Chaminade University of Honolulu

Campus and Community

Study Underscores Importance of Student Engagement

For the past 12 years, Professor Tracy Trevorrow, Ph.D.—director of the Center for Medical Psychology at Chaminade—has been surveying university students on their sleep and health habits. His latest research, in partnership with other university sleep centers, underscores the importance of campus support and engagement activities to help students thrive.

Trevorrow is a co-author on the study, which looked at causes for insomnia in college students. The research, conducted with Oregon State University and fellow collaborator Harvard University, included more than 1,000 undergraduates and found students who reported 8 to 10 hours of screen time daily had an increased likelihood of insomnia.

But the study also looked at the connection between social interactions and trouble sleeping, finding students who reported higher levels of loneliness were more likely to have trouble with insomnia—irrespective of their daily screen time amounts.

Trevorrow said the study, which included 227 participants from Chaminade, puts a spotlight on the success and leadership programs that help students remain engaged—and feel supported—as they pursue their undergraduate degrees.

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“It’s very important to appreciate how important good sleep is to health, a sense of wellbeing and to learning,” Trevorrow said. “Although this is just a single study, it appears that social connectedness among students is important for getting adequate sleep in addition to being careful about excessive screen time.”

The study was published in the Journal of American College Health, and Trevorrow expects to expand surveys to further explore students’ sense of social connectedness and daily screen time. Trevorrow added the study underscores the importance of Chaminade’s “many opportunities for students to develop friendships and social connections through clubs, sports, student government, and campus events.” He noted the University’s robust counseling program is also important—as is continuing to develop new engagement activities.

“This study highlights the importance of keeping a lifestyle balance” and prioritizing friendships and a sense of belonging, Trevorrow said.

“Feeling socially connected helps students manage the challenges of college life, and also appears to improve sleep.”

As for screen time, Trevorrow recommends keeping it to less than eight hours a day.

Team Building with a Mission

Every semester, Chaminade’s Office of Enrollment Management and Student Success tackles a service project together. On Dec. 17, they ventured out for their latest volunteering effort—a clean-up of Palolo Stream.

Over the course of the day, some 19 staff members collected 197.2 pounds of trash that would have ended up in the ocean.

The stream runs through Chaminade’s campus on its way to Waikiki, and the volunteers found everything from tires to plastic bottles.

Jennifer Creech, vice president for Enrollment Management and associate provost for Student Success, said her group was delighted to leave the stream cleaner than they found it. Students regularly venture into the stream in the area for class projects.

“We have a shared responsibility to be stewards of the resources and care for the land,” Creech said.

“While the students and the classes use this area as an active learning space, we believe it is important to do our part to maintain a beautiful and clean entrance to welcome others into our community.”

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Creech said taking on a service learning project as a team is a no-brainer: It’s fun with a mission.

The volunteer effort was coordinated with the assistance of Jon Watase MBA ’24, who is director of ‘āina-based learning at Saint Louis School.

Creech said Watase does an “outstanding job coordinating the efforts and incorporating educational components, ensuring we all leave with a deeper understanding and a stronger sense of commitment to caring for this special place.”

Chaminade, Blockchain Firm Partner for ‘Datapreneurship’ Internship

Chaminade University is proud to partner with cutting-edge software company Constellation Network to expand a “datapreneurship” internship program aimed at empowering students to innovate in the emerging digital economy.

Constellation Network, a leading blockchain solutions business, provides guidance and technical assistance to two federally-funded grant programs at Chaminade, including the $10 million NSF-INCLUDES ALL-SPICE Alliance aimed at building data science capacity across the Pacific and the ’Inana Innovators Program to nurture sustainability entrepreneurs.

Now, Chaminade and Constellation Network are working together to scale up a unique “datapreneurship” internship, first piloted in Summer 2024, with a full cohort of five new students to begin in Spring 2025.

Participants will work to build their skills as data scientists and entrepreneurs, leveraging Constellation Network’s blockchain technologies to tackle real-world challenges.

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Dr. Helen Turner, principal investigator of the NSF-INCLUDES ALL-SPICE and ’Inana Innovators programs, said industry partnerships are “critically important to STEM higher education, especially in computational disciplines that have dramatic workforce shortfalls.”

“Our students are inspired by the transformational leaders and world-class technical experts they meet and they form game-changing networks to enhance their career prospects,” she said.

Turner added a short-course certification program is also being developed as part of the partnership. “Economic growth and diversification is a decades-long conversation in the islands, and I think our students feel the energy around the digital economy and Web3.0 as a truly viable path for increasing prosperity and accessing technical jobs in Hawaii and beyond,” Turner said.

Benjamin Diggles, co-founder of Constellation Network, said the business is “incredibly excited to be at the forefront of sovereign data attribution and incentive design by aligning with forward-thinking entities such as the ALL-SPICE program at Chaminade.”

“Both communication and financial exchange capabilities have significantly up-leveled because of Web3.0 technologies,” Diggles added. “In conjunction with joining this key alliance, Constellation is working with other universities on furthering Web 3.0 education.”

For more on the ALL-SPICE Alliance, click here.

Chaminade Rector Prepares for New Adventure

Bro. Edward Brink, S.M. is the Vice President for Mission and Rector at Chaminade, but he prefers a simpler title: Teacher. These days, while he spends less time in the classroom, he still looks for every opportunity to counsel and advise students on campus or in the community.

So it is of little surprise that Brink says what he’ll miss the most about Chaminade when he takes on a new role with the Marianist Province of the US this summer is mentoring students at all stages of their academic careers, from freshman year to graduation day.

“I really like being able to introduce myself to young people and try to help them make connections about what they’re doing and why they’re doing it,” Brink said. “It will be that regular contact with students that I will miss the most. That ability to guide and inspire.”

Brink has been selected to serve as Director of Novices for the Marianist Province of the United States, a role that requires him to relocate to Dayton, Ohio. He plans to wrap up his work at Chaminade by June 2025. And while he is looking forward to his next adventure, he is also sad to be leaving a place and a university ’ohana that has meant so much to him.

Brink joined Chaminade in July 2016, after previously serving on the Board of Regents.

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He recalls that when he first started, his office was undergoing renovations so he was temporarily located in what is now the tutoring center, known as Kokua Ike. The placement gave Brink an early advantage—a chance to meet students throughout the day and hear directly from them.

“It was a great way to ease into it,” Brink said.

But before long, Brink was hitting the ground running, including as part of the welcoming committee for the University’s 10th president, Dr. Lynn Babington. She officially took on the role in August 2017, and Brink helped organize a tour for her to visit O’ahu sites that are important to Marianist and Chaminade history. Stops included ’Iolani Palace and the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, plus the original home along Nu’uanu Stream of Saint Louis School.

Bro. Edward Brink, SM

Babington so enjoyed the tour that she encouraged Brink to make it available to new faculty.

And so he did—and even got interest from longtime employees.

“Many people who have lived in Hawai’i for years told me that it was their first time visiting ’Iolani Palace”—and learning about the important history of Marianists in the islands, Brink said. “It really is about helping history come alive, just getting a bigger sense of everything.”

Brink said the tours are designed to help participants reflect on Chaminade’s mission, connecting important dots, including the importance of ensuring access for all students.

Before joining Chaminade, Brink served as Assistant for Education for the Marianist Province of the US, assisting Marianist universities and high schools nationwide. He began his career in education in 1985, teaching at Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School in Dayton.

At Chaminade, despite his busy schedule, Brink couldn’t stay out of the classroom. He has taught several sections of CUH100, Chaminade’s First Year Experience Seminar. He also led the Chaminade Scholars Program. The scholars are students chosen because of their strong academic background, their commitment to service to the community and their desire to continue to grow in their faith while attending Chaminade University.

And he has spearheaded the Marianist Educational Associate program at Chaminade, which seeks to inspire members of the faculty and staff to become stewards of Marianist values and the University’s mission.

Brink says while he’ll be leaving Chaminade, he will remain in the Silversword ’ohana and expects to maintain many of the relationships he has formed while in the islands. And he is also looking forward to his new role, which requires him to once again put on his teaching hat as he seeks to lead novices through a rigorous journey of reflection and spiritual development.

“There are people who are coming up to me and saying, ‘You can’t go!’” Brink said.

“It’s not that I want to go but I remember very clearly that part of my exploration of Marianist life was hearing stories about brothers who got to do really cool jobs and multiple cool jobs. Some brothers stay and do the same job, but the ones who caught my attention were people who did different things in different places. So I feel this is God’s way of reminding me of one of the things that made me want to be a Marianist.”

Nursing Students Honored in Pinning Ceremony

In a “heartfelt tradition,” 21 Nursing students at Chaminade gathered with loved ones Dec. 7 for a Pinning Ceremony, which marks the ceremonial completion of their bachelor’s degree journeys and the start of their professional careers.

During the gathering, students received their nursing stoles and pins.

They also recited the International Council for Nurses Pledge, promising to:

“Care for the sick with all the skills and understanding I possess, without regard to race, creed, color, politics or social status, sparing no effort to conserve life, to alleviate suffering, and to promote health.”

Hermaine Beltran ’24 was among the students honored.

“I’m feeling very happy, very exhilarated, very grateful for this moment,” said Beltran, who will be a nurse in the mother-baby unit at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. “We worked very hard to be here.”

Chaminade President Lynn Babington, Ph.D., a nurse herself, said the students are launching their careers amid a significant need for nurses in Hawai’i and nationally.

“We are proud that our students are answering the call,” Babington said.

She added, “The pinning ceremony is a heartfelt tradition that symbolizes students’ hard work and dedication throughout their coursework and clinical training.”

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Chaminade School of Nursing and Health Professions Interim Dean Lorin Ramocki explained that the roots of the Nursing Pinning Ceremony tradition date back to the 1860s when Florence Nightingale, known as the founder of modern nursing, was awarded the Red Cross of St. George.

Pinning ceremonies grew to mark the start of a nurse’s career.

Bringing Learning to Life for HR Students

Students in Dr. Pamela Estell’s Human Resources Management course devoted much of the Fall semester to researching emerging trends in HR, from mental health in the workplace to bolstering employee engagement to the popularity of the four-day workweek.

They pored over studies, spoke to experts, dug into the data, and wrote a research paper.

And then Estell challenged them to take it one step further: Take everything you have learned about your topic, she told them, and create a five-minute presentation for busy bank executives.

Their hard work was on display Nov. 27 at the Bank of Hawaii headquarters.

The 25 Business students in Estell’s course took the podium at a BOH conference room and addressed bank professionals, detailing the trending topic they’d investigated and showing off detailed infographics. The students also offered three recommendations in their research area.

Estell said the idea to have students deliver the presentations came out of a conversation with a Bank of Hawaii guest speaker.

“She mentioned that they were using infographics to present bite-sized information to employees that would be more interactive than a simple email,” Estell said.

“Hearing that they were looking for ways not just to collect information, but also present information, really lit a fire in me to start building in some synergies. As such, I redesigned my existing assignment to include the infographic and presentation portion.”

Estell then reached out to her Bank of Hawaii contact to ask if some bank employees would be willing to visit the class and provide feedback on student presentations. But the class mentor offered a counter-proposal: Students should come to the BOH offices in Honolulu instead.

“I knew immediately that this was an amazing opportunity for our students to be able to close the loop on how their work can be impactful in a work environment,” Estell said. “In the School of Business and Communication, relationships with local businesses are crucial.”

She added, “These types of high impact experiences are a good way for us to build on those connections with local businesses and also understand what their needs are so that we can ensure we are providing a rigorous and relevant education for our students.”

On the day of the presentations, students were nervous but excited.

John Barayuga ‘25 spoke to the BOH professionals about the importance of mental health programming in the workplace. He said the assignment and subsequent presentation was a challenge that required him to think about the real-world application of his chosen topic.

“This experience has better prepared me for what it means to present on and defend a meaningful subject to an audience with varying opinions and perspectives,” Barayuga said, adding he was gratified to take several insightful and thought-provoking questions from the attendees.

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He said the experience also inspired him to think about other ways he could contribute to improving workplaces. “The more pride you take in your work and understand how it can improve the wellbeing of yourself and others, the more likely your actions will resonate,” he said.

Kyla Castro ‘25 focused her presentation on discipline and dispute management.

She said the class assignment was tough, especially considering all the other things she was juggling in her schedule.

“With the presentation being at BOH, an extra pressure was put on myself and my fellow classmates to represent Chaminade University,” Castro said.

For Castro, the takeaway lesson was she’s capable of pushing through. “This presentation has not only reminded me of what I am capable of,” she said, “but it has also shown me where I need to improve which will ultimately help me as I enter the final push into my professional career.”

Estell said she walked away from the day incredibly proud of her students and grateful to Bank of Hawaii for the opportunity.

“Sometimes it can be difficult for students who are so accustomed to sitting in a classroom every day to see the connections between what they are learning right now—in this moment—and how those skills translate to their future careers,” she said.

“Any opportunity we have to make that really come alive for students is a huge value.”