Kapaa High students write what’s on their minds

• Protect environment • Better bus hours • Stop pollution • Drivers, stay focused • Add bus service • Reduce dairy size • Respect presidency • Save the birds • Team moves questioned • Stocks seem sound • More pay for teachers

• Editor’s note: The following letters are from Kapaa High School students, who were asked by their teachers to write about a topic of importance to them.

Protect environment

On the newspaper I read an article by Jason S. Nicholas about protecting our environment. Our environment is something that we really should care about. Everything that we do to things around us, it affects the people in many ways. For example throwing trash along the road sides. Many people are complaining because our island is dirty. The thing is people are not able to understand where the issue is coming from or how is it happening. Polluting the environment is a big problem which can cause people to get sick and also make the island look bad. Another thing the you mention in the article was people send all sorts of toxic fumes in the sky which pollute air and causes people to inhale unfresh air. These problems can also increase diseases in our ecosystem.

Our climate changes everyday. I agree that whether you believe it or not, you must a do a role in how well we secure our environment. Climate changes might not affect us on the island but it will affect the marine resources in the ocean. It is true we can not blame the climate change but we can do something to help our marine resources.

In my opinion I think it is better to take action immediately and stop pollute the environment. For example let us keep in mind to stop throwing trashes everywhere. Before we burn something let’s figure a place where it is safe to burn without any distribution to other people around us. I also like the idea of The Pacific Islands on how to collaborate with people to examine and prevent the problem on marine resources. I hope they can make a great impact on our environment. For those who are doing other things lets help each other to keep our ocean clean. Mahalo!

Felyncia Gilinug

Better bus hours

For most residents, the “Kauai Bus” is one of the most used transportation here on the Island of Kauai. But as much as everyone loves riding the bus, others wish to change some of the schedule. This is because not everyone on the island can drive or can afford to buy a car and its gas every week. But it doesn’t always go as they want it to be. The last Kauai Bus transportation on weekends leaves at 4:30 pm. Therefore, if you missed the bus, you are going to need to find your own ride which can be tough if you live at the end of Westside and North side.

But I think that this problem can be easily fixed. We can write a letter to the person in charge of the company stating how changing the time of even the last transportation on the weekends can help a lot of people. Therefore, I really hope that it can be change even if it’s just a couple of hours.

Darlyn De la Cruz

Stop pollution

The issue that is bothering me is the plastic pollution that is ruining the bodies of water here in Kauai. Since my project is about to this topic, I can relate a lot. My thesis states that “The plastic waste on top of our oceans is ruining the beautiful scenery and destroying marine life. We must take action to stop it.”

My purpose on doing this is to conserve our diversity and keeping it the way it should be. My project will be focusing on the plastics that’s in the beach. I will try to find out where is the main source of those plastics. I will also try to talk about that plastic doesn’t only harm the environment but enters our bodies in so many ways and how really dangerous it is.

People, like me kept on talking that I want to change the world but I’m not doing anything to make it happen. We always say things but don’t take actions to do it. People in the economic world only cares about the money that the world is making but they don’t think about how the companies are making money.

Big corporations? Of course they have to cut trees to build their products, occupy large amount of land to build factories, they throw chemicals to the beach and bodies of water. All this bad habits that we didn’t think it can cause harm, obviously it’s making a lot of impact.

To lessen the pollution at the beaches, we should go together as one. Clean the environment and put it back the same way it was. Our community should have more community service projects that’s mainly about cleaning the shore, taking out all the plastics, to be able for the corals to breath again.

I want to stand up to conserve our scenery, I’ll do anything to make this happened .

Jamaica Mhay Lacuesta

Drivers, stay focused

The short article on drivers being easily distracted got me very interested. As a teenager I personally did not think people did exercises like this especially at high schools where more than 50 percent of the students drive. It really grabbed my attention and I wanted to continue reading.

Being a teenage driver we do not realize that there is so much different variables when it comes to distracted driving. This article describes everything from texting to adjusting your radio. It also mentioned the statistics on how many citations Kauai Police Department had to issue from 2014-2016. Which was very helpful because you could see the decrease in numbers. I f only all of the high schools could come together and do something like this I feel like it would be great and very helpful. Thank you for your time.

Jazmin Kaleiohi

Add bus service

In a local publication, the problem of lack of adequate public bus services was discussed. In the paper it was brought up that there are no Lihue services after 4:30 p.m. The problem with this is one of safety. On Kauai the teens are very comfortable, and aren’t afraid to walk around at midnight. If necessary, they will walk home at midnight. The problem presented with increasing services is that the income doesn’t cover the cost. However, there is a middle school within close proximity of two shopping centers. These kids have no problem with staying there till nightfall. Without bus services, we run the risk of allowing these kids to fall into the hands of handlers, dealers, and perverts. A round-the-clock bus services is vital to maintain the safety of our keiki.

Mikela Matayoshi

Reduce dairy size

I read today’s paper on February 15, 2017 and I came across an article called “The Truth.” I think that it is a health issue to have that much manure and urine in one location. It’s not healthy for the animals or the citizens living near the area to breath in the fumes. Especially with the hot sun making the smell of the waste even worse. The waste is on an island which means everything will reach the ocean eventually. When the waste reaches the ocean it would make the water extremely filthy. It could change the whole ecosystem in that section of the water. We do need dairy and local dairy could make the price of milk cheaper because you wouldn’t have to pay for exporting it all the way across the Pacific Ocean to our island chain. Also they may not need to use so many preservatives on the dairy products. The dairy farm may be a good idea just not the amount of cattle. Perhaps 250 cattle or less would be better.

Caleb Keohohou

Respect presidency

The socioeconomic opinions of those who live in New York and California in no way reflect the views of the entire country, and that is why the electoral college exists. “Some Republican electors say that they are defending rural and small-town America against big-state liberalism and its support of national popular vote leader Hillary Clinton.” I couldn’t agree with this more.

I felt that this past election was truly about choosing the lesser of two evils. In my opinion, that lesser evil is Hillary Clinton. If I was of age to vote, she would’ve had mine. She has said and done things that I don’t agree with over her (very long) political career. She is overly politically correct, and she was largely ineffective as Secretary of State. She has been in politics for a very long time, and that is a disadvantage to her All her great ideas that she unveiled during her presidential run could have been implemented by her long ago: she had that power. I think she’s a puppet, but a very qualified puppet. Trump, on the other hand, is like devil on all of our shoulders; he is self-serving and rude and unqualified for the position of President of the United States. He’s a bucket of ice water: shocking, striking, cold And he is what people want.

We are so insanely lucky to live in a country where our votes matter We, the people, choose the president. With that freedom comes a responsibility, a responsibility that people today do not recognize. Once the votes are cast, it is our job as Americans to stand behind whoever is elected Did I want Trump to become president? Not really, but over half of the country did, and I respect their decision. He has been chosen, and I will support him as much as I can. Attacking him now is futile, and it only serves to divide our nation further Our wonderful system of checks and balances will keep him from derailing the country, as much as left-wingers might deny it. Instead of using the hashtag #notmypresident, we should come together and voice the changes that we want him to make. He is a human being, and his job is to serve the people. We are the people.

It is aggravating that Hillary won vote-for-vote and she will not become our president, but I know why it has to be that way. If that was the only thing that counted, candidates would do all their campaigning in big cities and appeal to only their wants and needs, totally disregarding the small town voters. The electoral college makes elections fair It was designed to be this way, by men who foresaw the need for it, even in their time Every person and every place deserves an equal say. It’s OK to be disappointed if Trump wasn’t your first choice, but he is President of the United States of America now, whether we all like it or not To those who still say #notmypresident, I say #move. There are countries other than this one, and their political systems might look better than ours from the outside, but I’m sure that after living with Canada’s high taxes and socialist government, or China’s lack of basic human rights and freedoms, you will accept whatever president is voted into the White House.

Lila Hearn

Save the birds

I’ve read your issue about saving the Hawaiian birds out in the Koke‘e mountains and I’m happy that you are taking data to save them that makes someone like me who loves her Hawaiian home and past so much to see someone do something about it. The data that was collected should be useful for the future that could help the population of our Hawaiian birds come back either in captivity or somewhere that can help them. I still thank you for helping out it means so much to me. Please keep doing what your doing to help our birds stay and keep up.

Hailey Niz

Team moves questioned

The move from San Diego to Los Angeles is ridiculous. LA’s original team is the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams date back as early as 1937. The problem with San Diego is that there fan base is weak. Instead of moving the Chargers to Los Angeles, they should relocate to Las Vegas. Las Vegas is dying for a professional sports team. They want the Raiders to move to Vegas but Oakland wants to keep their team. If the chargers moved to Las Vegas they would be a great fit. With the Chargers moving to Las Vegas, it would make Oakland and Los Angeles fans happier.

Clifton Oliver

Stocks seem sound

After reading Riley Ray’s article about “US stocks waver as investors back away from industrials” I agree with this article. The stocks in America are up immensely since January 2017. A lot of people are making a lot of money. I wish I had money to invest in stocks already.

Major U.S. indexes are mixed Thursday as investors sell industrial companies, which have surged over the last few months. They are selling stocks that are tightly linked to economic growth and buying gold, bonds, and companies that pay big dividends, like utilities. Technology companies are trading lower, which could end a 15-day winning streak for the sector.

Tanner Fredericksen

More pay for teachers

Everyone works hard in this world to make enough money to be able to not only pay the bills and buy enough food for their family but to be able to buy things they want and need. It’s hard to buy things we want when you’re not getting paid enough. I believe that teachers deserve to have a higher pay. My mom is currently a second grade teacher at Koloa Elementary, one of the best elementary schools on the island. I live in a house with a total of seven and a lot of pets!

It’s frustrating and hard for my mom to bring home enough money to put food on our dinner table. I felt the need to help so me being a high school senior I went out and found a job to be able to help my mom, and buy things I want and need to my mom doesn’t have too.

My mom is going back to school to work towards Admin to have a little bit of extra money. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for a teacher is approximately $55,000 per year. This means that half of all teachers in the country make more than this amount, and half make less.

My mom is making less than $55,000 a year. $30,000, $40,000 may seem like a lot of money when you see all those zeros but in reality it is not enough money to be able to survive in our economy. Some of the things that teachers do everyday is amazing, and inspiring High school teachers have to put up with rude and moody teenagers everyday.

Elementary teachers have to deal with kids who have a small attention span. Some teachers go unrecognized and get less than they bargained for “Why not just quit?” someone asked me, well sometimes that certain job is the only thing you know, or it is your passion so whether or not you get paid a lot you’ll continue on. What about Special Ed teachers? They don’t get paid a lot it’s still the same. They deal with unique and different personalities every single day, and they have to meet the needs of each and every single student they have.

American public school teachers are underpaid compared to workers in the U.S. with similar education levels, the OECD found. Elementary school teachers in the US. make 67 percent of what college-educated workers in other professions earn. Are we going to do anything about it? Do teachers deserve a higher pay? Does this issue matter? YES, yes it does matter teachers are being underpaid, and underappreciated. Don’t let it get to the point where teachers have to be laid off … do something about it now.

Alexis Baldwin