Graduating Konawaena High School seniors got a first-hand look at the Keahuolu Courthouse on Friday morning as the young adults prepare to end the real world after graduating next month.
Nearly two dozen pupils from Molly Satta-Ellis’s sociology class made the trip Friday morning from Kealakekua to Kailua-Kona for the program during which court and law enforcement officials speak about becoming an adult while providing an overview of the Judicial system.
“We’ve been doing this for over a decade,” said Satta-Ellis.
For Satta-Ellis, the field trip is more than just a day at the courthouse — it’s a chance for students to make connections with probation officers, sheriffs and judges. It also gets them away from their phones
“More than ever, we see the need for our kids to have more human connections, hence, this field trip,” she said. “We’re having issues with Tik Tok, and kids behind the screen. We see reminders of that in the classroom. So we’re working on making connections with our kids.”
One student, Caiya hanks, was especially intrigued.
“This day is super interesting for me, personally, because I’m looking into going into criminal justice system. So it’s a cool experience — I have so many questions,” she said. “It’s refreshing to know there’s so many jobs out there to look into, you only ever hear doctor, lawyer, dancer, but there’s so many different jobs out there.”
The Keahuolu Courthouse opened in 2019, bringing together under one roof multiple courthouses that had been scattered around North Kona and South Kona.
Inside the massive, three-story high building Friday morning, the students heard from a variety of officials in the judicial system, including a sheriff, judge, prosecutor, public defender and probation officer. Each gave their 2 cents.
“This is no easy job,” said Deputy Sheriff Dustin Ballesteros. “But it’s all about having the drive to do it.”
Ballesteros, when asked to describe the job in action, recalled a scene at the courthouse where one man, who had just been sentenced to prison, dashed for the door. Before he could flee the courtroom, he was tackled to the ground by a deputy sheriff.
“We expect the worst and hope for the best,” he said.
Emily Ovian-Kwiat, with the Big Island Drug Court probation office, agreed with the sentiment of planning for the worst, but hoping for the best.
She described the drug court system to the teens, calling it “probation on steroids.”
“Drug court violations are very swift here,” she said. “We have sanctions that we impose and certain sanctions are taken away.”
For Deputy Public Defender Frederick Macapinlac, the hardest part of his job is defending someone who he believes is innocent.
“It keeps me up at night,” he said. “I want to make sure I do everything I can to keep them out of jail.”
He also believes that even the clients who are guilty have a backstory.
“Even if my client is guilty, there may be other circumstances that got them in that situation. I have a lot of clients who were around bad situations growing up. Didn’t give them chances to be a regular person,” Macapinlac added.
The students even got to sit in on a drunken driving case being heard by Kona District Court Judge Kimberly B.M. Taniyama.
