High school seniors coordinate architecture, design, construction competition on Maui

When Maui High School students Kaylee Yagi and Jamaeia Espanol went to the SkillsUSA Hawai‘i architecture drafting competition in February 2024 as sophomores, they enjoyed the statewide event so much that they wanted to see those kinds of opportunities for more students in Maui County.

Now, as seniors, the friends have started a similar competition on Maui that could help with the island’s housing crisis by developing a local, professional, skilled workforce.

The Maui High School Architecture Competition, along with a creative design competition and construction showcase, was held Dec. 12 in the school’s STEM building. It was Yagi and Espanol’s combined senior project and the first of its kind competition in Maui County.

The architecture judges included Durwin Kiyabu of Architectural Design & Construction; Jeremy Stoddart, the American Institute of Architects Maui Chapter President of Pili Design Build; and David Sellers, the principal architect for Hawaii Off Grid Architecture & Engineering and the board chairman for the Industrial Engineering Technology Academy at Maui High.

“It is indicative of where we are at,” Sellers said. “The reason you see local professionals involved is because we need to cultivate local talent. One thing I always want to communicate when I mentor these kids is that there are good jobs right here.”

Sellers said the students could fill a need in their communities.

“We’re in the middle of a housing crisis, so we need like 15,000 houses on Maui,” he said. “We need people here to figure out those issues around it. And then we have an aging housing stock as it is. So, infrastructure, housing, there’s so much work here and so many opportunities and who better to do it than local kids who grew up here?”

Sellers said the Maui High architecture, construction and creative design day is the kind of thing needed at the high school level to help the long-term rebuilds in Lahaina and Kula as they continue to recover from the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires that destroyed more than 2,200 structures.

Although Hawaiʻi is dealing with a mild recession, the rebuilding on Maui and federal projects on O‘ahu are driving a construction industry that is continuing to generate steady jobs, local economists said last week.

“There’s a huge effort to rebuild Lahaina,” Sellers said. “If it can be kids that grew up here and can continue that cultural perpetuation, that’s ideal.”

Espanol was the main contact with industry professionals to create the competition. She developed the materials list needed and acquired more than $5,100 in donated materials for the event. Yagi created the construction plans, invitations and banners. 

The teenage girls, both with grade-point averages around 4.2, worked together to create the rubrics, overviews and the itinerary for the competition; helped prepare the students for the competition; and proposed it to the Maui High administration.

In the architecture competition, contestants had to draw floor and roof plans on AutoCAD and Chief Architect computer programs. They also had to generate and define dimension exterior and interior elevations, generate window and door schedules and hand draw a wall section detail.

Cassandra May Bio won the architecture competition, with Andrin Balasbas second and Mika Laroya third.

In the creative design competition, the contestants randomly received either a light wall socket or hanging light. They had to create an aesthetic and functional design with the light in mind. Then they underwent a mock interview about the design. They also had to complete a Google sites portfolio.

The creative design competitors received their “mystery box” assignments with their materials in late September and presented them on Dec. 12.

Kalyssa Orikasa won with her light fixture in an ocean theme, in which the light comes through a fish and the rocks. Liam Homza was second and Naomi Tokishi third in the creative design competition.

“It was challenging to an extent that I had to think a lot, but I had a lot of fun making it and going through the design process,” Orikasa said Wednesday.

Tokishi went through a couple designs before settling on a koi fish that moves in her hanging lighting fixture.

“I thought it would be really cool if I could do some kind of animal or something really inspirational and meaningful,” Tokishi said Wednesday. “And a koi fish represents good fortune … So I really wanted to do a koi fish. And there were multiple stages to my plan.”

The construction showcase included understanding the architectural plans, using tools safely, communicating with their team, and constructing a playhouse 7 feet, 11 inches long by 7 feet, 6 inches wide by 5 feet, 4 inches high that was designed by Yagi.

When the playhouse is completed, it will be donated to a church or preschool.

“The kids in this construction program can become apprentices and they will be ahead of most apprentices when they graduate,” Maui High construction teacher Julio Bayez said. “That’s a good opportunity for them.”

Sophomore Dallas Bayez, junior Denver Sabas and seniors Howard Cacayorin, Rhianna Arakaki, Tristan Hickman, Andy Oviedo and Kalani Sanchez-Lizarraga participated in the construction showcase.

Yagi and Espanol hope that their event grows into a countywide competition. Lahainaluna, Kamehameha Maui, Kūlanihāko‘i and Seabury Hall are among the Maui County high schools that have architecture-related programs that could send students to the event in the future.

“I will be willing to help whoever wants to take over because it’s a good opportunity to give these connections to other schools on Maui, not just Maui High,” Espanol said.

But she will have to do so while at college. She and Yagi have applied to several schools, but are hopeful of being roommates at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

“I know that it is good for people to leave and get experience off island and go to the Mainland,” Sellers said. “But you have an opportunity to come back and that is what we want to make super clear. We enjoy the opportunity to be able to be here and mentor the kids.”

Only three students per school can compete at the SkillsUSA Hawai‘i architecture drafting competition each year at the Hawai‘i Convention Center in February.

For 2026, Maui High again will be represented by Espanol and Yagi, who finished third statewide in the SkillsUSA architecture competition in 2024. They will be joined by Bio, who said she will take with her the confidence she gained from winning the architecture competition.

“I always knew I wanted to go into interior design. That’s why I came to architecture,” Bio said Thursday morning minutes after she learned she won the competition. “I’m really glad that I pursued architecture with the help of Mr. Sado since I’ve had some doubts in pursuing architecture before.”

Sado, a 1992 Baldwin High School and 1996 University of Hawai‘i at Hilo graduate, started the architecture design program at Maui High in 2021. 

While he started his educational career as a social studies teacher, Sado was asked to teach an architectural drafting course at Lahainaluna in 2003 that led to his new direction in teaching.

He said the idea of the competition was to “give more Maui students the opportunity to showcase their knowledge. What you see here is an integration of architecture and construction.”

Now, Bio is hopeful others get the chance to do what she did a week ago.

“I know next year they’re planning to include schools other than Maui High. It’s really cool for students to see how they’re doing and such in architecture,” Bio said. “It’s so great that other students get to have the opportunity to talk to industry professionals and see how their work is, understand the architecture or construction program by talking with the professionals.”