Hawaii football game tailgating events, star players, or even the peppy cheerleaders on the side lines come to mind first. Rarely does the casual fan think about the workers above the action in the press box. There are reporters from different media sources that cover the game, and workers who keep track of the scores and individual statistics. Among this mix of reporters and number keepers is color analyst for ESPN Radio 1420, John Veneri, whose job is to announce the game from the radio booth. With a large amount of people in the booths, comes a load of pressure.

“Anything else before the actual games you have butterflies, then once you get into it you get three hours, you can’t stay nervous for very long,” Veneri said.

Announcers like Veneri need to be very cautious with what they say not only because of the teams, but their family and friends in the stands. “You have to be careful on what you say, even though they’re college players they’re still kids. Their families listen, their coach wides listen, while there’s no pressure, there is a certain level, you have to have a certain level of professionalism to talk about the kids, the players,” Veneri said.

With having to be careful with their words, it packs more pressure on to the press box crew. Even with high levels of professionalism as announcers, everyone make mistakes.

“When you make mistake and you don’t realize it till later, you kind of just brush over it and then just sure you say whatever’s true or correct later on,” Veneri added.

When the game is over and the players have shook hands, the workers in the press box wrap everything up. Ease has come over the workers above the field after they have felt the same pressure that the players might feel. The pressure of this game may be over, but there is always a new game. Luckily, it’s the pressure of the job that keeps them going.