May. 11, 2015

Contributed by Pakalani Bello

When Kamehameha Schools Maui senior Maile Sur joined the staff of “Ka Leo o Nā Koa” during her junior year, the paper was already established as one of the premiere high school newspapers in the state. But it wasn’t enough for Sur to just become a part of something great. That’s not the way she operates. Instead, she pushed the publication, and herself, to new heights.

In just two years, Sur won Hawai‘i state high school journalist of the year honors, became the first “Ka Leo o Nā Koa” student to win Most Valuable Staffer twice, won a Superior Award for portrait photography at the Journalism Education Association national convention in Denver, and started up “Nā Koa,” an online magazine which is now a quarterly publication added to the staff’s schedule.

Sur was a part of the staff that won first place honors in the online division of the Hawai‘i Publishers Association High School Journalism awards in 2014, and was the news editor of the paper when it took third overall in 2015. In those two years, the paper racked up nine state and 26 division category awards. She was also a part of the team that won the “National Decide to Drive” magazine contest in 2014.

“When Maile started with journalism in her junior year, she was already a go-getter.” says KSM Journalism Teacher Kye Haina. “She came in, she knew what she wanted to do, and she knew what she wanted to get out of the program. By the end of her first year in journalism, she also knew that she wanted to take the program further than it was to cater to her interests, which is more towards the visual arts side, layouts, and magazines.”

But the Makawao native isn’t only an accomplished journalist. Sur’s strive for excellence has also extended to the realm of athletics, where she was a member of the KS Maui girls soccer team that won the Maui Interscholastic League title in 2014, while qualifying for the state tournament in 2014 and 2015. Her soccer skills caught the eye of college recruiters, earning her a scholarship to play at Lane College in Eugene, Oregon.

“We have a bright future ahead of us with students like Maile, who puts others before herself, looking at the greater whole, looking at our community, globally minded, and a Hawaiian leader that’s willing to take charge and willing to take lead,” says KSM High School Principal Jay-R Kaʻawa. “It’s really gratifying for a principal like me to be able to witness and experience that.”

This fall, Sur will dual enroll at Lane College and the University of Oregon, majoring in journalism and advertising.

For more success stories from the three KS campuses, visit www.ksbe.edu/imua_kamehameha.