{"id":224140,"date":"2025-10-22T13:24:32","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=224140"},"modified":"2025-10-22T13:28:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:28:42","slug":"nancy-ooki-teen-disaster-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/22\/nancy-ooki-teen-disaster-training\/","title":{"rendered":"UH<\/abbr> educator and teen disaster training program earn national praise"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

\"students<\/p>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa extension agent and the teen disaster program she leads have garnered national recognition. Nancy Ooki, from the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience<\/a> (CTAHR<\/abbr>), was honored by the Association of Public Land Grant Universities for the Preparing Our Neighbors and Ohana (PONO<\/abbr>) disaster preparedness program<\/a> in Maui Nui (Maui County).<\/p>\n

PONO<\/abbr> has trained more than 530 teenage students from across the state with most of the teens based on Maui, Molokaʻi<\/span> and Lānaʻi.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"student
Teens learn how to handle high stress situations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“To have the national team recognize me was thrilling! I was not expecting that,” Ooki said.<\/p>\n

Ooki was also named the winner of the 2025 Western Region Extension Directors Association Excellence in Extension Programming Award for an Individual.<\/p>\n

PONO<\/abbr> delivers the complete FEMA<\/abbr> Community Emergency Response Team curriculum to keiki 13 to 19 years old through 30 hours of hands-on training. By incorporating youth development and leadership activities, Ooki ensures students learn how to become a team leader and have a voice in disaster situations.<\/p>\n

She adapted FEMA<\/abbr>\u2019s courses for Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>, addressing unique local challenges, such as the difficulty of buying 14-day emergency kits amid Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s high food price and storing the kits in small homes.<\/p>\n

“This training is timely everywhere,” said Ooki. “Wildfires are becoming a daily, weekly or monthly event in many areas of the country. Flooding is always a problem in the Midwest, and this is a set of skills that youth will need. I think the national leaders appreciate that PONO<\/abbr> is mirroring FEMA<\/abbr> with youth development activities.”<\/p>\n

Ooki is now working to roll out PONO<\/abbr> training programs on Oʻahu<\/span>, Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Island and Kauaʻi<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PONO<\/abbr> has trained more than 530 teenage students from across the state with most of the teens based on Maui, Molokaʻi<\/span> and Lānaʻi<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":224102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[212,1409,598,911,9],"class_list":["post-224140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-college-of-tropical-agriculture-and-human-resilience","tag-disaster-emergency","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-program-recognition","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t