Author: Meghan Miner Murray

New Way to Book Tours in Hawaii

ORIGIN: Like many origin stories, Activiter’s started in Vegas. Stuck on the Strip in the heat of the day, the company’s co-founders – Rob Lafontaine and Ikaika Sheehan – decided to see a show (mostly for the air conditioning) and waited in…

A Private Tour of Hawaii at Your Fingertips

ORIGINS: Husband and wife Andrew and Rita Fowers first met 11 years ago at Brigham Young University Hawaii in Laie, where their location inspired a company. “When I was a senior in college on the North Shore,” says Andrew Fowers,…

Teens Say No to Driver’s License

Driver's licenses have been a symbol of adulthood and freedom for generations of Hawaii teens. But today, a much smaller proportion of youths are getting their licenses. We examine why and what it means for Hawaii going forward. For decades,…

Interactive Software for Better Learning

ORIGINS: The instruction methods used by Dan Nash, 28, and Sean Hookano-Briel, 33, to teach math at Waipahu High School drew attention from other teachers. A consulting firm they launched in 2012 created professional-development programs for educators and led to…

Learning by Building

A young girl on a pink bike zooms past the newest custom-built home in her close-knit Hawaiian community in Hilo. The single-story, three-bedroom and two-bath home with a beige exterior and metal roof has taken dozens of workers more than…

Nonprofit Corner: Connecting People to Forests

Native plant restoration is an ongoing process at the Kaupulehu Dryland Forest in North Kona – one of more than a dozen projects by the nonprofit Hawaii Forest Institute. “Not all (Hawaii) forests are native forests,” notes Rob Pacheco, who…

Lodgers and Tax Dodgers

It was dark and raining when my plane touched down in Honolulu for my mini-vacation, so I used my GPS to guide me to where I would spend the next two nights. But, instead of taking me to Waikiki’s well-lit,…