Chaminade University of Honolulu

Catholic

Heritage Awards

Honoring those who personify the Marianist Values

Overcome by emotion, tears cascaded down the cheeks of Victoria DelaCruz ’24 as Bro. Ed Brink named her as this year’s Founders’ Award winner, describing her traits of selflessness, commitment, hospitality, graciousness, faith and her family. A Chaminade Scholar majoring in Data Science, Analytics and Visualization (DSAV), DelaCruz ’24 exemplifies the Marianist education and values.

“Faith has been a part of her journey before coming to Chaminade,” said Brink, Vice-President of Mission and Rector. “This year, she joined the new Student Ministry Team and made a suggestion about having a praise and worship evening at the end of one of the meetings. Although it was one of the last ideas talked about at the meeting, it was one of the first events to move from an idea to an actual event. And that was because of Victoria’s commitment to it.”

Every year during Founders’ Week, the Rector’s office presents the Chaminade Award, the Marianist Award and Founders’ Award to a faculty member, supporting staff member and student, respectively, who embodies the Marianist values.

His voice crackling at times while reading the achievements of the winners of the Heritage Awards, Brink announced the other two honorees: Chaminade Award recipient Dr. Janet Davidson, Vice Provost and professor of criminology, who was described by one of her nominators as resilient, reliable and consistent; and Amy Takiguchi, Director of Financial Aid, Marianist Award, whose efforts to help students go beyond and above a simple answer.

“It was a chicken-skin moment when Dr. Babington informed me of the award,” said Takiguchi ’02, an alumna who started her career at Chaminade as a student worker with Human Resources and has since moved up the ranks. “I have a great team and that’s what makes working here such a rewarding experience.”

For Davidson, the Chaminade Award is not an individual feat, but one that belongs to her team. “I am honored and humbled, but I don’t like the attention,” she said. “But I could have never done it alone. The accolades and attention I receive are because of a great supportive team that works collaboratively to accomplish a lot.”

In his presentation during a special mass ceremony to celebrate Founders’ Week, Brink said these awards are meant to remind all of us of the mission of this University, and the importance of trying to live out that mission on a daily basis. “We gather today to be inspired and to hopefully recommit ourselves to being the best member of this community that we can be,” he added. “Fr. Chaminade wanted those who got caught up in the work that he inspired to be ‘a spectacle’—to give witness to others of how a life based in faith and service could make a difference in the world.”

Early College Exposure

High school students earn college credit

For the past two years, Kapaa High School seniors, Tatum Harper and Taeani Largusa, have taken several synchronous online courses with Chaminade University professors, earning college credit while simultaneously fulfilling their high school requirements. The hours of studying and discipline paid off. Learning she just got into Columbia University, Harper was ecstatic.

“It’s my dream school,” said Harper, during Chaminade’s inaugural Early College Summit, which was attended by a mix of 70 students from Kapaa High School, Sacred Hearts Academy and Saint Louis. “Participating in this program has really prepared me for college.”

Largusa echoed the same sentiment, adding that she expects to hear from Syracuse University soon. “When I took the virtual campus tour I fell in love with it,” says the first generation, soon- to-be-college student. “This program has given me confidence in knowing that I can handle the demand of college courses.”

Early college programs can provide several benefits, including the opportunity for students to accelerate their education, which can lead to the completion of college degrees at an earlier age. There’s also the perk of cost savings, reducing tuition costs for future higher education.

Sacred Hearts Academy counselors Ashley Luke and Sharlene Chock both agreed that Chaminade’s early college program will help students become familiar with the expectations and rigor of college-level coursework, easing their transition to full-time college later on.

Students circled the room to fill out their bingo-like cards.
Students circled the room to fill out their bingo-like cards.
Saint Louis and Kapaa High School students mingled during the Early College Summit.
Saint Louis and Kapaa High School students mingled during the Early College Summit.
Sacred Hearts Academy students played a bingo-like game, with the first one to fill all 25 boxes with the right answers winning the grand prize.
Sacred Hearts Academy students played a bingo-like game, with the first one to fill all 25 boxes with the right answers winning the grand prize.
Chaminade’s Early College Director, Kim Baxter, addressed the students at the T.C. Ching Conference Center in Eiben Hall before they set off to visit other campus locations.
Chaminade’s Early College Director, Kim Baxter, addressed the students at the T.C. Ching Conference Center in Eiben Hall before they set off to visit other campus locations.
Sacred Hearts Academy juniors completed their first semester of college courses.
Sacred Hearts Academy juniors completed their first semester of college courses.

“Some struggled initially with the transition because of the extra studies involved in taking college-level courses,” said Luke, who counsels 10th and 11th graders. “Even our top students were stretched because they didn’t understand process versus perfection, which they’re used to achieving in high school.”

With this first cohort of 17 Lancers, Chock believes the college exposure will help them navigate the waters of post-secondary education. “They have already been individually challenged,” said the 12th grade counselor. “I think the experience shows them that college is attainable.”

Saint Louis School students Landon Dimaya, Cash Acorda and Kevin Simmons will begin their college courses next semester. The three Crusaders cited different reasons for participating in the program. Dimaya is a fraternal twin whose sister Lindsey is already a Sacred Hearts Academy participant. “I want to reduce the financial burden on my parents,” he said. “It would be really expensive to have to pay tuition for me and my sister at the same time.”

“I want to get ahead,” offered Acorda, who plans to apply to Stanford, with Simmons further noting that the experience would look good on his application.

Research demonstrates that early college programs show strong and lasting evidence of effectiveness for all students. It promotes both post-secondary access and success. The data is undeniable that students who participate in such programs will be ahead of their peers and graduate from a four-year university either debt-free or with very little federal student loan debt. The latest data further supports the claim that students who participate in these programs are better prepared to transfer to a four-year university than students who attend the university without prior college experience. 

Moreover, encouraging students to attend college improves individuals’ earnings over a career, increases the amount of taxes the government collects, and reduces government spending on federal assistance programs. 

“This program is such a great opportunity for these high school students to earn dual credits,” said Kim Baxter, Chaminade’s Early College Director. “And it gives them that real college experience.”

I Go 2 College

Fifth graders experience campus life for a day

Trying to explain Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ (“Praise be to you,” a quotation from St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures”) to 12-year-old kids in a university environment is no easy task. Yet, Bro. Ed Brink, S.M. comfortably stood in front of a group of Sacred Hearts Academy, and St. Theresa and St. Elizabeth students and started his discussion with a simple question: have you ever received a birthday card in the mail? 

Raising her hand, Charlie Yim screamed out “from my auntie.” Sitting next to Yim, fellow Lancer, Camryn Abe, echoed the same response. In fact, every student had received a card, either from an auntie or a grandparent. Some even said they had received letters, which was the perfect segue for Brink to ask his second question: Why do we send cards and letters?

Surely enough, students answered with “to let us know they care for us and they love us.” It was a response that could not have been any better scripted than if Brink had pre-written the answer himself. After all, the Pope’s 184-page encyclical letter—Laudato Si’— focuses on care for the natural environment and all people, as well as broader questions of the relationship among God, humans and the Earth. The encyclical’s subtitle, “Care for Our Common Home,” reinforces these key themes.

Bro. Ed Brink teaches fifth graders about Laudato Si.

“Pope Francis’ encyclicals are letters to the people,” said Brink, Vice President of Mission and Rector. “They are letters to show his care and love for the people. Earth is God’s gift to us, and it belongs to everyone, but it needs our protection and immediate attention.”

After shuffling slides of a PowerPoint presentation, Brink handed out sheets of a word search puzzle that contained vocabulary that directly pertained to the environment and sustainability. Working together in groups of seven, students eagerly searched for words in the puzzle, circling “recycle” along a diagonal path and “earth” along a vertical column.

The exercise wasn’t lost on the students who were part of a cohort of 166 fifth graders who visited campus to experience college life. Now in its second year, “I Go 2 College” is a partnership between Chaminade University and Hawaii Catholic Schools.

“The I Go 2 College event exceeded my expectations,” said Llewellyn Young, Ph.D., superintendent of Hawaii Catholic Schools. “Our preliminary surveys showed that all stakeholders including teachers, parents and students were very satisfied with the experience.  

“Anecdotally, several parents called my office when we did our first event last spring to tell me that they thought the program was brilliant and inspiring,” Young continued. “Parents spoke with such enthusiasm. One parent told me that her son talked about it for a few weeks. He never mentioned college before the experience, but now he can’t wait to go.”

St. Theresa students, Heaven Lee and Katelin Nitta, and Sacred Hearts’s Lauren Schofield and Kiara Cruz all plan to attend university, and Chaminade may be their choice. The four fifth graders said this college experience was “fun—even with all the up-and-down hikes.” 

Attending for a second year, St. Theresa fifth-grade teacher Alyssa Yabes said last year’s students “really enjoyed it a lot.” “They kept talking that they loved going to college,” she said. “All the hiking, they told me, was worth it.”  

Started approximately 16 years ago, the “I Go To College” program aims to introduce 9-12-year-old students to higher education, even before they step onto a middle school campus. “The purpose of this program is to expose the students to college life at an early age and to provide them with a day that is fun and eye-opening,” said Kim Baxter, Director of Early College programs at Chaminade. “Additionally, one benefit to offering visit opportunities for younger students is that when they return as juniors or seniors, the students will be better prepared to participate in traditional campus visit programs.”

God’s Mechanics

There was time for one more question before the close of the Marianist Lecture. Chaminade student Noelani Tugaoen stood up and politely asked, “How are we able to foster the dialogue of faith and science with those who are younger and don’t have any experience with the religious world?” 

Lecturer Bro. Guy Consolmagno, S. J. half-smiled before laughing and saying, “Boy, I wish I knew the answer to that.”  The audience then joined him in light laughter. 

As the Director of the Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, Consolmagno clearly knows the answers to most any question that comes his way.  A native of Detroit, Michigan, he earned undergraduate and masters’ degrees from MIT, and a Ph. D. in Planetary Science from the University of Arizona; he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989. 

Yet on October 8th in the Mystical Rose Oratory as part of the Marianist  Lecture Series, he humbly replied that he didn’t know the answer to Tugaoen’s question.

His lecture, “God’s Mechanics: How Scientists and Engineers Make Sense of Religion,” however, was packed with answers to lofty questions about science, astronomy, commonalities and differences between different religions, and – ultimately – what “believing in God gets you.” He also delved into ways that “techies” deal with why so many religions exist in our world today. 

He opened his talk by playing a video from the Vatican Observatory, and then he dove head first into how scientists and engineers make sense of religion. His full talk can be viewed here. 

At the Vatican Observatory since 1993, Consolmagno’s research has explored connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar system bodies, observing Kuiper Belt objects with the Vatican’s 1.8 meter telescope in Arizona, and applying his measure of meteorite physical properties to understanding asteroid origins and structure. 

Consolmagno also spoke with Chaminade Scholars on October 6 during lunch. The conversation was lively and insightful with much mutual respect between Consolmagno and the students. At the end of the presentation, Consolmagno was presented with the Mackey Award for Catholic Thought, given to a speaker per year. This award is given to those who help continue the Marianist charism and make a difference in the community.

The Marianist Lecture series is sponsored by Chaminade University, Marianist Center of Hawaii and St. Louis School with the next installment of the series on February 18, 2024 featuring Dr. Steve Neiheisel who will focus on Catholics in the public square during an election year.   

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Grant  

New funding will help expand HEP Program

With support from a $750,000, three-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Chaminade University of Honolulu will now be able to expand its Higher Education in Prison (HEP) program, which aims to be a pathway for participants to leave incarceration with new identities, perspectives and goals to help them thrive in society.  

“At Chaminade, one of our primary Marianist values is to advocate for social justice for transformative change,” said Chaminade President Lynn Babington, Ph.D. “We support a rehabilitation-through-education narrative, which we know is essential to incarcerated individuals finding a pathway to a second chance and a better future.”  

Chaminade’s current HEP program only serves males who are incarcerated at Halawa Correctional Facility. However, moving forward, the University plans to extend its cohort model HEP program to the Women’s Community Correctional Center (WCCC), as well as to those men serving time 3,000 miles from home at the Saguaro Prison in Arizona.  

The goal is to expand degree offerings, starting with the men in Halawa, to include an AA in Liberal Arts that can be extended to a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies. The coursework for the three degree programs will emphasize a humanities and liberal arts curriculum, and will be offered in a culturally responsive and trauma-informed way that will resonate with the overly-represented indigenous prison population.  

Dr. Janet Davidson addresses the new graduates during a Commencement Ceremony at Halawa Correctional Facility.

“If we want safer communities, if we want healthier families, if we want people who are incarcerated to have a chance when they come out, these are the types of rehabilitative programs we should be offering,” said Dr. Janet Davidson, Chaminade’s Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and a leader in criminology. “The idea is to shift the mindset. It will cost society less in the end.”  

Citing racial equity as a primary condition that makes HEP programs urgently necessary, the grant underscores the over-representation of Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system. According to data collected by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii’s incarceration rate increased by 403 percent from 1978 to 2016, with Native Hawaiians affected disproportionately. Though accounting for only 18 percent of the state’s adult population, Native Hawaiians represent 37 percent of those incarcerated. This statistic includes Native Hawaiian women who make up 44 percent of the incarcerated women in Hawaii.  

While imprisoned women already have access to some college courses, they don’t have degree options. This Mellon grant will change this. “Since women are more likely than men to be the primary caretakers of dependent children prior to incarceration,” Davidson said, “their success after leaving prison will have a positive impact on their children and families, multiplying the effects of a single college degree.”  

Providing education in prison has indeed proven to reduce recidivism rates, and is associated with higher employment rates, which will improve public safety and allow individuals to return home to their communities and contribute to society. Moreover, a 2018 study from the RAND Corporation, funded by the Department of Justice, found that incarcerated individuals who participated in correctional education were 48 percent less likely to return to prison within three years than incarcerated individuals who did not participate in any correctional education programs. RAND also estimated that for every dollar invested in correctional education programs, four to five dollars are saved on three-year, re-incarceration costs.  

“The success of this pilot program—between Chaminade University of Honolulu and the Hawaii Department of Public Safety—demonstrates that partnerships can lead to transformative change,” Davidson said. “With the support and guidance of Chaminade’s distinguished faculty and support staff, and the cooperation and backing of Halawa Correctional Facility, these individuals have embraced the opportunity to redefine their futures. This program is part of Chaminade’s mission to educate for service, justice and peace. We hope that with their newly gained education, these students will have the skills needed to rebuild their lives upon reintegration into society.”        

Association of Marianist Universities

Advancing Marianist and Catholic values in higher education

In his seminal book, “A New Fulcrum: Marianist Horizons Today,” the late Fr. David Fleming posed: “What Makes University Education ‘Marianist’?” One of the potential answers perhaps lies in the synthesis of faith and reason, a hallmark of Catholic and Marianist education. It’s about fostering a community of learners who not only excel academically, but who also grow spiritually, morally and ethically. It’s about instilling in students a deep sense of social responsibility and a commitment to making the world a better place.

“In terms of the relationship between faith and reason, I adhere to Pope John Paul II’s 1998 Encyclical Letter ‘Fides Et Ratio,'” in which he describes Faith and Reason as two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth,” answered Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington, when asked about her understanding of the relationship between faith and reason in an interview with the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities. “In other words, the Catholic intellectual tradition at the heart of a Catholic university presupposes the harmonious existence between faith and reason. It’s a relationship that is not static because both faith and reason are involved in a mutual search for and reception of meaning and truth.”

Bro. Tom Giardino addresses Flyer alumni during a University of Dayton award ceremony. ©Briana Snyder, Knack Video + Photo

For Association of Marianist Universities (AMU) Executive Director Bro. Thomas Giardino, Fleming’s question could serve as a catalyst for conversations that are needed today in order to develop and advance the mission and identity of Marianist and Catholic higher education.

“Since the Marianist educational tradition is a person-centered charism [gift] with a mission strategy, when this reality is felt by students, staff and faculty then that university education is alive with the Marianist sensibilities,” said Giardino in an email response. “This means that the university community experiences that they individually matter, that relationships matter, that the world matters, and that there is a relationship between their education and their encounter with our world. For this to happen, there needs to be a critical mass of persons who are in the community, not simply for transactional relationships, but for transformational relationships; that is, it touches the meaning and purpose of their identity, what they live for.”

In today’s society, where knowledge is abundant but wisdom is scarce, Catholic and Marianist universities face pressing issues. One such issue is the challenge of maintaining their distinct identity and values in a rapidly changing world. The secularization of higher education and the prevailing culture of individualism pose threats to the unique mission of these universities.

Another pressing issue is the need for inclusivity and diversity. As society becomes more pluralistic, Catholic and Marianist universities must ensure that their campuses are welcoming to people of all backgrounds and faiths. They should strive to create an environment where open dialogue and respectful exchange of ideas can flourish.

AMU plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges. It serves as a platform for collaboration and shared learning among Catholic and Marianist universities. It fosters a sense of solidarity and unity among these institutions, helping them preserve their core values while adapting to the demands of the modern world.

“The Association of Marianist Universities provides a structure for the three Marianist Universities to share ideas and programming to strengthen the Marianist identity of each of the universities,” said Bro. Ed Brink, Chaminade’s Vice President of Mission and Rector. “Through the work of AMU, there are regular meetings (usually via Zoom) of people from each of the universities that have similar jobs.”

In 2005, members from Chaminade University, University of Dayton and St. Mary’s University of San Antonio responded to the call from AMU Board to build a partnership among members of the Society of Mary, the sponsoring religious body. It would invite a cadre of lay collaborators, who would together sustain and renew the mission and identity that was Catholic, and that embodied the Marianist educational tradition.  

Since then, faculty, staff and administrators have been invited each year to deepen their understanding of and their commitment to the traditions and beliefs that make each respective university a Catholic and Marianist community.

Bro. Ed Brink teaches the fundamentals of Marianist values.

“In the summer of 2022, AMU held a symposium during which more than 100 people from the three universities gathered to reflect on the unique contributions that Marianist Universities make within American higher education, and to envision possibilities for the future,” Brink said. “Whenever AMU gathers people from the three universities together, we are reminded that we are part of a bigger mission.  While we all take pride in our own work, we are able to see that we are working on a project that goes well beyond our own institution and campus walls.”

In a world marked by division and polarization, the three Marianist/Catholic universities promote a message of unity and common purpose. They produce graduates who are not only academically competent but also compassionate, ethical and dedicated to making a positive impact on society.

In a world hungry for meaning and purpose, the Association of Marianist Universities serves as a guiding light. It reminds us that education is not just about acquiring knowledge; it’s about becoming better human beings. It underscores the enduring relevance of Catholic and Marianist principles in today’s society, where the search for truth, goodness and justice remains as vital as ever.

“Our faculty and staff already embrace and appreciate the values of providing a quality education, and an education for service, justice, peace, adaptation and change,” Babington said. “They may not necessarily have a religious affiliation, but they do believe in an equal and just society, which is what we impart to our students.”