Student Volunteers Support JASH Programs Through Video Storytelling

During the 2025–2026 school year, two students from Moanalua High School, Emma Ferrer and Kanna Nakagawa, dedicated their time and creativity to supporting the Japan-America Society of Hawaii (JASH) educational programming through the creation of promotional and educational videos. From September 2025 through April 2026, the two students worked with JASH as part of their AP Japanese class student service project, using media and storytelling to promote cultural understanding, peace education, and community engagement.

As part of their project, Emma and Kanna attended JASH’s Fall 2025 Japan Day program on October 30, 2025, where they filmed and produced a promotional video capturing the excitement and various Japanese cultural activities throughout the event. Their video showcased Japan Day’s goal of bringing together students and the community to celebrate Japanese culture and traditions.

Kanna reflected, “I thought it was interesting because I’ve never been to Japan Day before. It was fun getting to know the different activities and actually experiencing it with the other high schoolers.” Emma reflected, “Although we went to just film the event, I was super grateful to be able to experience some activities I’ve never done before, such as ikebana and karate. It was fun and entertaining.”

Emma and Kanna also attended the Sadako Peace Projects program on February 7, 2026, where they created a video highlighting JASH’s peace education efforts as student volunteers taught visitors how to fold origami peace cranes. Their video reflected the program’s mission of inspiring youth to promote peace, empathy, and global understanding.

Emma and Kanna reflected, ““The event in general was really fun and we liked talking to the volunteer middle schoolers and teaching visitors to the booth a little bit about Japanese history. The meaning of Sadako Sasaki’s story is important and we’re so glad we were able to share her story and give more awareness.”

Both videos were uploaded to the JASH website and will continue to be used in future promotional efforts to encourage more students to participate in JASH programs. Emma and Kanna’s creativity and professionalism helped create meaningful resources that will continue to benefit our community beyond the completion of their service project.

Finally, Emma and Kanna reflected on their video making skills, “We usually make videos for companies and people, such as interviews for news stories and documentaries, but this was a new experience for us and we got more practice with our editing skills. We usually don’t add music when we edit news stories, and we were able to match the timing of the clip to the beat, and it helped us learn more about timing.”

JASH sincerely thanks Emma and Kanna for their hard work and contributions throughout the school year. We are grateful for their efforts in helping share the impact of our programs and inspiring future student involvement through their video storytelling. JASH looks forward to welcoming more student volunteers in the future as we continue expanding opportunities for youth engagement, cultural exchange, and community-based learning.