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Grand Reopening

Silversword Café features new look, updated menu

Freshmen Araceli Kee and Ro Razavi gave their thumbs-up of approval. Alumni Elijah Abramo ’21 misses the old booths, but understands the logic and appeal of high-tops. And as students, staff members and faculty filed into the renovated Silversword Café this past Monday, many commented about the modern décor, vibrant color pallete and contemporary furnishings.

Students dig into the great food options now available.

“It’s fancier,” remarked Kee, while inspecting the new high-top tables and sleek stools. Razavi countered, saying that he thought it was more modern and also cooler. Prompted two years ago by a flood in the café, renovations for the space got underway in earnest during the 2022 summer. According to Allison Jerome, Chaminade Vice President for Student Affairs & Dean of Students, the work was supposed to be completed by Fall 2022, but city permitting delays set back the re-opening date.

“They had to dig a new trench, which caused more permitting delays” Jerome noted. “In the end, here we are, and it’s finally done.”

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, the Silversword Cafe is a hot spot to hang out in.

The menu, too, has been tweaked by Aramark executive chef Joshua Bonds, who arrived on island Jan.4 to help establish consistency and culinary protocols. In addition to select pizzas, a salad bar, cupcakes, a deli menu and hot entrees, the Café also features an Action Bar during dinner service.

“The menu is designed to feature the island’s flavors and local recipes,” explained Bonds, who helps Aramark clients across the nation with their dining programs. “And I can tell you with certainty that no other campus that Aramark services will have Portuguese sausage, shoyu chicken or hapa rice as part of its menu. These recipes are definitely unique to Hawai‘i.”

Community Service

Making a difference through data science and service

Community service has always been a big part of Katherine Gonzalez’s life. 

Latinx Club

And her passion for making a difference followed her to Chaminade. It’s why she jumped at the opportunity to start a Latinx Club at the university to celebrate her culture with others, and why she was central to an effort to make care packages for the homeless during the pandemic. And it’s what ultimately landed her in data science, where she found an innovative way to serve others.

“Service is what being a good citizen means,” she said, in a recent interview. 

Gonzalez, who is slated to graduate in 2023, is originally from Los Angeles.  

She’s majoring in Criminology and Criminal Justice with a minor in Data Science but found Chaminade through her interest in Forensic Science. Gonzalez quips that she switched after a grueling semester of Chemistry, but she also found Criminology and Criminal Justice more in line with her interests in public policy and social justice.

During her freshman year at the university, Gonzalez kept her schedule busy. In addition to launching the Latinx Club, she was in student government and joined the Residence Hall Association. She said club activities helped her from getting homesick and gave her the chance to strike up new friendships.

It was in the summer before her sophomore year that she first learned the power of data science. 

One of her mentors, Data Science Program Director Dr. Rylan Chong, encouraged her to participate in Chaminade’s exciting hands-on collaboration with the Texas Advanced Computing Center. The program is called Supporting Pacific Indigenous Computing Excellence (SPICE) and challenges participants to use data science methodology to interpret, communicate and visualize big data sets in new ways.

Katherine Gonzalez '23 in Washington DC for SPICE
Katherine Gonzalez ’23 (left) with her colleagues in Washington DC for Advanced Computing for Social Change where she served as a mentor.

Students like Gonzalez walk away with a new appreciation of just how instrumental data can be in educating and informing communities—and helping to drive positive change. For SPICE, Gonzalez dove into data around missing children in Hawaii. She also tackled a project through the Chaminade Summer Research Institute that looked at health and wellness trends among foster children in the islands.

Almost immediately, she was hooked.

“People think coding is so hard, but it’s like everything. Once you learn it, it becomes more manageable,” she said, adding that she was honored in her sophomore year to continue her studies by participating in the Advanced Computing for Social Change Institute through Chaminade.

Like her other data science work, the program had a strong community service focus. And she said it prepared her for a new challenge in her junior year: to serve as a peer mentor for that initiative along with the Pacific Region Data Science Challenge, a competition with students from around the country. 

Katherine Gonzalez '23 with her poster

Gonzalez said helping other students built her confidence—and her passion for data science studies. “It’s just the best feeling to teach other people and help other people do things they never thought they could accomplish,” she said. “I realized that mentoring also helps you build your own skills.”

As a senior, Gonzalez is as busy as ever while looking forward to her next steps after graduation. In addition to participating in Campus Ministry, her Latinx Club and Chaminade’s Civic Engagement Club, Rodriguez is a peer mentor for a freshman orientation class and an assistant in the residence hall.

She also has an active internship with Dr. Janet Davidson, vice provost for Academic Affairs and Criminology and Criminal Justice professor, to provide data analysis on human trafficking. She said the work has given her a better understanding of what she wants to do after college.

First off, she said, she wants to attend graduate school to hone her coding skills.

And then she hopes to bring those skills to bear and drive positive change.

“I want to be able to help people,” Gonzalez said. “And this is a way that I can help in a big way.”