Alumni

Man on a Mission

December 16, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

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 by University Communications & Marketing

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 by University Communications & Marketing

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.”

Alumna’s Endowed Scholarship Creates Opportunities and a Better Future for Chaminade Students

October 6, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Jan Seymour ‘76 is proud of the endowed scholarship she helped establish at Chaminade University.

Yet she is quick to deflect any suggestion that she is worthy of praise or high esteem.

“I’m not noble,” Seymour said, while chatting with Chaminade Magazine. “Don’t make me sound like a saint.” The scholarship, she said, is about putting her dollars to work for a better future—and that’s in everyone’s interest. “I wanted my money to go to something that was beneficial,” Seymour said.

“I want my money to create the greatest impact.”

She also wanted to help students who don’t always qualify for aid.

That’s why the Fumiko Kanazawa Endowed Scholarship, named after Seymour’s aunt, is open to students with a grade-point-average of 2.5 and above. “It’s for the B- or C-average students who probably need a little more help,” she said, adding that’s the category she fell into as an undergraduate.

Preference for the scholarship is also given to those who are of mixed Japanese descent.

“That’s because of me, too. I’m hapa,” she said.

Several of Seymour’s relatives have also contributed to the endowment fund. In addition to the scholarship, which was established in 2011, both Seymour and her mother have made estate planned giving pledges to Chaminade. For Seymour, it was an easy decision to make.

“The scholarship is essentially me. It’s about establishing an identity of oneself,” she said.

Seymour grew up in Southern California, and said she always wanted to come to the islands. She remembers pestering her mother relentlessly about it. And so after Seymour finished two years at a small Catholic university in Los Angeles, her mother suggested she go to Hawaii to attend Chaminade University.

“She said go to Hawaii and get it out of your system,” Seymour said.

She did but Hawaii always remains in her heart.

One of the first things Seymour noticed in Hawaii was the diversity. “Being in Hawaii and being at Chaminade, that was the first time it felt like I was really home,” she said. “Being half-Japanese, even in California, I still dealt with prejudice. But in Hawaii, I didn’t see that.

Nobody gave you a second look.”

She added, “It was nothing but people who looked like me.”

That’s another reason the scholarship gives preference to those of mixed Japanese descent. Seymour said she wanted to celebrate what she saw in Hawaii—a melting pot of people, from different ethnicities, cultures and backgrounds, who collectively embrace inclusivity and acceptance.

At Chaminade, Seymour lived in the residence halls and majored in International Studies.

Almost immediately, she struck up lasting friendships.

“There was a group of four of us. We were all the same age, but because of our different paths, we were all in different years. I still have precious memories of our time together,” she said, adding that one member of the group sadly passed away in the 1990s. “These were lifelong friendships.”

After graduating from Chaminade, Seymour went to graduate school in Arizona and pursued a successful career in banking. Eventually, her work included installing operating systems at credit unions around the country. Seymour said that she established the endowed scholarship at a time when she was incredibly busy with her career. “I was traveling so much I was visiting my house,” she quipped.

While now retired, Seymour said her calendar is still very full.

She makes time to visit Chaminade regularly to support the mission—and meet some of the students her family’s endowed scholarship has helped. Because of the pandemic, she hasn’t been able to make it to campus since 2019, but she’s looking forward to returning soon.

“I know this scholarship helps, especially those students who may not get help from elsewhere,” Seymour said. The minimum GPA requirement, she added, acknowledges that some students are juggling multiple obligations. “Holding down two jobs and trying to study, tell me when you’re going to have time to be an A-student,” she said. “This is about supporting education and opportunities.”

That is something Seymour thinks her aunt Fumiko Kanazawa, the scholarship’s namesake, would appreciate. Kanazawa was a high school history teacher in Los Angeles for many years. “This scholarship is just me. Not selfless, but just me,” she said. “It’s a commitment to help the future. That’s all.”

Alumna Continues Her Dream to Medical School Through Articulation Agreement

September 23, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Growing up in Waianae, Donna Cottrell ‘22 says she felt the sting of healthcare inequality firsthand.

It wasn’t just that care was difficult to access.

“It was that a lot of times, our voices weren’t heard,” she said.

The experience (and her drive to change it) is what drew her to the field of osteopathic medicine and a career where she could consider the whole patient—mind, body, and spirit. And this summer, she moved to Arizona to pursue her dream at A.T. Still University’s Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine.

The Biology major said she took advantage of Chaminade’s articula t ion agreement with A.T. Still University to secure early admission to the prestigious program. She was also awarded a merit-based Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship for her studies, which will cover all four years of her medicine program’s tuition.

Needless to say, she’s a little excited.

“The day they called me to say I’d gotten in, I was over the moon,” Cottrell said. “I just ran to my grandma’s room and was just screaming, ‘I got in! I got in!’ This was my biggest dream and I got it.”

Finding community

Cottrell and her siblings were raised by their father, a fish diver.

“He didn’t graduate from high school,” said Cottrell, but instilled a strong love for education in his children. Cottrell said she felt inspired to succeed so she could strike out on her own and attend college.

She also knew what she wanted in a university: small class sizes, a strong sense of community, and opportunities to connect with professors and mentors. She found all that at Chaminade, she said, and enrolled after graduating from Wai ‘anae High School. After a search of Chaminade’s website, she also applied for—and received—the Ho’oulu STEM Scholarship to cover four years of tuition and other costs.

“It’s not just a scholarship, it’s a community,” said Cottrell, of the Ho’oulu program, which offers participants career development, paid internships and culturally informed service-learning projects.

“The Hooulu program has been a huge help.”

Donna Cottrell '22 at UCLA — *^{Donna Cottrell ’22 at UCLA summer health professions program}*

As she participated in Ho’oulu offerings, Cottrell also made progress on her academic goals and embraced her newfound independence. She moved into the dorms. She started making friends. And she juggled a busy schedule. “It made me stand on my own two feet,” she said.

And after wrapping up her freshman year, she got a summer experience that would solidify her dream of going into healthcare. Through Chaminade, she applied for and got a spot in a summer health professions program at UCLA for students from underrepresented communities.

During the program, she shadowed doctors and learned from her peers.

She also gained something else: Confidence.

‘I want to be able to help’

Cottrell realized she really did have an opportunity to make a difference—and to help her own community and places like it. She was also inspired by a more personal experience: her younger brother was born with a serious heart condition and required treatment on the mainland. She remembers watching the doctors and nurses and arriving at this thought: “They could do something.”

“That kind of drew me in. I want to be able to help,” she said, adding her brother is now doing great.

In her sophomore and junior years, Cottrell started working with her advisors and mentors at Chaminade. She said the university’s articulation agreement was a perfect way to prepare for a big challenge—and a big opportunity. It meant a guaranteed interview with the graduate program of her dreams. “It took the stress off so I was able to focus on my grades and on succeeding,” she said.

Cottrell said one of the reasons she chose A.T. Still University’s School of Osteopathic Medicine is because the program puts a special emphasis on health disparities. During her junior year, she was also given the chance to shadow a pediatrician for six months at Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center to get a taste for what it’s actually like to serve the community where she grew up.

It got her excited about the future. But right now, she’s a little more focused on the present—and thriving in medical school. In May, after receiving her Chaminade diploma, she became a first generation college graduate. The next box she’s going to tick in life: “I’m going to be the first doctor in my family.”

Alumna’s Forensic Science Passion Takes Her to NCIS

July 13, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

When Kay Een ’02 was a kid, she called many places home.

Her dad was in the military and stationed around the world, from Okinawa to Greece to Hawaii.

And with each assignment, the family would pack up, pick up and move someplace new. Een got accustomed to change, but she also found something that always stayed the same: her love of Patricia Cornwell novels. The crime author’s delicious tales of murder and mystery fascinated her.

And eventually, they would help drive her to a successful career in forensic sciences.

But first, Een said, she had some “growing up to do.”

Finding Her Passion

After graduating from high school, Een wasn’t quite ready to jump into college so she decided to follow in her father’s footsteps and join the military. She chose the Navy and was trained as an air traffic controller. It was fulfilling, fast-paced work, but Een was looking for new ways to grow.

So when she was stationed in Hawaii, she decided to enroll at Chaminade University.

She initially got her associate’s degree. And then after leaving active service, she returned to Chaminade to continue her education and complete her bachelor’s degree. She majored in Forensic Sciences, rekindling her desire to immerse herself in crime scene investigation and evidence analysis.

At Chaminade, she also found a place where she could thrive as a nontraditional student.

“I loved the connections I made with professors. There was a camaraderie I was able to develop with them,” she said. “I also really enjoyed the fact that a lot of the younger students really looked up to us older students from a life experience perspective. We could offer our shared experiences.”

But what really set Chaminade apart, Een said, was its focus on hands-on learning.

She loved every minute of mock crime scene investigations and staged witness interviews, and couldn’t get enough of the time she spent in forensic sciences labs, either. “You really got to see the work through the eyes of police officers,” she said. “It was really fascinating—and I was hooked.”

That experiential learning continued with an internship that had Een over the moon.

A Career at NCIS

She got the chance to work with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) for two semesters, and suddenly found her dream job. “They had me doing real work. We were going to crime scenes, collecting evidence, I went to autopsies,” Een said. “I got to know that this was really for me.”

Een loved the work so much that she applied to NCIS after graduation in 2002. But about that same time, as the U.S. bolstered military actions in the Middle East, Een was activated from the Navy Reserves and deployed to Qatar. She was there for about six months as a Navy air crew member.

After she returned to Hawaii, she got the call she had been waiting for: NCIS wanted to interview her.

She was hired in short order for the agency, and before she had little more than a moment to take a breath, she was assigned to general crimes and conducting investigations. “It was a great first tour,” she said. “I really got to sink my teeth into understanding what the agency and my role was all about.”

Een’s next assignment with NCIS was in Okinawa, a place where she’d lived as a kid.

She is also half-Japanese, and has family on her mother’s side in mainland Japan.

Een was assigned to the family and sexual violence unit and spent three years in Okinawa.

While there, she met her future husband, a Marine. They now have two children together—10-year-old Kenji and 7-year-old Cora. And from Okinawa, the couple was able to co-locate their careers to new locales. They’ve moved five times so far, including to Washington, D.C. and back to Okinawa.

Along the way, Een also received several promotions.

Inclusion and Diversity in NCIS

“That was the most amazing thing about NCIS. I didn’t have to choose between being a mom and promoting or progressing in the agency. At the end of the day, I was presented with the right opportunities and was able to progress my military career. That’s so important,” she said.

Een now serves as the chief diversity and inclusion officer for NCIS, a role that’s kept her passionate about her career and agency. She said her focus is on making NCIS the strongest it can be and attracting and retaining the best talent. “If you don’t have equity and you don’t have inclusion, you don’t have diversity,” she said. “We need to use this canvas of people we have to the best of their abilities.”

As she marks 18 years with NCIS, Een says it hasn’t all been roses.

About 10 years into her career with the agency, with her husband deployed, Een said she almost left when she felt as if she was being asked to choose between being a mom and being an agent. But a candid conversation with her superiors allowed her to stick with it—and she’s grateful she did.

Een added she doesn’t want that experience to happen to others.

“I was fortunate that the agency picked me up and changed my trajectory,” she said. “But I really think that shouldn’t happen to anybody else. It shouldn’t be luck or chance to determine whether or not I stayed with this agency. What if I hadn’t had that conversation? Where would I be today?”

And it’s that experience that got her interested in equity in the first place.

Een started serving as a member of the NCIS director’s Committee for Diversity and Inclusion in 2014. And when her current role opened up, she immediately put her name in the hat. “This is what I want to do because I genuinely believe that our organization is wonderful and we do really good things,” she said. “Our director believes in cultural diversity and he believes in people. I want to support that.”

And if you’re wondering if Een is a fan of the “NCIS” TV series, too, the answer is yes.

The last time she was in the islands, she got to visit the “NCIS: Hawaii” set and “totally fangirled.”

She’s also excited she might have more opportunities to swing by. Sixteen years after leaving, Een will be moving back to Hawaii with her family and continuing in her current role with NCIS remotely. “It’s something that we’ve always said, that Hawaii was where we’d like to go some day,” Een said. “It’s always been a touchtone and now it’s happening. We’re thrilled.”