Chaminade University of Honolulu

University Communications & Marketing

Smothered in Lei at the 2016 Fall Commencement

The Chaminade ‘ohana attending the 2016 Fall Commencement applauded loudly as the students, robed in graduation garb, processed into Neal Blaisdell Arena. Approximately 260 students achieved their degrees this semester.  The commencement ceremony was the culmination of hard work and a chance to publically celebrate their achievements.

Sharmaine Borja Doles (undergraduate representative) receiving her bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice and Derek Kiyoji Santos (postgraduate representative) receiving his Master of Education in Educational Leadership were the selected commencement salutatorian speakers. Though in different decades, Doles and Santos coincidentally both graduated from Farrington High School on the island of Oahu.

Born in a small province in the Philippines, Doles migrated with her family to Hawaii 15 years ago. Her passion to help and defend people faced with injustice had pushed her to major in Criminology and Criminal Justice. She received the Alakai Mentor Award in 2015. She spoke about the challenges of college life, the importance of choices, and the value of the “hill” in building determination to accomplishing the hard stuff.

Santos spoke about the two meanings of “blessed.” He spoke about being blessed and the blessings needed and received which help keep students afloat. Education was a calling for Santos. He had been a kindergarten and first-grade teacher and had also worked in special education. Three and a half years ago he took a leap of faith when his principal asked him to step into the role of vice-principal. After a year as a vice principal, Derek was hooked and continued on with his educational journey at Chaminade.

Chaminade alumni and chief executive officer of Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children, Martha B. Smith ’91 was the keynote speaker.  She inspired the audience as she spoke about her journey and the challenges along the way. The students identified with her, for like them, she was a proud graduate of Chaminade University. During her career, she has accomplished much. Her leadership role in healthcare and community service was extensive. Prior to joining Hawai‘i Pacific Health in 2004, Smith had worked in hospital operations and health care in Hawaii and Florida for 24 years. She held a Bachelor of Science degree in Respiratory Therapy from the University of Central Florida, a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and a Master of Business Administration from Chaminade University.  Smith also serves as a member of Chaminade’s Board of Regents.

As the speeches wrapped up, the graduating students readied themselves for their walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Names were read, degrees were conferred, and the post-graduate students received their hoods. Each of them had their own personal stories, their own challenges on the road to this achievement.   The excitement rumbled as wild cheers roared through the seating. Once the tassels were moved, relief mixed with jubilation as the new alumni were applauded as the class of 2016.

The new alumni marched out of the arena into the exhibition hall and were welcomed by faculty members as colleagues.  The doors finally opened to the general public, allowing families and friends to swarm in with lei, bouquets of flowers and signs. This was the moment that not only the graduates had worked towards, but it was also the moment that the whole university community had sought for each student as well. Everyone shared in the jubilation.

The hard work paid off for about 260 new graduates.
The night was filled with the pride of accomplishments,
tears of happiness and big smiles for the bright futures yet to come

Portfolio Exhibit Celebrated as a Milestone for Environmental + Interior Design Seniors

The Environmental + Interior Design (E+ID) program held its Fall 2016 E+ID Senior Portfolio Exhibit on December 9, at Aloha Tower Marketplace.  The exhibit was an opportunity for the E+ID seniors to shine, to show their appreciation to their spouses, families, and friends, and to connect with colleagues.  Attended by about 120 people of which nearly two-thirds were design professionals and allied industry professionals, the event showcased the quality of graduates produced by the E+ID program.

Graduating E+ID seniors, Rosalina Ashe, Kelsey Jones, Derek Tamashiro and Kelsey Williamson, had on display a variety of their physical artifacts, representing the accumulation of their work over the course of four years. The displays demonstrated their work in studio classes and with design projects and included presentation boards, material boards, models, sculptures, 3D renderings and construction documentation. Many of the projects were from service-learning projects dealing with actual clients and providing solutions to real design problems and challenges. In many cases, the work provided design concepts that clients could use to raise awareness and financing, as well as garner community recognition of the E+ID program.

In addition, each student prepared for viewing a senior portfolio book.  The student’s individual portfolio book represented the student’s design thinking and application, his or her best work and evidence of what the student could offer potential employers. The book would make an excellent tool in interviews for graduates seeking professional positions.

“The portfolio exhibit is a recognition and celebration of students achieving their BFA in Environmental + Interior Design. It is a milestone event in our curriculum, ” wrote Joan Riggs, E+ID program director. “It is a thank you to the design community for their support and collaboration, and it is a networking social event for the Chaminade ohana, friends, and family, the design community and the general public.”

Chaminade University’s senior portfolio exhibit has been a tradition with the E+ID program for more than 15 years and is held in the semesters when there are students graduating from the program with their Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees.

Chaminade University offers the only accredited, degree-granting Environmental + Interior Design program in Hawaii. Since its accreditation in 2013, the employment rate for graduates seeking a full-time, entry-level position in an interior design or architectural firm is more than 80 percent and has been increasing every year. Students in the program can be assured that they are getting a high-quality education that prepares them for a successful professional career. Chaminade’s  E+ID program is unique from other academic programs, in that it extends beyond the traditional scope of interior design to encompass the broader aspects of the environment into the design process. This broader environmental perspective helps us to understand our connection not just to the building itself, but also to the land, to the community, and to the planet.

Hogan Entrepreneurs Discover Asian Business Sense

Adventures in China and India

Students in the Hogan Entrepreneurs program have been trekking off on business and cultural study missions to China since 2005 and to India since 2010. Their experiences are often life-changing. In 2016, the Hogan program did it again. Nearly a dozen Hogan students took the opportunity this past summer to learn more about the cultural and entrepreneurial aspects of these two emerging global giants.

China

Business professor, Caryn Callahan Ph.D., and eight students from the Hogan Entrepreneurs programs traveled through China from June 10-July 6 staying in Beijing for one week, in Shanghai for two weeks, and in Hong Kong for four days. They also took a day tour to Macau.

Beginning in Beijing, the group made several company visits and listened to presentations.  They visited the upscale wine company, Dragon Seal Winery, and learned about the booming Chinese wine industry.  They visited the Munich Reinsurance Company and learned about the challenges that a foreign-capitalized firm encounters when attempting to penetrate the Chinese financial service industry.

While still in Beijing, they visited important historical and cultural sites such as the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The students toured a hutong (traditional neighborhood), visited a home and shared a meal at the kitchen table with the local family living there.

“It was awesome to sit in the family’s kitchen and to eat their traditional Chinese food,” wrote Alexa Shah, Chaminade senior and business major. “I really enjoyed this dinner because I got to see how an average family lives.  Their lives were so simple, but they seemed so happy.”

Students also visited Shanghai, as well as made weekend day trips to Wuzhen water town and the city of Hangzhou.

For Hogan students, Ana Acuna, Chantelle Aguilar, Ave Galeai, Brianna Georgia, Carlos Gutierrez, Judy Ng, Alexa Shah and Haelee Tallett, the business highlight of their China trip was participating in two-week internships with major entrepreneurial companies. The Hogan program had found these Beijing and Shanghai internships through its network of supporters in China and in Hawaii.

“The companies hosted the interns as an exercise in international goodwill, hoping to also expose their own employees to a more global environment by having the interns present for two weeks,” wrote Callahan.

India

After the China experience, students Acuna, Gutierrez, Ng and Tallet joined student Alilia Fataua in India.  The five students accompanied by and Ginger Miller, assistant to the Hogan director, traveled through India from July 6-22, visiting Bangalore, Mysore, New Delhi and Agra. They toured cultural sites and learned about India’s history and traditions. They visited business companies in each location as well.

The group received special presentations and tours from major corporations, traditional industrial businesses, silk fabric producers, a hotel and restaurant conglomerate, and small businesses.

“One lesson that I learned was that in India, anything can be a business,” wrote Judy Ng, a senior accounting major. “Wherever there is a problem or need, a business can be made to solve it.  Entrepreneurship is alive and well in India.”

The students visited nonprofit organizations as well as Karnataka Forensic Science Laboratories and the Bangalore Police Department. Gutierrez, a Hogan student who is also in Chaminade’s Forensic Sciences graduate program, was impressed by the educational level of their scientists but realized that they needed updated equipment.  “I was able to teach some of the new techniques and ideas to improve their lab procedures,” Gutierrez remarked. “My final words are for the Hogan Program. Thanks for this incredible opportunity.  I made new contacts and potentially new customers for my up and coming business.  I also learned how to help the nonprofit organizations that we visited.”

Miller considered the trip to be a successful learning experience for the students and herself. During their trip, they met with CEOs and managers from more than 13 Indian companies, as well as visited the various cultural sites of four major cities.  The India trip broadened the students’ views on entrepreneurial and business skills and stretched them beyond their comfort zones.

Chaminade’s Caring Crocheters Serve Military Families with Hanks, Skeins and Balls of Yarn

Associate professor of Religious Studies, Regina Pfeiffer, DMin, looked over her supply of yarns and crochet needles.  Students participating in the Caring Crocheters service-learning project sorted through the material provided. Many had already wound unending threads into balls from skeins and hanks of yarn.

Students crocheting

Throughout the semester, Pfeiffer taught her students the basics of crocheting and offered continued guidance as they advanced through their projects. It usually took only three to four sessions to master the skill. Once mastered, students were welcome to work independently.

By the end of the fall semester, participants had each completed a baby blanket.  Some students also crocheted booties, scarves and hats. The finished crocheted pieces went to the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii New Parent Support Program, which assists military families who are expecting a child or have at least one child age zero to three.

Feedback from the agency and the military families that it serves have been quite positive. “Often, enlisted troops are separated from their families. Spouses with new babies may be living alone in a new area, without family or friends for support. We crochet baby blankets, washcloths, hats, scarves, and other items. These become personal, hand-made gifts for new families of enlisted troops,” Pfeiffer explained. “The military families also benefit because they realize that someone they don’t even know cares about the sacrifices they give to our nation.”

Student crocheting

Pfeiffer started the Caring Crocheters service-learning project in fall 2014 and has just finished her fifth semester with the project. She is pleased with how popular it continues to be. Students have reflected on how much they have enjoyed the project and how it has helped them relieve stress. Crocheting provided students with the means to cope with hectic lives, be creative and take risks by trying something that they may never have considered. When students create fabric by interlocking loops of yarn using a simple hook needle, they invest themselves into the pieces that they are creating.

“Our society sustains itself on bought items rather than on creative activities from which they give a part of themselves in terms of time and talent,” Pfeifer commented.

Pfeiffer shared another big takeaway from this service-learning experience. The students are asked to give away their piece anonymously. That piece represents a piece of themselves, and so they experience doing something good and giving themselves without any expectation in return.

Alumnus Announces $10 K Gift during His Recent Campus Visit

Grelyn Rosario BA'94, MBA '98

Franchise owner/operator of six McDonald’s on the island of Maui, Grelyn Rosario, brought holiday cheer in the form of a $10,000 multi-year gift to Chaminade’s campus recently, stating that he was pleased to re-engage with the university and hoped to inspire future entrepreneurs and students through his example of giving back.

Last year, Rosario participated in the alumni reunion’s “50-Minute University” with an informative session during which he shared his path to owning and operating McDonald’s restaurants. Having gotten an early start at McDonald’s himself as a second-generation franchisee, Rosario found the time and discipline to attended Chaminade University, earning a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in history in 1994 and an MBA in 1998. While on campus, he reminisced fondly about his time as a student, noting that the campus has become much more beautiful during the years since his graduation

With a strong belief in giving back to the community, Rosario serves on numerous boards including Maui United Way and previously Maryknoll’s board. He created a fund in the Philippines to support educational projects, feed needy children and provides the necessary materials to upkeep churches in Magsingal Ilocos Sur, the area where his mom grew up. The Philippines Consulate General and the City Council of Valenzuela have also recognized Rosario for his contributions to the Filipino community.

Chaminade’s Student Nurses Association Served More than a Side Dish at Thanksgiving

It was the annual Salvation Army Thanksgiving Lunch at Neal Blaisdell Arena on November 24, with 800 volunteers serving 2000 people in need.  Most of the volunteers served the holiday guests a traditional Thanksgiving meal — mashed potatoes, roasted turkey, cranberries, stuffing, rolls, cooked vegetables, salad and, of course, pumpkin pie.

However, 30 of those volunteers, all members of Chaminade’s Student Nurses Association (SNA), were on a different mission. The student volunteers offered blood pressure screenings, serving more than 150 people before the door to the dining area even opened. Dressed in their Chaminade logo shirts, they shared on healthy lifestyle habits and assisted at the first aid station. Several senior citizens who had high blood pressure were directed to see their primary care physician as soon as possible by the nursing faculty. “I was surprised that many elders were not aware of how to care for their blood pressure,” said Lena Souza, SNA senior student member.

This was the School of Nursing’s second year at this event. Chaminade SNA advisor and assistant professor, Eurina Yujin-Cha Kee, Ph.D, RN, MSN, CRRN organized the service project. Last year, the volunteer group was limited to nursing students in Kee’s public health nursing section. Opening the opportunity up to include SNA members allowed for more participation.

Kee and her students have found this community service to be meaningful. “Serving people in the community is our Chaminade mission and the School of Nursing’s mission,” Kee remarked. “And sharing our love and ‘ohana with people in need is SBA’s community service goal as well.”

Kee added, “I will support this event every year.”

Her students and the guests at next year’s Salvation Army Thanksgiving Lunch will be glad to hear that.