Alumni

Building Blocks

February 1, 2023

Ayko Group owner Chris Lee ’17 hammers home his commitment to Habitat for Humanity

It wasn’t all bad. In fact, some good did emerge from COVID-19. Vaccine production ramped up. Economic stimulus programs helped families weather financial hardships. And businesses—small and large—received Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding to keep their workforce employed during the pandemic. For Chris Lee ’17, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) allowed him to build a relationship with Honolulu Habitat for Humanity.

“During the coronavirus scare, some of our planned/negotiated projects were suspended due to government restrictions,” says Lee, a Chaminade MBA graduate and owner of the construction company, Ayko Group. “Luckily, we received the PPP loans and we were able to keep the employees paid during the shut downs.”

A community-service-oriented business owner, Lee talked to a friend—the president of a local HVAC company—about business slowdowns, and because of this stagnation, he learned his friend’s company started taking on philanthropic endeavors with their employees. This prompted Lee to call Habitat for Humanity Honolulu and Habitat for Humanity West O‘ahu to see if Ayko could lend a hand in their home builds.

“My thought process being we are carpenters, and knowing that we could assist others at the same time as keeping our skills honed, would be a win-win,” Lee notes. “Habitat for Humanity Honolulu replied and was interested in this partnership, and we helped them on a few new builds along with some critical repairs.”

Ayko staff helped build a home for Habitat for Humanity. ©Howard Wolff

In pre-pandemic times, Ayko Group strictly focused on commercial and military projects, given Lee’s background as a former U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps officer, who has worked as a civilian manager for both Navy Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Not keen on pursuing residential builds—because he’s uncomfortable about taking people’s money—his own admission—the 43-year-old entrepreneur decided to make an exception.

“The timing could not have been any better,” says Honolulu Habitat for Humanity CEO TJ Joseph, who is also a beneficiary of a Habitat for Humanity home. “Because of COVID, we had to stop all volunteer efforts, which we largely rely on to start and finish all our projects. So Chris’ call was a true godsend, and if it wasn’t for him coming out, we would not have finished the homes.”

The jobs started small, with some carpentry, drywalling, fire blocks, flooring issues, and leveling and patching a driveway for a new homestead home. Then came the Sniffen home in Waimānalo, which had only reached the demolition stage before the pandemic hit.

“It was just a slab,” Lee says. “So we brought in seven guys to work on-site and we finished the build in probably two, three weeks. I only like to do residential projects with organizations like Habitat.”

Workers framed a home for the Piohia Ohana construction project. ©Howard Wolff

In comparison, Joseph says the timeline for Habitat for Humanity to complete a single project could take months since the workforce consists of volunteers, who may or may not have any construction experience.

“Habitat for Humanity’s business model is based on a community building together,” Joseph explains. “With this old model, we were only able to finish one or two homes a year since we were only building on Saturdays. But now we’re using sub-contractors to lay the foundation, and install the roof, drywall, electric and plumbing.”

The concept that became Habitat for Humanity first grew from the fertile soil of Koinonia Farm, a community farm outside of Americus, Georgia, founded by farmer and biblical scholar Clarence Jordan.

On the farm, Jordan and Habitat’s eventual founders, Millard and Linda Fuller, developed the idea of “partnership housing,” which centered on those in need of adequate shelter working side-by-side with volunteers to build quality, affordable residences. The homes would be built at no profit. New homeowners’ housing payments would be combined with no-interest loans provided by supporters and money earned by fundraising to create “The Fund for Humanity,” which would then be used to build more houses.

Chris and Tara Lee named their company Ayko after their two kids—Ayla and Niko.

Thanks in no small part to the personal involvement of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, and the awareness they have raised, Habitat now works in all 50 states in the U.S. and more than 70 countries. Habitat’s advocacy efforts focus on policy reform to remove systemic barriers preventing low-income and historically underserved families from accessing adequate, affordable shelter.

“Right now, we have 16 families on our waiting list,” Joseph says. “And of the 16, 14 or 15 of them already have funding.”

Lee plans to continue to help Habitat for Humanity, whenever he is able to do so. Quoting former Hogan Entrepreneur Program director, John Webster, Lee says he is abiding his creed: “Doing business things that make social sense and doing social things that make business sense.”

“John always stated that before the Wednesday speaker sessions,” Lee says.

“It has always rang true to me, and when given the opportunity to help, I will, especially during a time like Covid. I’m fulfilling my service mission, which lines up with the values of a Chaminade education, and it also matches what my mom instilled in me when I was a kid.”

Living Legacy

January 26, 2023

A Place Close to the Heart: Honoring an Alumnus’s Final Wishes

Before losing his battle to hypopharyngeal cancer on July 15, 2017 in San Leandro, CA., Thomas “Tom” Siu-Wing Watt ’68 made his spouse of more than 35 years, Carol-Anne Tucker-Watt, grant him two final wishes: One of them was to have Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way” played at his funeral and another was “to fly.”

“He made it clear that he was fine with cremation, but he did not want his ashes buried, stuck in a niche or dumped over the side of a boat,” Tucker-Watt says. “He wished for his mortal remains to be ‘free like the wind.’”

Tom and Carol-Anne Watt were together for more than 35 years.

Indeed, Watt was a free spirit, developing close friends while attending Saint Louis School where he experienced academic success and a penchant for mathematics and sciences. After high school, he aspired to be an engineer—one of three popular professions chosen among Chinese immigrants at the time—and enrolled in the engineering department at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa.

Unfortunately, his first-year experience would mark his last.

“The professors of the introductory engineering classes assumed that the students were already familiar with the fundamentals of mechanical drawing, but Tom was not,” Tucker-Watt recalls. “It did not take long for him to decide that he and UH were not a good fit, and that he would need to pivot.”

Having attended Saint Louis, Watt was familiar with the Chaminade campus, and several of his Saint Louis classmates were already attending what was then Chaminade College. There was one problem: Chaminade did not have an engineering program, so he decided to pass on his engineering books, drafting board and T-square to his younger brother and switched to a business major where he could apply both his math and English skills.

“Chaminade always held a place close to his heart,” Tucker-Watt says. “After retirement from a long and successful career with the Social Security Administration, Tom was able to connect with fellow alumni living in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as students about to start at Chaminade.”

But having scattered Tom’s ashes in mid-air meant that there would be no headstone. “There would be nothing to mark his time on earth,” Tucker-Watt says. “And so it occurred to me that the best way to give him an ongoing legacy was to endow a scholarship at Chaminade.”

The scholarship has a single criterion: Students have to maintain a 3.5 grade point average, something that Tom successfully managed to do while studying at Chaminade.

“He would have been proud, and glad that he could help young Chaminade students,” Tucker-Watt says. “I miss him terribly, but I still feel his guiding hand. He still has my back.”

Data Mining

December 21, 2022

Alumna sifts through databases to produce Hawaii’s Uniform Crime Reporting

For most of us, a dashboard primarily indicates a vehicle’s rate of speed, RPMs, engine temperature, gas gauge, mileage and maybe even a personal playlist. However, for Zoey Kaneakua ’22, an instrument panel means something completely different. A 2022 Chaminade University alumna with a degree in Data Science, Analytics and Visualization (DSAV), the 22-year-old Kauai native implements dashboards to measure crime statistics in Hawaii.

“In my sophomore year, I considered leaving Chaminade because I wasn’t enjoying my choice of major,” recalls Kaneakua, a recipient of the Ho‘oulu Scholarship, which is awarded to Native Hawaiian students pursuing a career in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “Then my mom suggested that I major in data science, which I wasn’t sure about, but I’m glad I listened to her. She was right.”

In middle school, Kaneakua developed an interest in computer coding just so she could personalize her Tumblr profile. Data science, though, was not in her purview nor in her future. But forensics was, or so she thought. Now she’s a self-described “research geek,” who prefers math over the arts, and enjoys designing dashboards with custom colors and functions.

“I really grew an interest in juvenile justice and criminal justice data when I was at Chaminade,” Kaneakua asserts. “I wanted to use data science—using statistics and computer science—to make it more understandable, interactive and accessible to the public.”

Kaneakua was the ideal candidate for the Data Science program, which encourages students to work in grassroots and community organizations, a fundamental principle in the pedagogical approach at Chaminade, which the National Science Foundation (NSF) INCLUDES Alliance selected to lead a groundbreaking $10 million grant project aimed at creating new opportunities in STEM and data science careers for historically underrepresented populations across Hawai‘i and the Pacific Region.

“You can apply data science to every field—education, healthcare and mental health, environmental science and climate change, and criminal justice,” explains Dr. Rylan Chong, director of Chaminade’s Data Science program. “It’s not just about crunching numbers, but ensuring the numbers reflect different viewpoints and getting those numbers into the right hands.”

Sitting in front of two screens at her office in the Department of the Attorney General’s Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division, Kaneakua demonstrates how she monitors and reports crime statistics in Hawaii and then uploads the data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), an incident-based reporting system in which law enforcement collects data on each crime occurrence.

“When I was in school, all my research was in criminal justice,” Kaneakua says. “And I was especially interested in looking at juvenile justice.”

Ironically, the crime reports that Kaneakua once poured over are now her kuleana (responsibility). She also now understands how there could be discrepancies in the numbers. Hired in September as a data analyst with the Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division, the former Silversword is now the point person, to whom police departments on Oahu, Maui, Hawaii Island and Kauai submit their monthly crime reports. Citing her education at Chaminade—and specifically her mentor Dr. Chong—as reasons for being in her current position, Kaneakua points out that she wasn’t even aware that this position was open.

“This was one of the hardest jobs to pursue because the state requires any new hires to have at least one-year experience,” Chong says. “In Zoey’s case, she needed at least one year of experience in both data science and criminal justice since she was filling the role of a database specialist and a data analyst.”

In her junior year, Kaneakua joined aspiring data scientists from across Hawaii and the mainland to participate in Chaminade’s monthlong Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence (SPICE) Data Science Summer Institute.

“That was my first independent research involving juvenile justice,” Kaneakua says. “And I think I built my first dashboard in three days using Python (a high-level, general-purpose programming language).”

For her next project, Kaneakua participated in C4C (Computing for Change), looking at domestic violence across the U.S., and trying to make sense of the data and its limitations. Today, she works on real-time projects, which allow her to use all the skills and knowledge that she learned and honed while attending Chaminade.

“None of this would have been possible without Rylan,” says Kaneakua in praise of Chong. “He believed in me and helped me navigate and find my niche. I am eternally grateful for this opportunity and I am proud to represent Chaminade’s DSAV program as I continue to conduct criminal justice research in Hawaii.”

Man on a Mission

December 16, 2022

Alumnus Continues to Pursue Social Justice Passion

When Antonio Bonnetty ’19 started at Chaminade University, he wasn’t even sure if college was for him.

By the time he graduated, he was inspired to head to law school.

And in Spring 2022, the new dad—married to fellow Silversword Maria Weisser ’19—graduated from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law at Duquesne University. In short order, he passed the Pennsylvania bar and was accepted into the prestigious U.S. Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.

It’s an impressive trajectory—that he never would have imagined for himself before starting at Chaminade. “When I was graduating from high school, I didn’t have all my ducks in a row,” he said. “But Chaminade prepared me for adjustments later in life. It took me a little bit to get there, but I did.”

Growing up, Bonnetty moved around a lot as a “military brat,” and graduated from Moanalua High.

He decided to apply to Chaminade after a friend told him about the university. Bonnetty says he was intrigued by the idea of smaller class sizes and strong relationships with mentors. And it didn’t take long for him to realize he’d made the right decision: he joined the cross country team and student government, eventually becoming president, and was also active in campus ministry.

What he appreciated most about Chaminade, he said, was the strong connections to the community.

He said that he’s still moved when he thinks about a service learning project he participated in as a freshman in which he joined with other students to provide meals at homeless shelters. “When you’re homeless, there’s such a stigma. But for the overwhelming majority, it’s just bad luck and cards,” Bonnetty said, adding that message resonates with him as he begins his law career.

“The government as it stands can do a lot better to support people like that,” he said.

Bonnetty said he also grew his confidence at Chaminade—as he took on new challenges with the support of his professors. His interest in the justice system drove him to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice degree. He also double majored in Environmental Studies because of a personal passion for gardening and the outdoors. It was a perfect combination, he said.

“It was a culmination of different things in my life,” he said.

And it led him to his future career: law. At Chaminade, he said, several professors encouraged him to consider law school and underscored its value to projects of social justice. “I see such great opportunities in law to change policies and help improve people’s lives,” he said.

Also at Chaminade, he met his future wife—on day one of a student retreat for freshmen.

They started dating as sophomores, married after graduation and soon, they’re hoping their story together will come full circle: by baptizing their first baby at Chaminade. “For both of us, Chaminade was just a big part of our lives and our lives together,” Bonnetty said. “There are so many good memories.”

Bonnetty said he also decided to attend Duquesne University, rather than the University of Pennsylvania, because of his experience at Chaminade. “It just seemed similar to Chaminade; the people were so nice and the vibe was perfect,” he said. “It immediately felt like home.”

Looking to the future, Bonnetty said he’s honored to serve with JAG.

Before graduating from high school, Bonnetty said he had actually applied to every branch of the military but was denied for all of them because of a medical condition. “At the time, I was discouraged. But it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. I got into Chaminade and got a chance to really thrive,” he said, adding he is looking forward to serving his country in a different capacity.

“After learning I might be considered for JAG, I applied and got in,” he said.

Now he’s gearing up for what’s next—at work and at home.

He recently took to Facebook to announce he’d gotten a letter in the mail officially confirming his admission to the Pennsylvania bar. The notification, he said, “cemented trust in myself” and had him giving thanks to the people who have supported him through good days and tough ones. He expressed gratitude to his wife and extended family, to his newborn baby “for being my purpose,” and to his professors. “I am so thankful,” he wrote, “for all the help I had along this journey.”

Chaminade Graduate Wins NIH Director’s Award

November 28, 2022

Since entering the National Institutes of Health (NIH) post-baccalaureate program in 2020, Chloe Talana has confirmed her passion for biomedical research. The Chaminade alumna has always been ambitious and determined, aspiring to earn medical and doctoral degrees, concurrently. A scientist at heart ever since she attended Farrington High School’s Health Academy, Talana’s interest in science and therapeutics stem from her passion for medicine.

But her career aspirations have changed. Now she’s committed to solely pursuing her doctoral degree.

“When I started my undergraduate at Chaminade, I wanted to be a physician,” Talana admits. “But my experience at NIH has confirmed that I firmly want to be a biomedical researcher.”

During her undergraduate studies at Chaminade, Talana gained the full confidence of faculty members, especially Dr. Michael Weichhaus, who strongly encouraged her to seek research opportunities beyond his lab. Talana’s first research opportunity involved a summer program at Johns Hopkins University, where she studied blood samples from HIV infected individuals to document how their immune cells function. After her project, she was only one of eight students selected out of a cohort of 103 to be named best poster presentation at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. She also received the President Sue Wesselkamper Prize for being an outstanding student at Na Liko Na’auao, Chaminade’s annual undergraduate research conference.

“Professor Weichhaus helped me navigate the entire process and prepared me for what to expect,” Talana says. “In fact, the entire Chaminade community has significantly supported me in many ways, and provided me with amazing resources, without which I would never have been able to experience some of the incredible things that I was able to do.”

In the summer of 2019, Talana returned to the mainland. This time, she secured a spot with a research team studying Hepatitis C in a lab at New York University’s School of Medicine. She was fortunate enough to present her findings during a national conference alongside other undergraduates selected for the prestigious Leadership Alliance program. The Leadership Alliance comprises 35 institutions, including such universities as Chaminade, Harvard, Yale and Stanford. The Alliance allows students to gain access to valuable research, mentoring and career development opportunities.

“It was both an honor and an invaluable experience to share my data with peers,” Talana says. “The occasion affirmed that I was on the right path and helped boost my confidence.”

Talana has come a long way.

A 2021 NIH Director’s Award winner, she was recognized for her outstanding efforts in the pursuit of efficacious vaccines to prevent COVID-19. And while the rest of the globe took a pause during the pandemic, Talana and her fellow researchers never stopped, knowing the severity of COVID and its lethal spread around the world.

“It’s important that ongoing data is produced,” Talana asserts. “We know that viruses evolve and COVID is no different.”

In a virtual NIH Directors Award Ceremony, then-director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., addressed the 3,263 awardees, congratulating them for their achievements and their outstanding commitment to excellence, public health and the NIH mission.

“Moving forward, amazing progress has been made in vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics,” said Collins in his video message. “The public health emergency we face today has brought unprecedented challenges. Still, we know that our staff is the best equipped in the world to find innovative solutions to save countless lives.”

Talana takes pride in knowing that the cutting-edge biomedical research performed at the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) serves the American people, as well as communities and individuals around the globe. Her endeavors—then and today—have reinforced the idea that the role of a biomedical researcher is just as vital as that of a physician.

“Physicians prescribe medicine,” Talana says. “But biomedical researchers have front-row seats to diseases. So the research we do and the data we collect also saves lives.”

The NIH post-baccalaureate program has exposed Talana to a rich biomedical research experience. It has also left her with a deep understanding of how scientific investigation works and what it entails.

“The NIH has definitely helped a lot in my decision process,” says the ambitious 25-year-old researcher. “I now know that I want to pursue my Ph.D. in biomedical research.”

Talana is currently applying to some of the nation’s most competitive biomedical research programs, hoping to land a spot that will further allow her to continue her research interests.

“My parents instilled in me an unwavering curiosity,” Talana asserts. “They’ve been encouraging and supportive of all my decisions. And they’ve always told me to do what makes me happy.”

It’s the pursuit of a Ph.D. that makes Talana the happiest.

From Trauma to Transformation and Beyond

October 20, 2022

The road Kimmy Takata ’22 took to college wasn’t traditional—or easy.

But while she says much of her life has been defined by struggle, Takata is choosing to focus on everything she’s accomplished and all the people who have helped her along the way. “My journey has been one from trauma to transformation,” she said, on a recent afternoon. “It takes a village to save somebody and it took 10 villages to save me, including the village I found at Chaminade.”

Now the 53-year-old is setting her sights on new goals—from serving as a mentor to other women exiting prison to even going back to school to pursue a graduate degree. She said her story is an example of what’s possible when you work hard, dream big and get plenty of help along the way.

“People believed in me. That’s the key,” she said.

Takata wasn’t always confident in herself.

As a child growing up in an abusive household, she struggled with low self-esteem. She said she was constantly being called “dumb” and “stupid”—and often heard those words in her head when she was at school. Throughout her teens, Takata was in and out of youth lockup and struggled with drugs.

Eventually, she dropped out of school.

“I never even thought of myself going to college,” she said. “College wasn’t even in my vocabulary.”

In the years that followed, things got worse for Takata. And then, she hit rock bottom.

She was arrested and charged with 16 counts and sentenced to 40 years behind bars. Then in 2003, Takata escaped from Oahu Community Correctional Center and was gone for four days. When she was arrested again, she was transferred to a women’s prison and placed in lockdown “for a very long time.”

She thought that all was lost. But it was at that moment things started to turn around.

Takata was given the chance to enroll in classes and earned got her GED. She also participated in a program that allowed her to share her story through poems—pieces that she eventually shared with her children to help them understand her grief about how much of their lives she’d missed. And she was placed in a substance abuse program, where she was encouraged to continue her journey of self-reflection. “I really had to take a look at the damage I’d done to everyone,” she said.

After getting out of prison on parole, Takata knew she had to make the most of out of her new perspective. She got a job and paired up with the Pu’a Foundation, which helps incarcerated women transitioning back into the community. “I was locked up for 15 years. The transition wasn’t easy,” Takata said. But she eventually got her sea legs. And then, she started looking for opportunities.

Friends encouraged her to go back to school. And at first, she didn’t even entertain the idea. It was too far-fetched. “I’m not good enough for college,” she remembers thinking. “I’m not smart enough and I’m scared.” But her friends and mentors didn’t give up. And before long, she found herself enrolling.

With the help of the Pu’a Foundation, she first enrolled at Kapiolani Community College.

From there, she found her way to Chaminade University. Bro. Dennis Schmitz, of the Marianist Center of Hawaii, happened to work with the Pu’a Foundation and encouraged her to apply. Takata also clinched a Hooulu Scholarship, which covered her tuition and included robust career development and advising resources.

On her first day of classes at Chaminade, Takata couldn’t believe how far she’d come.

“It was like Disneyland to me,” she quipped. “I found myself smiling all day long.”

And while she had plenty of jitters about going back to class, she found no shortage of professors, counselors and peers ready to cheer her on—and give her the help she needed. As an Environmental Studies major, Takata formed a particularly strong bond with Dr. Gail Grabowsky, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and director of the CIFAL Honolulu Center at Chaminade.

In fact, she still keeps in touch with Grabowsky.

“She is absolutely the best professor in the world,” Takata said. “Her classes were hard, but she’s understanding. She helped me realize going back to school was the best thing I ever could have done.”

After a lot of hard work, Takata made it to graduation day—and invited friends to cheer her on.

Now she’s working with women as they leave prison, using her own life as a case study of what’s possible. She’s also ready to jump into the next big challenge. She’s seriously considering the master’s program in Criminal Justice Studies at Chaminade and is also busy growing a cleaning business on the side.

“There’s just so many things I want to do,” she said. “And I’m ready for anything.”