Chaminade University of Honolulu

Homepage Large

Early Childhood Education

by

Flex program allowed Sienna Delano to work in a classroom and as a fairytale character

She has been Snow White. She has dressed up as Belle. And Sienna Delano ’23 has even donned on the wings of Tinkerbell. Her ultimate princess fairytale, though, came true in May when she slipped into her blue gown and sashayed across the stage to receive her Chaminade University bachelor’s degree at the Waikiki Shell. But, it has not always been an animated Disney fantasy world for the Kapolei resident.

“When I was in high school, I was dealing with health issues that impeded me from actually attending school,” says Delano, who received a B.S. in Early Childhood Education. “The underlying problem was gastritis, which caused me to pass out a lot, and I was throwing up everything I ate. I really hit rock bottom, but I used my mind to heal myself.”

And it worked with the help of her parents, Ken and Jacqueline, who are both psychologists. Delano ended up getting her high school degree online with Penn Foster. And when she finished her last class at 10 p.m., she recalled waking her parents up and screaming “I just finished.” She was only 16 years old, but this self-described “hustler” has always been somewhat of a wunderkind.

Chaminade University president, Dr. Lynn Babington, presented Sienna Delano with her bachelors degree.

“Even though I got better, I was already enrolled in Chaminade’s Flex program, and I decided to stay with it,” Delano says. “Plus, I didn’t have my driver’s license then, and even though I do have my license now, I still don’t really like to drive.”

Chaminade’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) bachelor’s degree is aligned with state requirements and National Association for the Education of Young Children standards. The ECE major is flexible, and is offered through online courses that allow students to fit instruction into a busy schedule.

“We did some surveys and early childhood educators indicated that their life situations don’t allow them to take in-person courses,” says Dr. Elizabeth Park, associate professor and director of the Early Childhood and Montessori programs. “So what we did was really spend the energy and time to design robust online courses, so that we could really meet the needs of our educators.”

Delano understands the importance of early childhood education, and how it lays the groundwork for a child’s lifelong learning journey, contributing to their intellectual, social and emotional development. The positive experiences and skills acquired during these formative years create a strong foundation for success in school and in life.

“I started the Flex program in 2020 and my goal was to become an early childhood educator in a couple of years,” Delano says. “I really liked Chaminade’s online modules, which allowed me to set my own pace.”

Delano decided she wanted to become a second or third grade teacher because she enjoys reading to kids, a skill that she cultivated and strengthened while working at Storybook Entertainment Hawaii, which primarily provides character entertainment for private parties.

“I’ve always loved reading,” Delano says. “When I was young, I would read with my dad in a green chair that was designated for reading. I’ve probably read six to seven books this year alone.”  

Delano’s parents have always stressed to her and her three sisters the importance of the mind and how to best use it to their advantage. She believes in the importance of using one’s mind lies in its transformative impact on personal development, cognitive abilities, emotional well-being and the overall quality of life.

“Even though I didn’t have the in-person campus experience, I was still able to create  a lot of memories online,” says Delano, who will finish her student-teaching requirement at Kapolei Elementary School in December. “We would have ‘Session Rooms’ and ‘Workspaces” where we could post our ideas and have peer interaction.

“Sr. Malia Wong even had us submit videos of ourselves so it felt like we knew each other,” Delano adds. “She made me cry … in a good way. She called me an inspiration and said to me ‘Maybe I’ll see you as a princess.’”

Student Athlete

by

Haley Hayakawa ’24 has all the bases covered

Haley Hayakawa gets sworn in at the Kapolei field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Accepted into the FBI’s “Honors Internship Program,”Haley Hayakawa gets sworn in at the Kapolei field office.

Her fellow classmates think she’s playing Candy Crush on her laptop. But in actuality, Haley Hayakawa ’24 is eyeing her Google calendar, which is scattered with different colors, each representing a lab, class or work hours that she has committed to during the week.

When the California native is not in a class or lab, she’s out in left field, shagging flies as a member of the Women’s Softball team. And during the summer, Hayakawa was working 40 hours a week at the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s field office in Kapolei, where she participated in the “Honors Internship Program,” which only accepts a sliver two percent of all its applications.

“It was my first full-time job,” said the 22-year-old Forensic Science major. “It has been the best experience I’ve ever had; everybody there wants to be there, and they all want to help you.”

An avid softball player since the eighth grade, Hayakawa committed to Chaminade University when she was a junior in high school, the earliest a student athlete can officially commit to a Division I or Division II college. 

“I was recruited by Division I and Division II schools, but some wouldn’t allow their recruits to participate in sports if they plan to major in a hard science because of all the required labs,” Hayakawa said. “Chaminade does, and it’s one of the reasons I chose to come here.”

She was also familiar with Chaminade’s Forensics Science program, which requires its students to complete a rigorous, 135-hour internship with such offices as the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner, police departments in Hawaii and Guam or the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory. 

“During my junior year, I interned with the Medical Examiner Department, which gets involved with deaths as a result of violence, substance abuse, trauma, accidents or suicide, among other suspicious causes of death,” Hayakawa explained. “After reading some of the suicide notes, I was thankful to be stressed out because those notes helped put things in perspective for me.”

An ambitious go-getter from an early age, Hayakawa is the only child and holds high expectations from herself—and not her parents, Greg and Myra Hayakawa. In fact, her father often tells her “to be open to changes, and not everything happens as planned.”

“In my freshman year, all I could eye was being awarded summa cum laude, which requires a 3.96 GPA,” Hayakawa notes. “I’ve only had one B and that was in Organic Biochemistry, which lowered my 4.0 GPA to 3.96.”

Ironically, one of her two American Chemical Society awards was being recognized as the Most Outstanding Student in Organic Biochemistry—despite her B—and Most Outstanding Student in Forensic Chemistry, nominated by David Carter, Ph.D., Forensic Sciences director and professor.

Haley Hayakawa gets ready to take off from second base.
Haley Hayakawa gets ready to take off from second base.

“She also has minors in Biochemistry and Chemistry,” Carter says. “She is a stellar athlete on the softball team and she also works as one of our Forensic Sciences Laboratory Assistants.”

Hayakawa’s collegiate experience has certainly had its challenges. Her freshman year was during the height of COVID, which meant Hale Lokelani Residence Hall was in lockdown mode, limiting her interaction with fellow students except for her roommate Naomi Noguchi from Kauai. It was also her first time living away from home, and she couldn’t leave campus for three weeks. Meanwhile, the softball team couldn’t take to the gym and was forced to conduct its workouts via Zoom videos.

“My classes were from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, which was crazy,” Hayakawa recalls. “I was so overwhelmed, and when I went home for the winter break, my parents asked if I was OK because I had lost 30 pounds.”

When she returned to campus in the spring, Hayakawa now had to juggle between her softball season and her studies, maintaining a batting average of .377—earning her the team’s batting champion— and a perfect 4.0 GPA. 

“It’s easy to manage time, when your time is managed for you,” Hayakawa quips. “I’m all in … all the time.”

As she completes her final year as a Silversword, Hayakawa fondly reflects back on her time on Kalaepohaku campus, on the softball field, in the labs and with her friends. She already has future plans to attend graduate school, after having turned down a job offer with the FBI field office in Kapolei. 

“I’ve always wanted to help the community through criminal justice,” says Hayakawa, who will graduate as summa cum laude, thus achieving her ultimate freshman goal. “I made the right decision to come to Chaminade, not only because of its small class sizes, but because I got to form relationships with my professors and formed new friendships.”

I Go 2 College

by

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.”

Amy Thompson of Mattel

by

’98 alumna shares her role with a leading global toy company

A word of advice from Amy Thompson: be open. Open to new ideas. Open to diversity. And open to equality and inclusion. As executive vice president and chief people officer for Mattel, the ’98 Chaminade alumna oversees all global human resources functions, including compensation and benefits, organizational design and leadership development for the company.

Speaking virtually to students during the Dean’s Speaker Series, Thompson shared her impressive employment history. Before joining Mattel, she served as chief people officer for TOMS Shoes, where she successfully developed and implemented organizational plans to scale the company globally by elevating talent and direct-to-consumer capability. She also founded TOMS Leading Ladies, an organization dedicated to empowering and inspiring women leaders.

Prior to TOMS, she held several global HR leadership roles at Starbucks Coffee Company, as well as led HR teams and departments at Ticketmaster Corporation and Citysearch.com.

Amy Thompson addressed students during the Dean’s Speaker Series.

“I believe my formative experiences, including at Chaminade, shaped my future,” Thompson told attendees. “I came to Chaminade on a full athletic scholarship and, as an athlete, you have to be disciplined.”

The Dean’s Speaker Series is designed to bring private, nonprofit and public sector leaders who have achieved recognition in their respective fields to share their expertise and insights on a broad range of timely issues, as well as share the highlights, challenges and turning points of their individual career paths.

“The Speaker Series is intended to extend classroom learning,” said School of Business and Communication Interim Dean Annette Santos. “It’s a co-curricular experience where the integration between theory and practice is reinforced and realized.”

Another intention of the forum is to bring a diversity of social, cultural, economic and other business-related perspectives to the Chaminade community in order to engage in ways that inform and encourage sustainable business for good. 

“One of Mattel’s external recognitions that I’m really proud of is its standing with the Human Rights Campaign,” Thompson said. “In 2022, for the fourth year in a row, Mattel received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey that measures corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.’”

As chief people officer, Thompson is guided by several key questions: “Do employees feel supported? Can they be authentic? Do they feel that they belong?”

“We have three values that are foundational to Mattel,” Thompson pointed out in her PowerPoint slide. “Collaboration, Innovation and Execution, which leads to our pillars of leadership: build and drive culture, manage performance, support career growth, promote wellbeing and growth mindset.”

School of Business and Communication Senator and Intern, and United Nations Association of Chaminade University (UNAC) President, Jasmine Mondelo could clearly sense that Thompson immensely cares for Mattel’s culture and talent. She also believes that Mattel offers a prime business model that fosters and values employee relations.

“As a college student who will set out on my own career path after graduation, Amy Thompson and Mattel’s message of inclusivity, fairness and commitment to personal and professional growth is inspiring to me,” said Mondelo after attending the lecture. “Wherever I work, I would want to feel valued and respected as an employee, motivated to achieve success for myself and the company, and capable of continuously improving myself.”

Santos hopes that students will have several takeaways after attending and listening to these guest speakers. “1) I hope that students would be inspired by the personal and professional journey of the featured speakers in ways that enhance their educational experience,” she said. “2) Understand that personal and professional growth is a process that involves challenges and turning points on the way to wins and transformation; and 3) this event also provides opportunities for students to build their network, possibly creating meaningful connections with speakers or those in attendance.” 

Educator Award

by

Chaminade Alumna named West Hawai‘i Teacher of the Year

One of 16 finalists for the 2024 Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year recognition, Jennifer Ilaban MEd. ’06 said she actually had no desire to become an educator when she was younger. But a volunteer experience while she was a student at Chaminade University changed her career trajectory.

“For one of my scholarships, I had to do some volunteer work, and from that experience I gained a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment,” said the Kahakai Elementary English Language Arts teacher in a pre-recorded video about her nomination as a finalist. “I wanted to give back to my community and make a difference in the lives of kids. So, I continued my education to become a teacher.”

Chaminade Director of Early Childhood and Montessori Programs, Dr. Elizabeth Park remembers Ilaban well. She was one of her very first student teachers, and Park knew even then that Ilaban would make a great teacher.

West Hawai‘i Teacher of the Year Award recipient, Jennifer Ilaban, has her photo taken with, from left, Hawaii State Board of Education Chairman Warren Haruki, Superintendent Keith Hayashi, Gov. Josh Green, First Lady Jaime Kanani Green, Kahakai Elementary Principal Kori Takaki and ​Complex Area Superintendent Janette Snelling.

“I still have the books she created with the children that I use as examples of good literacy practice,” said Park, who was invited by Ilaban to attend the 2024 Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year ceremony at Washington Place. “So, I was not surprised that she received the West Hawai‘i Teacher of the Year Award.”

The Hawaiʻi State Teacher of the Year honor is presented annually to a classroom teacher selected from more than 13,000 Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (HIDOE) educators. The winner goes on to represent Hawaiʻi in the National Teacher of the Year program, which provides a new cohort of State Teachers of the Year with a yearlong, one-of-a-kind professional learning and development experience.

“We’re excited to be here today to honor 16 finalists from our public and charter schools statewide,” said Superintendent Keith Hayashi during the live-streamed ceremony. “It’s important that we pause and take the time to recognize and appreciate the outstanding work that all of our 13,000 teachers do every day. You are prime examples of how a teacher’s influence on a student can transcend beyond the classroom and beyond the K-12 timeline.”

Today’s Teacher of the Year ceremony included monetary awards to each Complex Area and Public Charter School Teacher of the Year by The Polynesian Cultural Center—the Teacher of the Year program’s corporate sponsor for over 30 years—and an additional $1,000 award to the State Teacher of the Year.

“We’re grateful that you’re the role models for our children,” Gov. Josh Green told the finalists. “I appreciate your heart, because we all know the sacrifices teachers make. It’s a great challenge and you’re making Hawai’i a more extraordinary place.”

Ilaban teaches preschool through grade three students, and now also coaches teachers and students as a curricular coordinator for Kahakai Elementary. She is the only National Board Certified Teacher on campus and consistently applies the board-certified framework in her approach to mentoring fellow teachers.

“I have had the pleasure of witnessing Jennifer’s exceptional teaching abilities and unwavering commitment to students, colleagues and the success of our school,” wrote Kahakai Elementary School Principal Kori Takaki in her nomination letter to the Teacher of the Year Selection Committee. “I can attest to her exceptional skills, dedication and passion for education.

“Jennifer is an excellent teacher who consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the success of students,” Takaki added. “She is not only knowledgeable and skilled in her subject matter, but she also possesses a unique ability to connect with students on a personal level. And I am confident that she will continue to make a significant impact at our school and in the field of education.”

‘Inana Innovators Program

by

Chaminade students participate in sustainability entrepreneurship

Madison Makishima ’25 was able to make adaptive surfboards out of recyclable materials and ocean plastics so people —like her—with disabilities could have access to the ocean. As part of Chaminade University’s ‘Inana Sustainability Entrepreneurship Program, Makishima and eight other fellow students, including Aleeyah Lemons ’24 and Carly Wieczorek ’24, were able to participate in a 10-week summer program that paired them with businesses that align with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

“I learned a lot, especially how to effectively network,” said Makishima, whose project was titled Surf Sesh. “The mission of the project—which aligns with the UN’s SDGs—was to help people with disabilities gain access to surfing while recycling and reusing ocean plastic, and educating everyone about living sustainable lives.”  

After winning a two-year $600,000 Minority Colleges and Universities Grant Competition from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), a hui of Chaminade professors developed the ‘Inana Sustainability Entrepreneurship Program, which aims to spark minority entrepreneurial innovation among Hawaii-Pacific undergraduates.

According to ‘Inana Sustainability Entrepreneurship Program’s coordinator, Mariane Uehara, the  three goals of the program are: 1) To develop and implement programs for the education and training of undergraduate students in subjects directly relating to successful entrepreneurship; 2) To support minority business enterprises (MBEs), including building a diverse entrepreneurial pipeline to grow the number of MBEs; and 3) to create a UN Certificate program in sustainability entrepreneurship.  

With the help of Rhea Jose, outreach coordinator for CIFAL Honolulu at Chaminade, Aleeyah Lemons ’24 pursued a project titled “Gender Equity through Malama Mai” or, cleverly, GEMM, and provided menstrual products in the women’s restrooms at Chaminade University.  

“GEMM is a program developed to provide resources, care and education on menstrual health to those at Chaminade University, its surrounding community and across the Pacific,” wrote Lemons in her final report. “We aim to end period poverty on campus, and allow our students who menstruate to feel comfortable and supported by GEMM and their peers.”  

Meanwhile, Carly Wieczorek ’24 designed a sustainable rooftop hydroponics system. “One major aspect of my activities was actively participating in exchanging ideas with local experts on hydroponics farming, visiting hydroponics farms on Oahu, and entrepreneurial skill workshops with industry professionals,” Wieczorek noted. “I’ve also been investigating innovative business approaches to urban agriculture, such as rooftop hydroponics, and examining how these practices align with the UN’s SDGs.”  

The focus of the ‘Inana program is to nurture sustainability entrepreneurs in Hawaii, who will develop businesses that diversify and grow our economy while attending to the health of the planet. This, of course, is consistent with Chaminade’s United Nations CIFAL Center, which is focused on supporting progress toward the UN’s 17 SDGs in Hawai‘i and the Pacific region.  

Three of the 17 SDGs in particular are addressed within the program: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation; and improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.  

“Our first cohort consisted of nine students,” said Uehara, a Certified Health and Wellness Coach and former co-founder and director of Lanikai Juice Co. “This second cohort will focus on App creation with eight students. It’s great to see students—who all come from different disciplines—collobarate and solve problems.”