Latest / The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi / Honolulu Youth Commissioners Kalena Cooke Shae and Tanya Paia on turning ideas into reality

Transcript

Honolulu Youth Commissioners Kalena Cooke Shae and Tanya Paia on turning ideas into reality · The One Oʻahu Podcast with Mayor Rick Blangiardi

• 0:01
  Well, like, yeah, I started when I was 14,
• 0:04
  I think I was really scared.
• 0:08
  But then, like, I think knowing that
• 0:10
  no one really has anything figured out, they're all just trying their best.
• 0:13
  And even though there's, like, a lot of different people who, like,
• 0:19
  seem like they have, like, the best idea or they're like, oh, this is really good.
• 0:23
  You should help me at this.
• 0:24
  Like, don't like it to like, don't let them push you too much.
• 0:28
  And then just like,
• 0:30
  I guess, seeing if you like, if this is something
• 0:33
  that you're interested in, I would definitely, like, try it out.
• 0:36
  Like, at least apply, and then see if you can get on the commission.
• 0:41
  I think.
• 0:41
  Yeah, it's a really good opportunity to, like, speak out about what
• 0:44
  you're interested in and like, what you're passionate about within the community.
• 0:49
  Especially like in your district.
• 0:50
  So that's a really good opportunity that I think people should take.
• 0:54
  Yeah, I, I kind of piggybacking off what Kaleena said.
• 0:57
  I feel like if you're interested in, you know,
• 0:59
  making a change within your communities, this is a great opportunity to do that.
• 1:03
  And I also feel like, though, as someone who came from public school,
• 1:06
  a lot of the commissioners
• 1:07
  who are from private school, it often does feel very intimidating
• 1:11
  because ultimately it's it seems as if it's different levels.
• 1:14
  But I will say that this commission is a welcoming space.
• 1:18
  It's we're very open to ideas, and a lot of the commissioners
• 1:22
  are very supportive of newcomers, and they're
• 1:24
  very supportive of our resolutions or ideas that we've come up with.
• 1:28
  And ultimately, at the end of the day, I think no matter what, if you do choose
• 1:31
  to join the commission, that you will be supported 100% of the way.
• 1:35
  Well, is there anything we
• 1:36
  missed or any final words?
• 1:41
  I kind of want to emphasize, you know, the voice of the youth,
• 1:44
  as I've been saying, I think definitely if you're interested
• 1:47
  and you want to get your voice out but you don't know how, definitely watch
• 1:51
  some of our meetings, go through our resolutions, see what we've been writing.
• 1:55
  Kind of getting experience on those.
• 1:57
  That's what I did while I was,
• 1:58
  in the beginning of my term, I was I used to look at, like, pass resolutions.
• 2:02
  I'm pretty sure Carl and I wrote one about, Sister Cities two.
• 2:05
  And that's something that I kind of utilize within my resolution.
• 2:09
  So kind of looking back at the past and like what past commissioners did
• 2:12
  is something that they can utilize if they're not really comfortable with this.
• 2:15
  But it's also like a very open space.
• 2:17
  It's a space where we're able to learn, we're able to adapt and to grow as well.
• 2:21
  Yeah, I like to say like, I think looking back at like what
• 2:25
  other people have done, like on the commission,
• 2:27
  like I think
• 2:28
  when I started, there's a lot of people who have been on the commission like they
• 2:31
  they're like first who were on the commission, like