Service Learning

“kuleana” – Right, privilege, concern, responsibility, title, business, property, estate, portion, jurisdiction, authority, liability, interest, claim, ownership, tenure, affair, province; reason, cause, function, justification.

“pono” – a Hawaiian word commonly rendered as “righteousness”. The Hawaii state motto: “Ua mau ke kea o ka `aina i ka pono” or “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”  Goodness, uprightness, morality, moral qualities, correct or proper procedure, excellence, well-being, prosperity, welfare, benefit, behalf, equity, sake, true condition or nature, duty; moral, fitting, proper, righteous, right, upright, just, virtuous, fair, beneficial, successful, in perfect order, accurate, correct, eased, relieved; should, ought, must, necessary

Hawai’i is known for its welcoming hospitality, it’s aloha – the unconditional extension of trust and friendship.    Here in Hawai’i the common definition of “kuleana”  is “rights and duties or accountability and responsible stewardship.”  In comparison to most communities, the academic community has immense resources that most institutions are loath to share.  Still, the vast majority of institutions of higher education institutions constantly bemoan their “poverty.”  Yet to those who much is given, much is expected.

Universities worldwide have a “kuleana” to make things in their communities, local, national and global, more “pono”.  Both the academy as well as individual academics have a duty to enhance the general welfare and prosperity of the less fortunate in their communities.  Actions that perpetuate righteousness can start as close as their own neighborhoods.  Academics have for too long been guilty of telling the third biggest lie when they say that “I am from the university and I am here to help you.”  For those of us who are involved with educating and empowering business leaders at all levels, we should be aware of how our engagement prepares those we work with, both in and out of the university, to do well and to do good.

Wayne M. Tanna, Professor of Accounting at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii has developed and implemented service-learning initiatives in his classes to further his students’ educational experiences.  Building on the Hawaiian values of “kuleana” and “pono“, he regularly involves students in activities where service in the field fits into a course curriculum to include tax clinics at homeless shelters and pro-bono legal service assistance in low income communities.  Mr. Tanna has made presentations on service-learning at numerous state, regional and national conferences.  As an exemplary role model for the Chaminade University Marianist community, his volunteer efforts, community non-profit work and activities has garnered him numerous local and national awards and recognitions from the State of Hawaii to the American Bar Association.

This year alone, Mr. Tanna, his students and community collaborators provided tax assistance to over 8,200+ in Hawaii, resulting in over $7.2  million in tax refunds.  Their assistance on tax returns for the homeless and indigent have made the difference in providing the needed deposits for housing to help people out of their homeless situation and  the extra funds for  provisions for transportation, meals and basic daily needs.

As a professor, he teaches classes in taxation, accounting, business law, ethics, management, international law, environmental studies, history, political science, education and pastoral leadership.  Mr. Tanna holds a Bachelors Degree from the University of Hawaii, a Juris Doctor from Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College and an LL.M. in taxation from McGeorge School of Law.  Mr. Tanna is currently licensed to practice law before all Hawaii State Courts, Federal Courts, U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Tiffany Hervey, as published in the Honolulu Weekly

During the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Top Hat Bar in Wahiawa was hit. It closed for three days and reopened on Dec. 10, 1941 with the charging mantra that its doors would never be closed again. And the bar stayed open seven days a week, year-round, until early 2009, when it shut down for good.

Surfing The Nations (STN), a nonprofit organization, purchased the building and moved in. They opened Surfers Coffee Bar in the summer of 2011 after cleaning decades of nicotine off the walls. A bigger challenge was the neighborhood.

Rough Start

This block of Kamehameha Highway was considered by many to be the center of sex, drugs and violence on the North Shore. Neighboring businesses included porn shop Divine Pleasures, liquor store Market 88 and exotic dancing venue Club Texas. For most, it was an area to avoid. “We learned real quick that we lived in the bad part of town,” recalls STN co-founder Cindy Bauer as she looks out the window from the plush seats of the coffee bar. “This was where no one wanted to wander.”

STN, founded in 1997, had been looking for a place to call home after a series of rental situations fell through. The 15-unit, three-story apartment building behind the old, rundown bar in Wahiawa looked like a perfect place to house their staff, and they could use the bar for a meeting room.

“We knew this was going to be a rough neighborhood, [but it] seemed to work for us because we are for those who are voiceless and the at-risk youth here on the street,” Bauer says. STN feeds more than 3,000 people a week, most of them working poor. “Maybe three percent are homeless but a vast majority are households working hard to make it,” she adds. STN also tutors at-risk youth three times a week.

The block was such an eyesore that for years, parents told their kids to “look forward, don’t look over there,” Bauer says. When Leilehua High School students came down to hand out food for a school project, they told the STN staff that not one of them had ever walked on that side of the street before.

The Giving Surfer

STN thought they’d try to improve the neighborhood, and in less than a year, the owners of the neighboring buildings had agreed to sell. The nonprofit put its first building up as collateral, held a huge fundraiser for a down payment and purchased the rest of the block. “We were just the new kids on the block that weren’t smart enough to know we couldn’t do it,” Bauer says. “Sometimes, when you don’t realize you can’t, you do it.”

At present, Surfers Coffee Bar is the only open business on the block. The original bar from the 1930s remains in a spacious room filled with plush armchairs and tables, with a desk area where one could do some writing or read without feeling distracted. The walls are decorated like a surf museum with eponymous memorabilia and art, thanks to STN co-founder Tom Bauer’s enthusiasm for the sport. “Our motto is ‘surfers giving back,’” he says.

“Surfers in my day were takers, but today we’re trying to market them as givers,” Bauer says, adding that he hopes the coffee shop also helps to remarket Wahiawa. “Since it is the gateway to the North Shore, we feel that Wahiawa has an amazing responsibility,” he says, “[and] surfers have the responsibility to make this a better place.”

STN’s goal is to bring community-centered businesses into the six available storefronts on the block; Chaminade University’s design school is planning parking and gardens for the buildings.

Supporting Local

Surfers Coffee Bar’s menu practices what STN preaches by supporting local business. It carries organic Kona Estate coffee ($2-$3 a cup). All espresso shots and drinks are made from Waialua Estate coffee beans, grown and harvested on Oahu’s North Shore and roasted in Honolulu. This totally local coffee fuels the menu’s latte ($3-$4), Americano ($2.40-$3.10), cappuccino ($3) and mocha ($3.50-$4.60) drinks. Try the “Wahiawa Mocha,” flavored with coffee, white chocolate and pineapple. Get it hot, on the rocks or blended-this caffeine addict highly recommends the last.

Bagels ($1.99), muffins ($1.95) and cookies (89 cents) are available as partners in caffeine crime, but they are not house-made and taste generic. A refreshing alternative is the acai bowl ($7.95), made from packets of frozen Tambor acai berry puree, frozen bananas and apple juice or soy milk and topped with granola, honey and freshly sliced bananas. Macadamia nuts, chocolate, strawberries, pineapple and papaya are an additional 50 cents each. Fruit smoothies are $3-$4, and a wide variety of Hawaiian teas, including organic, are served iced or hot ($2-$3).

The bar hosts open mic nights Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and live music on Fridays at 7 p.m., featuring bands from Hawaii and around the world. Cindy Bauer envisions a community center and commercial kitchen on the property one day so that kids can learn career skills.

STN started with one building and a meeting room that turned into a coffee shop. Now that shop has the whole block a-changin’. Police have told the Bauers that crime in the area has dropped. The fast food restaurants in the area have remodeled. Cindy Bauer says she hopes the old Club Texas space will be filled by a higher-end restaurant. Nearby California Avenue was recently repaved, something for which the neighborhood board had fought for more than 13 years. Gentrification, surfer style, is in the air-and it smells like coffee.

Source: Honolulu Weekly

Spring 2015–Chaminade students were awarded first place in the annual IACBE ethics competition. The critical thinking, academic background, and practical skills necessary in this competition are closely tied to the students’ service-learning projects in the Business Capstone course.

According to IACBE.org, The International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) is the leading outcomes-based professional accrediting organization for business programs in student-centered colleges and universities throughout the world. The IACBE exists to promote, develop, and recognize excellence in business education.

The IACBE annual student case-study competition focuses on business ethics and is open to students from all IACBE-member institutions worldwide. The competition is scheduled in conjunction with the IACBE Annual Conference and Assembly Meeting each year.

The IACBE is committed to “partnering with colleges and universities in preparing today’s business students for tomorrow’s workplace.” In this spirit, the case-study competition is intended to provide students with an opportunity to showcase their abilities to analyze a case, to identify and discuss recommendations for ethical action, and to “think on their feet.” The case-study competition requires their ability to (1) work as members of a team, (2) collect and analyze data, and (3) effectively present case information and answer questions in a clear, concise, and professional manner.

In their case presentations, teams are expected to explain the relevant background information of the case, which may include legal, financial, economic, marketing, and management issues relevant to the case, and to present the ethical issue identified in the case.  After presenting the case, each team must make and justify recommendations for action that are solidly grounded in ethics theory.

Jasmine Cho, Staff Writer
April 1, 2013
As Published in The Silversword

In Chinatown, a room bustles with student volunteers tutoring elderly people each week as part of Project Students Helping in Naturalization of Elders, or Project SHINE, a program where college students teach immigrants basic English and civic skills necessary to become a citizen. Although targeted at Chinese immigrants, anyone who’s willing to learn English is welcome to join on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

For students, Project SHINE isn’t just about helping immigrants and performing the required amount of community service or fulfilling service-learning requirements because it’s a part of the class’s curriculum. It’s about the relationship people develop with each other and the self-satisfaction of making a difference by helping those who need it.

“I found that it becomes important to a lot of people because people develop relationships with the learners [tutees] … they teach you as much as you teach them,” said Candice Sakuda, who is Chaminade’s Director of Service-Learning and a community partner of Project SHINE.

Although reluctant at first, many people involved in the program are first introduced to it through a class. Several professors on campus incorporate service-learning projects into their curriculum. It becomes a part of a student’s assignment where he or she learns from participating in service-learning.

Chelcy Reyes, a SHINE coordinator who has been in the program for seven years, said she learned of SHINE from her intro to sociology class with Professor Bryan Man. Although hesitant at first, she grew to love the program and said whenever SHINE asks her to come back, she says “yes.”

“Really, the best part about SHINE, at the end of tutorial, the learners [tutees] always are just so thankful,” Reyes said with a smile. “Even as tired as you may be, from either a long day of work, long day of classes, it’s early Saturday morning, at the end of tutorial, they are so happy and so thankful and you feel that. It makes a difference.”

Although rewarding and self-satisfying, tutoring immigrants isn’t without its hardships.

Alanah Torre, a communication major who is also SHINE coordinator, said the language barrier was one of the difficulties she experienced when tutoring the learners.

“There are some learners [tutees] with no basic English skills at all and expect us to understand Chinese, which of course we don’t understand at all,” Torre said.

Often, online translators, English to Chinese dictionaries, pictures and hand motions are used to overcome the problem, but it’s still possible for a simple task like learning “What is your name?” to take an hour.

Another difficulty is the fact every immigrant’s level of English is different. It’s not uncommon to see a tutor teaching two to three people. Sakuda said tutors may find themselves not being able to progress into different subjects; however, they should not be discouraged.

The way tutors teach their students vary. Immigrants may bring in storybooks, or tutors may teach their learners phonetics, or use flashcards asking questions that will be on the naturalization test. If the student wants to go over the N-400, the application for naturalization, the tutor will teach what the words on the form mean.

Sakuda said the passing rate for the Project SHINE learners is 80 percent on the first try, and although the tutees passed their naturalization test, some still come back to learn more English.

Many students in the project are thankful for the time and effort volunteers put into tutoring them. According to Sakuda, “people win,” everyone gains out of SHINE. Immigrants learn English, tutors get their required assignment for their professor done, Chaminade has hours added to its 50k hours project and Project SHINE serves its purpose.

“Everybody has to give,” Sakuda said. “That’s why we really try to make it clear what everybody’s roles are because we need everybody to participate. I can’t do it by myself. They can’t do it by themselves. It’s all of us working together. It’s like our baby.”

See if you can answer these civic questions that can be seen on the naturalization test:

Who makes federal laws?

How many U.S. senators are there?

What are the two parts of congress?

What is the name of the current president?

If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?

Who vetoes bills?

Who signs bills to become laws?

What is the highest court in the United States?

Who is the Governor of your state now?

What is the political party of the President now?

The following is from a Press Release by  McNeil Wilson Communications, Inc. on June 6, 2011:

HONOLULU, HAWAI’I – The Hawai’i Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) <http://prsahawaii.org/> announced the winners of its first proposal-writing competition. Chaminade University business students Chelsea Taketa and Eugenia Lutali took top honors in the contest that gave Hawai’i college students an opportunity to hone their skills on preparing a formal response to a public relations Request for Proposal (RFP).

“We congratulate Chelsea and Eugenia for submitting a proposal that was clearly outstanding in every category,” said Ruth Limtiaco, CEO of The Limtiaco Company, who spearheaded the contest. “Their entry exhibited strategic thinking, a consistent theme and a practical budget, elements that are all essential to any comprehensive public relations plan.”

Open to teams of students from any Hawai’i college or university, the RFP asked for a written public relations plan to position Iolani Palace as a premier cultural and historical treasure, worthy of high recognition and regard in the visitor and resident market sectors, and as an institution deserving of philanthropic support.

“Iolani Palace was pleased to play a role in this excellent exercise to provide students with a learning experience,” said Kippen de Alba Chu, Executive Director of Iolani Palace. “The winning proposal was well thought out and the team obviously put considerable effort into a very creative plan.”

de Alba Chu joined four premier PR professionals on the judging panel, including Limtiaco, Nancy Daniels, APR, of Outrigger Enterprises, Amy Hennessey, APR, of Hawaii Pacific Health and Nathan Kam of McNeil Wilson Communications. On a scale of 1 to 10, they judged each submission based on how well the proposal was written, research, strategy, budget and if it would be competitive in the real world.

Taketa and Lutali scored the most points out of 10 teams. The Chaminade students, who both recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, each received a $100 cash prize and will have a chance to network with Hawai’i PR professionals at the 2011 Koa Anvil Awards, held on July 28 at the Hawai’i Prince Hotel Waikiki.

“This contest was a way to provide aspiring PR professionals with a ‘real world’ scenario that they will face one day,” said Moani Wright-Van Alst, PRSA Hawai’i president. “We’d like to thank Ruth Limtiaco for leading our first student competition and we hope to continue it next year.”

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PRSA Hawai’i, chartered in 1947, was one of six founding chapters of PRSA. The society is the world’s largest organization for public relations professionals, with nearly 20,000 members representing business and industry, counseling firms, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms, and not-for-profit organizations.

Also found online at http://www.migrationinformation.org/integrationawards/files/2011-05-18-E…

WASHINGTON – The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) on Wednesday announced that Project SHINE (Students Helping In the Naturalization of Elders) is one of four recipients of its 2011 E Pluribus Unum Prizes for exceptional immigrant integration initiatives. The national award honors Project SHINE, an intergenerational learning program through which nearly 10,000 college students have worked with elderly immigrants and refugees to improve their English proficiency, civics knowledge and health literacy.

The Intergenerational Center at Temple University serves as the national office of the SHINE network, which operates on 19 campuses and a community non-profit in nine states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

SHINE and the other E Pluribus Unum Prizes winners will be honored tonight at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., featuring U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other national policymakers. The national award is accompanied by a $50,000 prize.

The E Pluribus Unum Prizes program, established in 2008 by MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy with generous support from the J.M. Kaplan Fund, seeks to encourage the adoption of effective integration practices and inspire others to take on the important work of integrating immigrants and their children so they can join the mainstream of U.S. society.

SHINE partners with colleges and universities, immigrant communities and local health/aging networks to improve elderly immigrants’ English language skills, knowledge of U.S. civics and history and understanding of healthy aging practices. SHINE volunteers also prepare older immigrants to take the U.S. citizenship test. SHINE also enhances the health communication skills of older immigrants, addressing their language and health literacy needs.

Since 1997, Project SHINE has offered educational services to over 40,000 older immigrants and refugees, an often-overlooked segment of the immigrant population that is less able to actively seek ways to better integrate into local communities. Nearly 10,000 college students have participated in Project SHINE since the initiative’s inception, volunteering more than 150,000 hours. By instilling an ethos of service and civic participation, SHINE helps future leaders by giving them a window into new cultures and older generations.
“Project SHINE is an exceptional model of two-way integration. The students provide important English, civics and literacy knowledge to an immigrant population that is often overlooked by others, and at the same time are exposed to the rich cultures and experiences of older migrants,” said Margie McHugh, co-director of MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.

“The program provides elderly immigrants and refugees with new links to their communities,” said MPI Senior Vice President Michael Fix, who is co-director of the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. “SHINE has strong metrics demonstrating its success with this often harder-to-reach elderly population.”
A study by the American Institutes for Research found that only 46 percent of first-time applicants for citizenship over the age of 65 passed the naturalization exam, compared to the national pass rate of 84 percent. Ninety percent of Project SHINE participants who take the citizenship test pass it. Student volunteer tutors provide at least two hours of mentoring weekly per semester, with lesson plans and one-on-one teaching or in small class settings.

“Older immigrants have a strong desire to learn about their new countries and contribute to their communities. They may have difficulty learning in a regular classroom setting due to pace of instruction, isolation or linguistic barriers. SHINE has evolved over the years as it responds to the needs identified by older immigrants,” said Project SHINE Program Director Patience Lehrman. “Through SHINE, older immigrants have reported increased confidence in their ability to communicate with health practitioners, increased access to health services and increased civic participation.”

Project SHINE has been replicated at colleges and universities in California (San Jose State University, San Jose City College, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco, California State University at Northridge and California State University Fullerton); Georgia (Emory University and Georgia Perimeter College); Hawaii (Chaminade University, Kapi’olani Community College and University of Hawaii at Manoa), Minnesota (Metropolitan State University and Minneapolis Community and Technical College); New York (Utica College and Hamilton College); North Carolina (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Greensboro); and Texas (University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College). It also operates in Colorado at the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning.

The other 2011 E Pluribus Unum Prize winners are the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, Hispanic Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City (MO) and the Welcome Back Initiative. Marriott International received the first-ever E Pluribus Unum Corporate Leadership Award.

For more information or to set up interviews, contact Michelle Mittelstadt at 202-266-1910, [email protected]; or Burke Speaker at 202-266-1920, [email protected].

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The Migration Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C. dedicated to the study of the movement of people worldwide. MPI provides analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national and international levels.