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Chaminade University Receives Grant from Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation

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Chaminade University of Honolulu has received a $15,000 grant from the Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation to support its Performing Arts Program. The grant will provide professional music training to Performing Arts students participating in Chaminade University’s annual Summer Theatre Festival.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation for this generous donation,” said Chris Patrinos, the new director of Chaminade’s Performing Arts Program. “Though the future for performing arts is uncertain, we are still hoping to hold a festival in the summer of 2021. This gift will allow us to offer the best possible musical support for the student performers and help us to bring first-rate theatre performances to Hawai‘i audiences.”

Chaminade’s Summer Theatre Festival began four years ago to give college students from Hawaiʻi an opportunity to participate in performing arts during the summer. The 2020 festival was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation was founded in 1967 by talented opera singer, Mae Orvis. Mae created the foundation in memory of her husband, financier and philanthropist, Arthur. The two loved the arts very much, and were each great supporters of the arts in Hawai‘i. Their legacy of generosity lives on through their Foundation.

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Chaminade University of Honolulu provides a collaborative and innovative learning environment that prepares graduate and undergraduate students for life, service and successful careers. Established in 1955, the university is guided by its Catholic, Marianist and liberal arts educational traditions, which include a commitment to serving the Native Hawaiian population. Chaminade offers an inclusive setting where students, faculty and staff collectively pursue a more just and peaceful society.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

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With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic rocking much of the country, mental health is taking a serious toll across the nation. A recent NBC News report found that nearly 1 in 4 individuals reported feeling anxious more than half of the previous seven days, and 1 in 5 reported feeling depressed.

But according to the Buddkyo Dendo Kyokai (BDK)-Fujitani Interfaith Program at Chaminade University, it’s okay to not feel okay right now.

The program, part of the School of Humanities, Arts and Design at Chaminade, recently invited three guest speakers to share tips on how to stay grounded when things are not okay—the virtual workshop was titled “I’m Not Okay, But It’s Okay: Finding a Middle Way.”

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Kehaulani Lum

Aunty Kehaulani Lum, president of Ali’i Pauahi Hawaiian Civic Club, began the workshop by sharing the Native Hawaiian perspective of the current coronavirus pandemic.

“Today’s theme, ‘I’m not okay but it’s okay,’ are words that resonate deeply to Native Hawaiian people,” shared Lum. “They speak with wisdom and experience of generations of people who have survived great epidemics in these islands over the course of 200 years or more.”

Lum explained how in 1840, less than a century after British seafarers had landed in Hawai’i, nearly 84% of the Hawaiian population had died from diseases from which they had no immunity.

To Lum, the greatest answers in explaining our current situation come from looking at the source of the coronavirus pandemic. The virus is believed to have originated in bats in Wuhan, China—and ironically, bats are a symbol of health and longevity in Chinese culture. Specifically, says Lum, the virus was from a bat that was taken from a cave and brought to a market where humans coveted it as a delicacy. She believes there is a lesson there.

“We looked to guidance from the Kumulipo and found in the seventh era, just after the birth of the dog and the speckled bird, the springing forth of the bats,” explained Lum. She continued to share that right after the bats, the very last life form to be noted in the Kumulipo, the Hawaiian creation chant, is the man and the woman. “Can it be that by harming our older siblings through the destruction of their habitat and over consumption, we have invited harm upon ourselves?”

Lum believes that the best medicine right now is to commit our hearts and resources to bringing peace and restoration to the natural environment. To her, doing so is “an act of grace, of holiness and total devotion to divinity—not just to ourselves, but to all of our familiar relationships.”

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Rev. Noriaki Fujimori

Reverend Noriaki Fujimori, the resident minister of Palolo Hongwanji, believes we can use this crisis as an opportunity to change our way of life.

“The Buddhist Master teaches us that encountering adversity is not always a bad thing,” says Fujimori. “It’s a chance to discover a treasure that we never knew we had.”

For Fujimori, anxiety and depression tend to stem from fear, and in most cases, we’re afraid of the unknown. But Buddhism guides people to live their life in the present—right here and right now—rather than worrying about an unknown future.

“The fear I create so easily in my mind is a preoccupation with what is going to happen in the future,” explains Fujimori. “This way of thinking has nothing to do with reality. No one knows what will happen in the future. We must find the joy in living right here and right now.”

He shared Lum’s belief that nature is healing, and explained that working in his garden at home has been very helpful in bringing him back to the present moment and finding joy at home.

DBK-Fujitani Workshop, Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo, a Buddhist nun and professor at University of San Diego, offered several Buddhist truths that may bring comfort during these times of uncertainty. 

The first, said Tsomo, is that life is inherently uncertain. “Life is never satisfactory,” says Tsomo. “Why are we surprised? Whoever said that life was supposed to be a bowl of cherries? It cannot be. But we live in an illusion, we live in a dream world.” The more we can embrace the uncertainty of life, the sooner we will be able to find peace, says Tsomo.

The second truth is that of impermanence. Nothing in life is permanent, yet we continuously grasp for happiness outside of ourselves. We rely on things that are continuously changing, continuously evolving to keep us happy.

Acknowledging impermanence is a very important step to finding happiness, believes Tsomo. “It asks us to acknowledge our own frailty,” she explains. “As human beings, we are actually very fragile. At any moment, it can be ‘poof’ and we’re off to the next life. This body is actually very fragile.”

When we can come to that harsh realization and be honest with ourselves about our own vulnerabilities, it frees us up to rest content in the present moment and set aside all of our fears.

Despite the hardships, there are many silver linings to come out of this pandemic, offers Tsomo.

“It’s a disaster, and it’s especially a disaster for the poor,” says Tsomo. “But it also has the benefit of making us reframe our lives, stepping back and taking a closer look at our priorities. All of the things we’ve been wrapped up in, maybe they’re not as important as we thought. This pandemic can be a teacher.”

Tsomo believes a good first step in shifting priorities is to focus on love.

“Everyone loves to talk about love, now all we have to do is practice it,” says Tsomo. “We may sometimes get so wrapped up in our own pursuits that we forget about the other 7.5 billion human beings out there, not to mention the billions of fish and insects and animals. We can send loving kindness to all of them. This helps us feel love in our hearts, and this love overcomes so much of our anxiety and depression.”

Vice President and Dean Receives National Award for Outstanding Performance

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Allison Jerome, Chaminade University Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students, has received the Region VI Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean/Vice President from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).

Allison Jerome, VP of Student Affairs and Dean of Students

Named for NASPA’s founding Chair of the Board of Directors and former dean of men at the University of Wisconsin, the Scott Goodnight Award recognizes sustained professional achievement in student affairs work, innovative response in meeting students’ needs, effectiveness in developing staff, and leadership in community and college or university affairs. The recipient is also someone who has earned stature among and support of students, faculty, and fellow administrators on campus, and made a significant contribution to the field through publications or involvement in professional associations.

“Allison is incredibly deserving of this award for her contributions to our school, our community, and most importantly, our students,” said Chaminade University President Dr. Lynn Babington. “She is well respected by everyone, including her peers.”

With more than 20 years of higher education administration experience, Jerome joined Chaminade University as a Program Counselor in 2004. She has held a number of student-facing positions, including Director, Academic Achievement Program; Associate Dean of Students; and Director of Retention, Advising and Career Preparation. She was named Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students in 2016. 

Jerome will also serve as a NASPA mentor to one of two Chaminade students who were accepted into the 2020-2021 class of NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program. The highly competitive fellowship gives students from traditionally underrepresented and historically disenfranchised communities a chance to learn more about careers in student affairs and higher education.
Each year, NASPA recognizes the outstanding contributions of members who are transforming higher education through exceptional programs, innovative services, and effective administration. 

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Chaminade University of Honolulu provides a collaborative and innovative learning environment that prepares graduate and undergraduate students for life, service and successful careers. Established in 1955, the university is guided by its Catholic, Marianist and liberal arts educational traditions, which include a commitment to serving the Native Hawaiian population. Chaminade offers an inclusive setting where students, faculty and staff collectively pursue a more just and peaceful society. For more information, visit chaminade.edu.

The Women Who Shaped Our Nation

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Chaminade University and Hawaii Council for the Humanities recently teamed up with the New York Historical Society to bring their Women and the American Story initiative to educators in Hawaii.

Women and the American Story Workshop

The initiative connects teachers across the country with a free curriculum and resources to highlight the various ways women have helped shape our nation. The collaboration hosted a virtual workshop on November 7 to introduce Hawaii teachers to the curriculum and help them find ways to incorporate more perspectives and contributions of women in their classrooms.

The free curriculum is broken up into ten chronological units, each one exploring a different period of time in U.S. history. The November workshop focused on two of the ten time periods: Settler Colonialism and the Revolution (1692-1783) and Confidence and Crises (1920-1948).

Led by Mia Nagawiecki, the Vice President of Education at the New York Historical Society, the interactive session walked participants through various resources, including paintings, texts, documents, letters and videos and explored how each depicted women and what they said about the roles that women played during that time. For each, Nagawiecki shared tips and strategies on how to utilize the resource in the classroom to prompt a discussion and encourage critical thinking.

The training began by outlining four core questions for participants to think about during the course of the workshop, including: How did women actively participate in the Revolution? What effect did a woman’s race have on her experiences? And why are women’s stories essential to understanding the events of the American Revolution?

The first half of the workshop examined the lives of colonial women from various geographic regions, including Russia, Alaska, Spanish California, French Louisiana and England’s 13 Colonies. It also explored the lives of women from diverse ethnicities, including Black, White, and Native American, and analyzed how women helped shape the American Revolution.

After, participants joined break out rooms to discuss the four questions posed at the beginning. They also explored how they could utilize the resources in their own classrooms and how they could incorporate more women’s perspectives and contributions into their lesson plans.

The second half of the workshop focused on the Confidence and Crises module and explored the role women played during the Great Depression, the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, and how women gained the right to vote. This was a period of overt racism, when African American women lived under “Jim Crow” laws, and Asian, Jewish, Italian and Eastern European women faced racist immigration laws.

For this section, participants were asked to think about the dramatic shifts women experienced in their roles as women and citizens as well as the ways in which the Great Depression and World War II affected the rush toward modernity that was driving the 1920s. At the conclusion of the section, participants once again joined breakout rooms to discuss what they had just learned and how to incorporate the teachings and resources into their classroom.

“We are thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with the Hawaii Council of the Humanities and bring this incredible initiative to Hawaii’s teachers,” says Dr. Cheryl Edelson, dean of the School of Humanities at Chaminade and a speaker at the workshop. “It’s so important that our students see themselves in the stories we teach, and that we introduce them to a broader range of experiences to help them value our nation’s diversity. Through this training and curriculum, the New York Historical Society is helping us do that.”

Settler Colonialism and the Revolution
(1692-1783)
Confidence and Crises
(1920-1948)

A Winning Pair

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When Aurelia Vining and Jacqueline (Jaci) Harbin met during their first design studio course at Chaminade University, they became fast friends. They had both come from Army backgrounds before joining the Environmental + Interior Design program as transfer students in 2018, and their shared experiences matched with their opposing design approaches quickly proved to be a winning combination.

E+ID students Aurelia Vining and Jacqueline Harbin presenting their MRO project

They worked on a group project together during that first class, and it went so well that it solidified their partnership for much of the last two years. Since then, they’ve collaborated on several extracurricular projects, including working with the Marianist brothers to design a new exterior patio for the Mystical Rose Oratory.

“We had the chance to work on several extra-curricular design projects together, and it became clear that we balanced each other well,” says Harbin. “Things that I struggle with, Aurelia has completely mastered and areas where she might not be so strong, I excel.”

Their synergy recently came to fruition when it won them the 2020 Award of Excellence at the recent American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Hawaii Chapter virtual award ceremony.

In January, their senior level commercial design studio course comprised a semester-long partner project. The class had chosen to design a boutique hotel—they were all given the footprint of an imaginary hotel in Vancouver, Canada and the pairs were tasked with designing three public spaces: the ground level, the lower level and the penthouse. The final design was due at the end of the semester in May.

“For this project we got to choose our partners so of course I was going to pick my Ace, Jaci Harbin,” says Vining. “She’s a wonderful designer and our styles are completely opposite of one another. I think that aspect of our relationship makes us question each other enough that we make sure our designs are purposeful, intentional and beautiful.”

Harbin and Vining designed The Glacier, an immersive hotel designed to capture the serenity that comes from being in nature. Upon arrival, the design protects guests with an outdoor vestibule positioned specifically to mitigate the northeastern winds. The lobby is darned with curved woods, semi-transparent materials and multi-faceted built-ins that help create a sense of humility and a feeling of being part of something bigger. On the inside, the ground floor included a lounge with a kids play space, a bar and space for casual dining, and outside the designers made space for an outdoor lounge, a rental area and an outdoor ice skating rink.

But the part that really captured the attention of the ASID judges was the outdoor star-gazing balcony in the penthouse. The virtual award ceremony specifically called out this area, with a quote from one of the judges saying “My favorite is the stargazing area. I like that the students thought through every scenario so that visitors would be able to see the constellations and stars day or night and all times of the year.”

The project wasn’t without its challenges—halfway through the semester COVID-19 hit and in-person classes were canceled.

“Zoom presentations are completely different from in-person presentations,” recalls Harbin. “The way you present yourself, how you showcase your work, all of that changes. You cannot have physical material boards because they don’t showcase well on a digital platform but that also means the client cannot touch the materials.”

It helped that the pair was already so close and had such a solid partnership to begin with. “The fact that we were already so comfortable with one another made a huge difference—it would have been very difficult to excel if we had just met one another,” admits Harbin.

But they did excel. Combined, the two put in over 600 hours to perfect the design of The Glacier. And when the project was completed, they submitted it for the ASID award, and won.

“Winning the ASID Hawaii Award of Excellence is a pinnacle moment for Jaci and Aurelia,” says Joan Riggs, the director of the Environmental + Interior Design program and a cherished professor and mentor. “This pair of emerging professionals hit the ground running with wanting to learn everything about design, taking risks with ideas and stretching themselves from day one.”

The two credit a lot of their success to the mentorship they received from both Riggs and their professor, Lisa Lockard.

“I don’t think [Professor Lockard] ever told us we couldn’t do something—she just guided our explorations in the design process,” says Vining. “I loved when we’d ask her if we could do something and her response would be ‘I don’t know, can you?’ That was so encouraging and refreshing.”

Though they will both graduate this semester, this is likely just the beginning of the duo’s journey together. 

The day after submitting their final design of The Glacier, they received an email from Joan Riggs saying she had a paid summer project for them if they were interested. The project was to design the tour check-in and retail area for Magnum Helicopter Tours at their Honolulu Airport facility. The space was being constructed, and they were looking to the design students to help them execute their vision.

“It was fascinating to watch a project happen in real time,” says Harbin. “There was a real sense of urgency regarding this project, but they were looking to us as the professionals and trusted our opinions and recommendations.”

Now, with graduation just a few weeks away, Harbin and Vining are trying to work out the logistics of a long-term professional partnership doing real estate development in San Antonio, Texas, where Vining will be moving next summer.

“I think hands down, you have to find someone that you can work with and trust they will put in the same amount of effort,” says Vining. “Jaci and I have been pairing together whenever we can, and have done multiple school projects, service learning and freelance projects together. She is by far the best partner!”

A Passion for Criminal Justice Reform

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At the age of 16, Shekina Boling had her first experience with the criminal justice system. It was, as she describes it, unfavorable. She had been sexually assaulted, and the criminal justice process that followed her attack was lengthy and uncomfortable, to say the least. 

After a drawn out and emotional trial, Boling’s attacker was ultimately found guilty. She is one of the lucky few—according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), only 3 out of 4 sexual assaults are ever reported. And for every 230 sexual assaults that are reported to the police, only 46 reports will lead to arrest and only 5 cases will lead to a federal conviction. 

“I’m very thankful my assailant was found guilty,” recalls Boling. “My attorney had kept prepping me that it’s not very often these types of individuals are convicted. It shed light on something that I hadn’t realized took place.”

Shekina Boling, Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration

The experience was what first made Boling interested in a criminal justice career. And it’s what drove her to pursue her undergraduate degree in public administration and justice administration.

But as an undergraduate taking criminal justice classes, she discovered another side of the criminal justice system that she became even more passionate about—wrongful convictions.

“After learning these things, I found it was something I felt really strongly about,” describes Boling. “It was always something that saddened me, knowing that wrongful incarceration was a very common occurrence in the U.S. And there still haven’t been a lot of reform efforts to reduce these kinds of things.”

Upon graduating, she knew she wanted to get her master’s in criminal justice. The Waipahu native didn’t know what to expect enrolling in graduate school, particularly since she lands on the side of criminal justice reform.

She decided to enroll in Chaminade’s Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration program partly because of Chaminade’s well-known and well-respected forensic science department. Ultimately, she’d like to work for the Innocence Project, helping to overturn wrongful convictions, and she believes having an understanding of forensic science plays a vital role in proving innocence.

“A lot of the time forensics is used as this infallible idea and it’s not questioned,” says Boling. “I believe the legal system has flaws and in order to propose effective solutions you need to understand the system to the fullest extent.”

Despite her initial nerves, she’s found a welcoming and friendly environment at Chaminade. She knows her calls for criminal justice reform are not always popular within the field, but that’s why she loves Chaminade’s program so much. The classes are small and intimate, and make for a really transparent environment to have lively and informed discussions.

“People are all very passionate and are willing to have discussions even if you have contradicting beliefs,” says Boling. “So far everyone has been very respectful, even if they have a different opinion.”

She likes the inclusivity that Chaminade promotes, and loves how her professors constantly present ethical dilemmas and questions that force her to reevaluate her position.

“Without a doubt, I would say it’s helping me solidify my beliefs on everything and helping me find my voice,” says Boling. “Every class provides a safe space for voicing your opinions and backing them up.”

Boling thinks it’s the perfect time to be pursuing a Master’s in criminal justice, with so much of the nation’s spotlight on criminal justice reform. And she’s really enjoying that her professors are not shying away from talking about current events.

“Not only is there such an abundance of information that keeps coming out every single day—we’re moving into such a divisive period of American history—but every day illustrates themes that we learn about in the program,” explains Boling. “It’s a way for students to really hone their beliefs and see where they really stand and what they’re for and what they’re against, and find the reasons why they believe what they do.”

This last year in the program has helped Boling solidify her own stance on things and have the substance to back up her own positions. She’s also really enjoyed having friends and classmates that she can text when she sees things in the news, and has enjoyed sharing her passions and interests with them. 

Boling will graduate in March, and then wants to get her Ph.D. in forensic analysis. She’s looking at programs across the mainland for next fall, while keeping a close eye on the COVID-19 situation. 

“Because of where we are right now with the pandemic, I’m a little hesitant to want to move,” admits Boling. Since Hawaii does not currently offer a Ph.D. in forensics, she’s also exploring local internship opportunities in case she chooses to stay local and wait out the pandemic. 

Long term, she would like to become a State Policy Advocate with the Innocence Project and contribute to policy reform in Hawaii. To become eligible and competitive for the position, she needs at least three years of experience working with the legislative system. For now, if a Ph.D. program doesn’t work out for the fall, that’s where she plans to start.