Laurie He

UH Popup Clinic On North Shore Offers Help To Flood Victims

The article talks about student doctors from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i setting up a popup clinic at Ali’i Beach Park in Hale’iwa to provide healthcare for flood victims. It is published in Civil Beat and written by photojournalist Craig Fujii. 

The article can serve as a “mentor text” because it meets a handful of elements of newsworthiness: timeliness, impact, proximity, currency and human interest. Readers know Fujii put his “boots on the ground” because there are photos taken by Fujii of residents being treated by the student doctors in the article. As well as a caption that tells us a bit more about the photos that he wouldn’t have known if he wasn’t there and asked. Fujii also spent time observing and readers can see that through the descriptions of the mobile clinic vans and the set up under a yellow tent. Their transition paragraphs also provided valuable and interesting information. It detailed the student doctors having to ask lots of questions about the patient’s health history and the different issues they treated, and The Queen’s Medical Center providing another tent for psychological and social service concerns. Along with what speciality the student doctors are planning to work in.

Ellie Gonzaga

Seeing eye to eye: The journey of a guide dog

This article is written by Lila Malloy, at Carlmont High school and is a feature. The story talks about Guide Dogs for the Blind which is a nonprofit and helps people with vision loss by pairing them with professionally trained dogs. The animals typically start with raisers that teach them everything and help the dogs get used to leading because being a guide dog is a big responsibility. The organization even covers high costs like food and vet bills so that the raisers can just focus on training. It’s important because these dogs, for example, Pumpkin really changed people’s lives by leading & helping their owners. However, less than half of these dogs rarely make it to the program because the rules and standards to becoming one are high. Sometimes these dogs may end up with different jobs, such as ending up as therapy dogs, or just getting adopted as regular pets.

This article has met elements of the TIPCUP values. It has an impact because it tells an influencing and inspiring story about guide dogs putting the dedication and time into changing people’s lives. The story was well written and the author had their lead as the first paragraph. “Boots in the ground” work was good which consisted of a lot of information and explained why this topic is relevant. Therefore, I found the article to be interesting and engaging. The author broke down their article in a way that the audience was able to understand.

Nhi Nguyen

Teens Are Addicted To Social Media. Hawaiʻi Is Reluctant To Set Limits – Honolulu Civil Beat 

“Teens Are Addicted to Social Media. Hawai’i is Reluctant To Set Limits,” an article written by Civil Beat reporter Madeleine Valera, gets into the debate currently happening in Hawai’i on whether legally restricting social media use for those 16 or under would be the right move to make, after Senate Bill 2761—a bill pushed by Hawai’i lawmakers which would have done that very thing—was deferred indefinitely by Rep. David Tarnas due to concerns it would interfere with First Amendment rights to free speech. In her article, Valera shares several different perspectives on the issue, including that of Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, as well as teens who themselves have experience with social media’s negative effects. 

This article can serve as a mentor text because it addresses a relevant, frequently debated topic by including a range of nuanced takes on the issue of managing the potentially harmful effects of social media use on Hawai’i’s teens. Valera’s article meets the newsworthiness elements of timeliness, impact, proximity, and conflict/currency; the effects that social media can have on developing teens is a topic that is often brought up and debated by young people and adults alike, and this article addresses this issue right after a relevant event in Hawaii: the deferral of a bill seeking to mitigate the harms of teenage social media use by banning kids 16 or under from creating social media accounts without parental consent. Valera handles the many complexities and differing opinions on this issue well by including quotes and arguments from opponents and proponents alike, as well as by explaining why the solution to modern teen mental health issues may not be something that can be attributed to a single cause or fixed merely through restrictions placed by state legislators. 

The journalist’s article is clearly structured using LQTQ format as well as through the use of subheadings that break up parts of the issue. The transition paragraphs all add valuable background information on past conflicts regarding the impacts of social media on young people, as well as the facts on what has been done before in an attempt to mitigate its harmful effects. She ends her article with a kicker quote that leaves the reader with a final question to consider: how will teens know how to safely navigate social media?

Jacky Oasay

Families Want Playground Access. They Could Get a Criminal Record Instead — Civil Beat

This article is written by Megan Tagami, the education reporter at Civil Beat. It is about the on-going request from parents, lawmakers and county leaders across Hawai’i to open up school playgrounds and fields for the public when classes are not in session. This explores the different sides, such as families wanting an open space to play and the legislature or the DOE wanting to keep unwanted visitors off campus to avoid vandalism. 

This serves as a great mentor text because it provides a lot of multimedia to further enhance the reader’s perspective on the issue. For example, pictures of playgrounds (however, I feel as though the picture would have been better if there were pictures of the ‘no trespassing’ signs posted). Along with that, there is also an interactive graphic of all of the O’ahu playgrounds, showing most of them are public elementary schools. Overall, it is a good mentor text that also provides information from all sides—those who are for public playgrounds, and those against. A lot of information is presented and shows good, thorough reporting.

Rose Ganotisi 

Softball Splits Doubleheader Rematch, Wraps Up Outrigger Classic 

This article was written by sports writer Yuzu Martin and published on Ka Leo O Hawaii on March 1, 2026. It goes over how the UH Wahine Softball team played on the 3rd day of the Outrigger classic during their doubleheader games. They lost the first game against Portland State 5-4. They had some defensive problems early on in the game and the pitcher did not perform as well as she wanted to. In the 3rd inning, however, they were up but PSU came through with one home run and their defense. The second game UH played was a success as they beat Mercyhurst 7-5. UH came through with their bats this game, starting off with a triple hit by a freshman and then consistent singles hit throughout the game to score runs. The article concludes by mentioning the following games the Wahine’s will be taking part in on the road for the Big West Conference. 

This can serve as a mentor text for me because it was written by a sports writer and I have been wanting to write more sports articles for awhile. Since I am in season for softball right now, I may choose to write about our softball games. This article shows me how to write a sports article going over a softball game in enough detail so the readers can get the big idea of how the game went but ensuring it does not get monotonous. The writer did a good job of boots-on-the-ground reporting because he obviously attended the softball games but he lacked insight from players, coaches or prominent onlookers as there were no quotes in the article. 

Dominic Niyo

Convicted Hawaiʻi Lawmaker’s Emails Were Deleted When He Left Office – Honolulu Civil Beat

This article, written by Civil Beat reporter Madeleine Valera, explains how the Hawaii House of Representatives deletes lawmakers’ email accounts as soon as they leave office. That policy erased years of messages from former Rep. Ty Cullen and former Rep. Sylvia Luke, both of whom appear in federal filings connected to bribery investigations. The story was published by Civil Beat and uses public records requests, interviews with the House clerk, and commentary from government accountability experts to show how the deletion practice limits transparency and removes potentially important evidence from public view.

This works as a strong mentor text for accountability reporting because it builds the story around a clear public interest failure and proves it with documents and direct sourcing. Civil Beat’s own records requests establish that the House deleted Ty Cullen’s and Sylvia Luke’s email accounts shortly after they left office, removing messages that could have informed an active corruption investigation. The reporting stays grounded in verifiable facts. Valera interviews the House clerk, the Senate clerk, the attorney who filed the citizens’ petition, and Common Cause Hawaiʻi. Each source has direct knowledge of retention policy or transparency standards. Their quotes move the story forward, including Silvert’s point that the public has a right to know the history of lawmakers’ actions. The article also shows real reporting work through the denied requests for emails, texts, and call logs, which become evidence of the transparency gap.

The structure supports the accountability frame. The lead establishes the problem, and the transition paragraphs carry the weight of explanation by outlining the House’s deletion policy, comparing it to the Senate’s practice, and placing Hawaiʻi in a national context. These transitions are longer than the quotes and contain the most important information about how the system works and where it fails. The quotes are chosen for clarity and tension, not emotion. The article ends by returning to the public stakes, highlighting why lawmakers and the public should want stronger retention rules. For student journalists, the lesson is that accountability reporting depends on documents, precise sourcing, and transitions that explain systems without relying on dramatic language.

Alex Azhari

Read the article here: Does Japan Hold The Answer To Fixing Honolulu Rail System

“Does Japan Hold The Answer To Fixing Honolulu’s Rail System?” is a news article written by Stewart Yerton and published on Civil Beat. It is about the State of Hawai’i teaming up with a Japanese rail conglomerate with a century of experience in transit-oriented development in an effort to improve the Honolulu Skyline. The company, Tokyu Group, is known for turning formerly empty land into Shibuya ward, a vibrant commercial center located in Tokyo. This partnership began when Governor Josh Green went to Tokyo intending to talk about tourism. He ended up meeting with Tokyu Group executives, who showed him what could be done with adequate planning and investment. Their strategy is to develop housing and commercial amenities around train stations to increase passenger traffic.

This article can serve as a “mentor text” because it meets a good number of elements of newsworthiness, such as timeliness, proximity, and prominence. Additionally, the journalist interviewed the right people, including Gov. Josh Green, a local who often takes the train and bus, and the spokesman of Hawaii’s largest construction union. He also structured the article well by using LQTQ and the inverted pyramid. He first provided the most important information such as background information about the project, its goals, and the people and organizations involved. Then he went more in depth by going into the origin of the collaboration and the project’s details. Although the article uses a modest amount of quotes, the ones used are punchy and add emotion. His transition paragraphs are also longer than his quote paragraphs.