 Welcome to the Business in Hawaii show. I am your host, Gaila Nyonegita, and my guests and I are live from our home offices on Oahu, Hawaii. If you want to tune in live to any of the Think Tech shows, we are live at www.thinktechhawaii.com. While there, please subscribe to our programs and get on our mailing list. The theme of Business in Hawaii is to share with you stories of local businesses by local people, and our guests share with us their expertise, trials and tribulations while building successful businesses right here at home. In the Think Tech Studio today is Zachary Marita, educator at New Valley Middle School. Not only is Mr. Marita a music instructor, but he is also the winner of the 2018 Farmers Insurance Dream Big Teacher Challenge and the President of Hawaii Youth Percussion Ensemble. Mr. Marita is an innovator who breaks the mold when it comes to educating our young people. He inspires the students to become entrepreneurial thinkers using their passion for music. I am so honored to have Zachary Marita on the show today, and I want to welcome you, Mr. Marita. Thanks for joining me. Happy to be here. Thank you. You know, before we started the segment, I was telling you about just how amazed I am that you are able to take music education and combine that with other valuable life skills like entrepreneurial spirit, like building a business, like thinking and designing through a business plan. And I wanted to ask you, what inspired you to deliver education that's so interdisciplinary, right? Tell me about that. Tell me about your passion. One of my beliefs is that school education should help students prepare for life. It's not for the future necessary. It's because they're living life now and they're alive now, and we have to bring them those skills that they are gonna need to be successful and to really have an impact on a community. And if they continue just doing textbook work, worksheets, even in band, if they just play the same song over and over again for like three months at a time, that's not helping them. It's gonna give them some value at that moment in time and they're gonna feel good and they're gonna get the A, but really it goes beyond the grades. It's amazing. You are president of the Hawaii Youth Percussion Ensemble. Tell me about that organization. It started about six years ago to give students in Hawaii an opportunity to pursue their passion and percussion. As a percussion is my main instrument. And it's something that I really advocate for. I really believe in that anyone can do it if you have the passion, if you have the desire. And it's for a committed group of students to share their love of drumming. Very nice. I know that you have some photos to share with us today of some of the work that you've been doing with your students in hype. I understand that's what you call it for short pipe. Could you tell us about some of the things that you folks do? So the first picture is a screenshot for video classes that we're now doing during this time of distance learning to give students an opportunity to still have music as part of the curriculum. So sometimes I do step in but for the most part we have our hype students that do teach other students. We actually have a teacher from another school who was really interested in learning about percussion. So she joins in every week as well. That's fantastic. I know we have I think a couple of more photos that kind of showcase what you do with hype. Yeah, so the next one was a project that we launched called Drumming for Healing. And it was in honor or in dedication to our healthcare workers and first responders just because they're doing so much. Yeah, so using music as a way to give back. So we had 30 video submissions from 25 different people. We had some people from out of state as well. We had two math teachers participate. One was elementary school, one is at Pro City High School. So a whole bunch of people, some that didn't even really have music background but they wanted to be a part of this project. And it was really exciting and it came out really well and we were happy about it. So how did that distribution happen? Drumming for Healing, was it sent out over social media? Yeah, so I put out a call on social media and we use this program called Soundtrap and also we use iMovie. So I'm not a very techie person. So it was something that I had to research. I saw all these cool virtual ensembles and I thought, hey, we should try to do one. And I was able to figure it out and we got lots of participation. So yeah, it was good. It was a nice thing to do for our community. I think one of the key things that I'm hearing from you is that you bring together people without any music experience, build their passion for music and deliver amazing things. Do you often draw in people without any music background? On social media, a couple of years ago I started on Twitter and Twitter has been a lifesaver for educators. Like there's so many people on Twitter, educators willing to share and through that collaboration, through those connections, all these ideas come up. And it's something that I really believe in and I hope that other people watching this will also sign up for free resources. There's monthly chats sometimes and just discussions that go on that really elevate learning and education for our students. Fantastic. I know we have a couple more pictures about hype and I'd love for you to tell us about it. So this one is also related to the COVID-19 pandemic that we're in where there's a lot of live musicians who are really not getting any income right now because concerts, live concerts, symphony performances have been canceled. So there's this organization, the New Music Solidarity Fund. They raised about $100,000, but within a week they actually ran out of all of that funds because so many people were applying for it. So I got some of my students and they made quotes about music and why music is important to them and they made these posters to promote this fund to support our live musicians. Now, you must have a secret to how you get students because I'm homeschooling two of my own. But how do you get students to jump into a project? Of course that's not part of their required curriculum and get them to be involved in that. How do you do that? It like for anyone else, parent or a teacher, it is a struggle and it's something that we have to continuously find what is relevant and what is purposeful and what means something in our world. And we have to get the students to see that value and realize that their impact or their work can have an impact on others. And once they feel that, like they see someone post even just a simple comment on something that they did, they feel validated. So we have to continuously find ways for them to do something, to create something and not just think about it. It's not just the knowledge spitting out of information. So I understand that a lot of this work that you're doing with hype and even with just a group of students that kind of hang out in your space is not even part of your required curriculum over at New Valley. Is that correct? I saw my best to kind of leave everything, everything in because everything is connected. I try as much as possible but sometimes with education and with public student, there is restrictions there and you try to find ways that we can go beyond what the system allows for us. I know that some of your students have shared that you gave them a place to express themselves and to dive into other interests. And I know that you were kind of leading them down to a business building project. Can you tell me about that? Yeah, well, it was actually a student, someone that you know very well who had the initial idea of launching a business because like you mentioned, I wanna find ways for my students to find relevance and money is always a motivating factor for anyone. And so they thought that a business could be a perfect place to start with. So they started brainstorming what could a music percussion business do? So they came up with things that they could charge for performances. They could write their own music and do publishing. They could make sticks and mallets, produce sticks and mallets and sell it. So they're still in the brainstorming stage but one way that we're practicing it is through the online teaching lessons. If they get good enough, that is something that they could definitely pursue as something that has value and that people would wanna support, especially if they have a curriculum that they actually work on getting lessons, like what would lesson one be? What should we teach for lesson two? And having all of that mapped out, there is real value to that that other educators could want as part of their learning. Well, again, I commend you for, you know, taking student interest and just going with it even though it doesn't fit a traditional, perhaps a traditional music curriculum. And as a parent, I'm so appreciative of educators that are thinking outside the box and of course bringing together the different disciplines and showing our kids that they can have passion for something and all of it just kind of fits together. We are going to take a quick break but when we come back, I wanted to talk about some of the other things that you are involved in, which are equally as amazing. So if you bear with me for just a minute, we're gonna take that short break. This is Business in Hawaii, we'll be here back shortly. Aloha, my name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea program. Being a lawyer has many aspects and I try to cover them every time I do a program of law across the sea. Not everything has to do with law or being a lawyer per se. Some of it has to do with the people you meet, the things you see, the places you visit. And that's what I try to combine in Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea. Thank you for watching, Aloha. Welcome back, this is Business in Hawaii. With me today is Zachary Marita, educator, innovator from New Valley Middle School. Ms. Marita, I, you know, we talked about the Hawaii youth percussion ensemble for which you represent and which you've inspired many middle school students to participate in. But there are a number of other things that we know that you're involved in, some of which are very, very significant grant opportunities. Can you tell me about some of those other projects that you're involved in? One of the projects that we just kind of wrapped up was a movement called Hashtag 808 Educate. So it is a group on social media that started on Twitter, but that has now moved also to Instagram and Facebook, where we wanna connect educators in our state, public, private, and charter school to just have a platform, have a place where they can share ideas and resources to have positive conversations that are gonna elevate our state of our education. And we had a challenge to get 808 educators on social media through these platforms. And then we also connected with Henry Capono, who put on a concert at the end of that challenge. Yeah, so we did meet the challenge, we're actually about a thousand educators strong right now. So there was really exciting to have that performance dedicated to our educators. He did shout out, we were able to take song requests, people dedicated certain of his songs to their team teachers, some of them did it to the entire school, some principals that shout out to their teachers and their students. So it was a really nice event to honor our teachers. Wow, fantastic. I know that we have a couple of photos of yet some other things that you've been doing. Could we put that on? Tell me about this one here. So Henry Capono, this is the concert that he did. It's called Dukes and Sundays at Henry's house and he does it every week. And it's in support of his foundation. He has a Henry Capono foundation, but this is specifically dedicated to educators. And then that student in the front is a New Valley student, also a member of Hype, who is actually neighbors with Mr. Capono and kind of introduced the concert and said what the purpose of it was. Fantastic. And I think we have one more. Yeah, so this one is a project called April Madness that relates to March Madness for college basketball. And what I did is instead of having basketball teams going at it with each other, we did it for classical music to support symphonies and orchestras. And then it was a month long event. And at the end, it was Beethoven Symphony V that came out as the proud favorite. Wow, wow, fantastic. Was there another one? There is, yeah. So this one was to me really special because our students at New Valley composed a full program. I think it was eight pieces of their own music. And each song, they dedicated to a public school educator. And then they presented their performance live at McKinney High School for the Hawaii State Teachers Association Hololulu District Institute Day. Wow. And then there's- And a voice something additional as well? One more, yeah. It's another project that I'm working on with some educators called Voice where the initial idea was to get $5,000 for our students to recreate education. So to go against the status quo, to not do what we've always done, but to really truly innovate from the perspective of our students, our learning. Just amazing. And I think it's such a valuable lesson that you're teaching to our young people to understand the idea behind innovation. Because innovation really is the start of some of the most successful businesses. And some will fail, and failures are good too. Failures are great learning experiences. I think it's an amazing skill that you're leaving with them. I wanna talk about the Farmers Insurance, the 2018 Dream Big Teacher Challenge, which you won a huge grant. I believe it was $100,000. Tell me about that. I know it was statewide. So it's a grant from Farmers Insurance Hawaii to put on what is called the New Valley Music Olympic Invitational. And we were able in our inaugural year to have over 170 students representing 20 different public, private, and charter schools in the event. We were so lucky to have had it early March. Right before all of this happened, we were able to have the competition. We were able to have the winners concert. And I really feel that it has strengthened our arts community. We even had a guitar ensemble. We had a harp group as well. But those are instruments we normally get to see, but to see them and to see their teachers really proud, proud of them putting the hard work to showcase their talents. It was an awesome event for music in our state. And I know I could just go on and on because I'm pretty aware of the time that you invest with our young people. But I know a recent, and I saw you do a presentation recently for a... I wanna say it was a mini-conference online. I mean, given our current situation, conferences now look a little different. It was a webinar by the Teach for America Hawaii. And I believe it was an iLabs series where you and along with other educators were getting together and pitching ideas about how education can be redesigned. And you gave a presentation on your ideas to build a performing, a community performing arts center. Tell me about that project. Okay, so this is like huge. And after winning the $100,000, I really believe that anything is possible, that if the community wants it and we can rally around the right kinds of people with a great kind of vision, then we can bring to life anything. Now, so even though when I did my research, there was a performing arts center in Florida that cost $160 million to build 10 years ago, but I'm pretty sure ours would probably cost $200 million that there is so much value to this. And when we keep talking to people and I keep getting students involved, there are so many connections to other disciplines where maybe it's not just a performing arts community center that we can bring in other subject areas, history, math, science, maybe media. There can be a media program attached to this and we can have hubs on each island or maybe in different communities, we can have various gathering places. Yeah, and I want it to be a place where students feel valued, students feel connected where they feel like they can truly explore their passions while getting guidance from professionals in our community. So is this an opportunity for you to join? Does the Farmers Insurance Grant and this project come together in any way or are they completely separate? They're completely separate, but this could definitely be a home for the Music Olympic Invitational. I can see that. This project, though, is very large and it's going to require a pretty good deal of research, of design and tell me about how you're bringing your students in to those ideas. There's a principal on the big island. Her name is Janice Blaber and she was in on the presentation as well and she had mentioned that it would be perfect to have the DOE have a course, like a design course where students could use this as their main project and where we can get students input, they can design it, they can maybe even build it and help in building it and maybe they can volunteer or they can work at this community performing arts center as training, real-life training. Also, there's so many facets, so many connections that we can make with this one building and I'm really excited to what could happen. And I think this is a photo that we have up right now of your, was this the first annual? Is that correct? Yeah, first annual. Very nice, very nice. I actually had an opportunity to attend and it was amazing giving students an opportunity to take their talents and I know that it meant a lot to them. I've always admired educators but I think what you're doing is taking that one step further and really engaging students in an opportunity to learn just so many skills and drawing in other educators to bring in their specialty areas to help you build that. The community also has a lot to gain by your ideas. So tell me what the future is for the community performing arts center because I'm really excited about that. I'm really hoping that we can talk like, it's really who you know. So really finding the right people that we can talk to that have had, I think everyone has had connections to music and going up maybe they had that special place in music where they played a band instrument or they went on some trip that was life changing for them. Yeah, and just because you're not, you don't have a career in music. There are so many ways to appreciate it and to support it. And this definitely can be a way to do that where there is music in anything and everything in our lives. And through this pandemic, so many musicians have used music as a way of healing. Like there was that viral video in Italy where musicians came on their balconies and they started playing together. Again, I talked about the virtual ensembles that people are doing that are really just giving people hope and lifting people up and showing how important and how timeless music really is. Well, I certainly hope that all the good work that you're doing isn't just limited to middle school because I think that you have so much to share with just the community in general and not just middle school students but elementary school students, high school students and beyond, I can really see that. I think a lot of times what we know is that being an educator sometimes is a thankless job. And I think that it's important for you to know that you have made impact on people's lives. And I have an example of that. There are three who claim to be your favorite students who would like to remain meaningless, who wrote you a letter and I'm gonna read it to you. It says, dear Mr. Marisa, thank you for all that you have done with these past three years, from eight-hour rehearsals to online teaching sessions. You have always been there to support and inspire us. We consider you as a teacher and a friend and we have accomplished so much with your help. And we enjoy working with you. We have had so many exciting experiences in your music room. Even through tough times like right now, you still came up with ways to make our education system better. Thank you for all the memories and because of you, our future is really bright. And they wish to remain nameless. I, again, am very excited about all that you contribute to our community. Tell people out there how they can get in touch with you if they're interested in joining you in your project for the community performing arts team. Before I say that, I wanna thank those three students. It really means a lot when students share how they feel and they show appreciation. Cause like you said, yeah, it's not something that a lot of kids do at this young age. So I really thank them for that. As far as connecting, you can email me at Zachary underscore marita at nvms.k12.hi.us or probably easier to connect with me is on social media. I do have accounts, I reactivate accounts on Instagram and Facebook for our challenge that we had a couple of weeks ago. But my main one is Twitter at Zachary marita, Z-A-C-H-A-R-Y-M-O-R-I-T-A. So those would be the best places to connect. And I'd be happy to start conversations with anyone out there who is willing to support. We wanna grassroots effort. Like we want thousands and thousands of people to be a part of this because then they're gonna have a stake in it. And once it's built, they're gonna wanna support it. I wanted to thank you again for joining me and I will be on the lookout for all the good that you do. Unfortunately, we are out of time. I wanted to thank Zachary marita again for joining us and a big thank you to our production staff back in the studio. If you would like to be a guest on our show, please let us and subscribe and leave a comment below. Business in Hawaii airs every other Thursday at 2pm and we look forward to seeing you here soon.