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Award-Winning Maui Nui Students Use STEM to Serve the Community 

Award-Winning Maui Nui Students Use STEM to Serve the Community 

Nov 14, 2024 | Education, Events, Stemworks

Maui Economic Development Board’s (MEDB) recent Ke Alahele Education Benefit event successfully raised funds for local STEM education programs. During the event, the Daniel K. Inouye Innovation (DKII) Award winners were announced. The DKII Award honors students who use their STEM skills in service of their community. This year, Jennifer Goto Sabas, the late Senator Inouye’s former Chief of Staff and director of the Daniel K. Inouye Insitute, presented the award.  

The winners were Maui High School students Janette White and Keani Kina, who completed a project for a child with mobility restrictions. They adapted a motorized toy car, rewiring it to replace the pedal with a button and redesigning the car seat. Their goal was to ensure that the car kept its original functionality while optimizing safety and accessibility. White commented, “the car helped a local neighbor in Maui, allowing a disabled child the freedom of directing herself in a safe and fun structure.”  

Honorable mention went to Kahakaʻiwa Williams, representing Kalama Intermediate School, for his Hawaiian video game project. He combined his ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi knowledge with his interest in game design to create a game that walks users through the legend of the goddesses Pele and Nāmakaokahaʻi. “My motivation…is that there are no video games in the Hawaiian language that I am aware of,” Kaha commented. “This project is designed to inspire community members to learn more about Hawaiian culture and language through a fun activity.” 

Chelsey Miguel, a King Kekaulike High School student, also received honorable mention. With her computer science skills, Miguel used AI to create a coral monitoring system, which allows users to upload photos of coral and receive a health assessment. Miguel shared, “I stumbled on a documentary about coral bleaching and its implications…I wanted to intersect my passion of programming and machine learning to help solve this problem.” 

Thanks to the generosity of donors during the event, MEDB is able to present monetary prizes to the winners as well as those who received honorable mention and their teachers. Donations will also support the Ke Alahele Education Fund grant program, which helps educators and students access STEM tools, participate in extracurriculars, travel to competitions, and engage in professional development that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive.  



It’s wonderful to be back after all these years. These were really happy times for the Senator. He loved this event and to see it come back as strong as it is, especially with the students, is actually very exciting.

Jennifer Goto Sabas, Director of the Daniel K. Inouye Institute

Why look up?

Why look up?

Jul 11, 2024 | Education, Stemworks

Brighten Tantisira, a King Kekaulike High School alumnus, recently wrote and graphically designed a book, Why Look Up? An Introduction to Our Fascinating Universe for Young Students and Novices. Tantisira is a former Maui Economic Development Board (MEDB) STEMworks™ intern who worked with the UH Institute for Astronomy (IfA) last year. While interning at IfA, he experienced a fascinating branch of science not offered in his high school curriculum and published a peer-reviewed paper, “Consistency and Precision Measurements of Seven Double Stars,” in the Journal of Double Star Observations. He also felt compelled to write a non-fiction astronomy book geared towards elementary and middle school students. 

“I chose this age group because I wanted to inspire the next generation about this amazing field,” Tantisira explained. “However, novices of all ages can benefit just as much by reading my book. The book covers various topics, including stars, moons, galaxies, exoplanets, nebulae, protostars, star clusters, galaxy clusters, supernovae, and why we study all of them. By the end, you’ll have a strong foundational understanding of the most captivating astronomical objects and phenomena in our universe.”   

In Why Look Up?, Tantisira stimulates curiosity about our fascinating universe through careful explanations and engaging images, including original photos. “With permission to use them in my book, I obtained my astronomical photos through the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network by programming observations into their portal,” Tantisira recalled. “My experience at IfA is what inspired me to create an astronomy book introducing this field in a simple and entertaining way to young audiences who might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about the cosmos.” He added, “Being able to intern at the IfA through the MEDB STEMworks Internship program was a one-of-a-kind opportunity. I not only learned about the fascinating field of astronomy, I also attained new insights about careers in the field, such as monitoring asteroids near our Earth for safety reasons. My internship also exposed me to the importance of the scientific method and provided me with a strong introduction to astronomy and its techniques. Basically, I learned what scientific research is all about, and I hope to major in astronomy, or something along this line.” 



Thank you MEDB for all the opportunities offered through the STEMworks Internship Program!

Brighten Tantisira King Kekaulike High School Alumnus Astronomer and Author, Why Look Up?