{"id":16626,"date":"2025-10-17T15:37:50","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T01:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/?p=16626"},"modified":"2025-11-13T15:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T01:11:05","slug":"2025-waipahu-high-school-student-creates-winning-t-shirt-design-for-annual-white-cane-walk-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/2025-waipahu-high-school-student-creates-winning-t-shirt-design-for-annual-white-cane-walk-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Waipahu High School student creates winning T-shirt design for annual White Cane Walk event"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU \u2013 Over 200 participants in the 33rd annual White Cane Walk were decked in a black T-shirt featuring the words \u201cNever Back Down,\u201d designed by Waipahu High School student Jayzen Carlos, who won the first-ever T-shirt design contest for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event \u2014 which was organized by the Department of Human Services\u2019 Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Ho\u02bbopono Services for the Blind \u2014 aims to raise awareness about the white cane and its vital role in promoting independence, safety and mobility for individuals who are blind or have low vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlos, 18, who is visually impaired, said his design was inspired by YouTuber Nick Eh 30, who always says \u201cnever give up and never back down\u201d in his videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Never back down\u2019 means to me that I keep pushing forward and I know I can do hard things,\u201d Carlos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants began and ended their walk at the State Capitol Rotunda in downtown Honolulu, celebrating a shared commitment to inclusion, accessibility and community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe white cane is more than a symbol of mobility, it represents confidence, courage, and the right of every person to move through the world safely and freely. Today\u2019s White Cane Walk through downtown Honolulu reminds us all, especially our drivers, to stay alert and respectful of every pedestrian using a white cane,\u201d said Hawai\u02bbi Department of Human Services Director Ryan Yamane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dozens of students with visual impairments from public schools across O\u2018ahu participated in the event along with their teachers and school staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very important for our students to be together and be able to practice their white cane skills with other students who are visually impaired, but also to meet others in the community who are living their lives with their canes as well,\u201d said Jeannie Camacho, a teacher for the visually impaired and a certified orientation and mobility specialist with the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event also reminded Hawai\u02bbi motorists to stay alert, exercise caution, and show respect for pedestrians using the white cane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s such a great event because the students get to meet their peers, but also adults who are blind. So those are kind of role models for them,\u201d Amy Downard, who is also a teacher for the visually impaired and a certified orientation and mobility specialist with the Hawai\u02bbi State Department of Education for nearly 30 years, said. \u201cDownstairs at the Capitol, there’s a blind vendor. So we can say this might be a job you might have in the future. So it’s really important that they\u2019re able to attend and participate. And to get here, a lot of times we’ll use the city bus or Handi-Van. So they’re practicing their transportation skills on how to get here, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s event also featured a resource fair in the rotunda, bringing together organizations and service providers who support Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s blind and visually impaired community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNever give up on your dreams and never give up on your goals. Just keep pushing forward,\u201d Carlos said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Never<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Never<\/figure>\n<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU \u2013 Over 200 participants in the 33rd annual White Cane Walk were decked in a black T-shirt featuring the words \u201cNever Back Down,\u201d designed by Waipahu High School student Jayzen Carlos, who won the first-ever T-shirt design contest for the event. The event \u2014 which was organized by the Department of Human Services\u2019 Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Ho\u02bbopono Services for the Blind \u2014 aims to raise awareness about the white cane and its vital role in promoting independence, safety and mobility for individuals who are blind or have low vision. Carlos, 18, who is visually impaired, said his design was inspired by YouTuber Nick Eh 30, who always says […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":16628,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"856,888,893,1022,1619,1622","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","wp_popup_display_lightbox":0,"wp_popup_suppress":"","wp_popup_trigger":"","wp_popup_trigger_amount":0,"wp_popup_disable_on_mobile":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":21,"label":"News"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_1803-1024x768.jpg",1024,768,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Kim Yuen","author_link":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/author\/kimberly-yuenk12-hi-us\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":21,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":21,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":308,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":21,"category_count":308,"category_description":"","cat_name":"News","category_nicename":"news","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-21 12:15:55","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"post_status","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiipublicschools.org\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}