Student Life

2022 Co-Curricular Awards: Making a Positive Impact Across Campus

May 6, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

They go above and beyond—and their work doesn’t go unnoticed.

Last month, students, student organizations and clubs, and faculty members and staff whose commitment to putting Chaminade’s mission into action every day were recognized at the 17th annual Co-Curricular Awards. The event was a chance to thank awardees for their tireless efforts and showcase the positive difference they’re making across campus and the community.

In all, 19 awards were presented, including for service, scholarship and to outstanding student-athletes.

One member of each undergraduate class was selected to receive the Bro. Joseph Becker Award of Excellence, which recognizes those who display exceptional leadership skills through involvement in co-curricular activities. The awardees, with a diversity of scholarly ambitions, were: freshman Moanna Blaksteen, sophomore Andrew Nishitomi, junior Kobe Ngirailemesang, and senior Josephine Iose.

The Bro. Elmer Dunsky Outstanding Student Organization Award went to the Chaminade Student Programming Board, which works to organize events and promote a sense of community on campus. The award recognized the organization’s outstanding contributions to helping create a positive and welcoming campus environment that embraces service and fosters a true sense of ‘ohana.

Meanwhile, two winners were selected for the Fr. Stephen Tutas Program Award of Excellence, bestowed on a student or student organization for exceptional creativity, planning and execution of a university program that contributed to the quality of life at Chaminade. Ashley Yoshikawa and Kayleen Lau were recognized for their Field Day Fundraiser for the Our Kupuna Foundation, a nonprofit that connects kupuna with sponsors who can help them with errands. And Melissa Dela Cruz was also honored for her My Culture is Not a Costume event to bolster cultural understanding.

The Rev. David Schuyler Advisor of the Year Award went to Malo Sipeli’i, for outstanding service mentoring a student organization. The award recognizes members of the faculty, staff or administration who seek to encourage and support students in leadership development and campus involvement.

Sipelii was also honored for a strong commitment to helping students greatly bolster their life skills, embrace innovative challenges, and balance and excel at their school, life and co-curricular obligations.

2022 Co-Curricular Awardees

Male Athlete of the Year: Isaac Amaral-Artharee
Female Athlete of the Year: Alexia Byrnes
Silversword Award: Kayleen Lau
Campus Ministry Award: Alia Mercado and Amber Sablan
Liturgy Award: Liam Sullivan and Kobe Ngirailemesang
Retreat Leader of the Year: Celine Mesiona-Perez and Kara Grace Joves
Service Award: Kaitlin Derouin and Tiffany Rivera
Outstanding Peer Mentor: Dimitrius Dominguez and Sharon Cain
Resident Assistant Award of Excellence: Kelsey Sablan
Residence Hall Association Award of Excellence: Cayenne Gabaylo and Jason Nowak
Bro. Joseph Becker Award of Excellence:
- Freshman: Moanna Blaksteen
- Sophomore: Andrew Nishitomi
- Junior: Kobe Ngirailemesang
- Senior: Josephine Iose
Bro. Elmer Dunsky Outstanding Student Organization Award: Chaminade Student Programming Board
Rev. David Schuyler Advisor of the Year Award: Malo Sipeli’i
Fr. Stephen Tutas Program Award for Excellence: “Field Day Fundraiser for Our Kupuna Foundation” (Ashley Yoshikawa & Kayleen Lau); “My Culture is Not a Costume” (Melissa Dela Cruz)
Frederick K.K. Kauhane, Sr. Aloha Spirit Award: Aloha Lei Garo and Sean-Zacharry Lorenzo, Jr.
Henry Halenani Gomes Alaka‘i Award: Alia Mercado and Alaina Mercado

Healthy and Sustainable Hawaii Speaker Series

May 4, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

A series of speakers exploring everything from climate change resilience to indigenous wisdom to healthcare equity helped launch the new United Nations-affiliated CIFAL Honolulu Centre at Chaminade University.

The events in April were aimed at underscoring the mission of the center, an exciting partnership between Chaminade and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. CIFAL Honolulu is designed to serve as a hub in Hawaii and the Pacific Region for leadership, training and education around key sustainable development goals—convening and empowering people to maximize their positive impact.

The Healthy & Sustainable Hawaii Speaker Series kicked off on April 12, with Lt. Governor Josh Green.

Green, a practicing physician, discussed his vision for bolstering the health and wellbeing of people in Hawaii and the Pacific, encouraging attendees to consider how a plethora of social issues—drug addiction, domestic violence, homelessness, poverty—are all connected to health metrics.

“Systems are complex and they require complex thought,” Green said, adding COVID has both complicated the state’s healthcare landscape and introduced new opportunities, like broadening the availability of telehealth services. “The consequences of health disparities are great. There’s no choice but to address them. What we now know is that your zip code matters more than your genetic code.”

In his speech, Green talked about how he came to the islands from Pennsylvania to serve as a rural doctor on Hawaii Island and then decided to run for office in hopes of bringing attention to healthcare disparities he was seeing first-hand. Fast forward to 2019 and he was in the lieutenant governor’s office and having a conversation with the government of Western Samoa about a huge measles outbreak.

They asked Green, “Could you come and vaccinate our entire country?”

Green wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish it, but he corralled resources in lightning speed. Hundreds of Hawaii healthcare professionals volunteered to assist. Airlines donated travel. And vaccines were provided free of charge. Over just 48 hours, some 37,000 measles vaccinations were administered.

And just a few months after that ordeal, Green and his team started getting wind of a worrisome new coronavirus making people sick in China and spreading to U.S. cities. “There was a problem on the horizon and we just witnessed what a virus could do,” Green said. “I knew we better get ready.”

Within weeks, a pandemic was declared and the state was shut down.

Green said COVID-19 underscored the power of working together, especially in emergencies, to shepherd resources and keep people safe. He said that same approach is necessary to grapple with some of the biggest crises facing Hawaii, many of which have significant implications on health.

Lucy Lee '23 and Ramsay Taum posing for the camera with Diamond Head in the background — *Lucy Lee ’23 and Ramsay Taum*

Also on April 12, the CIFAL Centre hosted Life Enhancement Institute of the Pacific Founder and President Ramsay Taum and Hōkūleʻa student navigator Lucy Lee ’23 for a conversation about cultural and historical connections across the Pacific that could guide the way for sustainable development.

In considering climate change resilience and sustainability, Taum told attendees we must begin by “considering the empty chair”—our ancestors, loved ones who have departed and relatives who have not yet been born but also those we are trying to protect. “Who is it that you are accountable to?” Taum said, adding that he writes a letter every night to the people who will become his great-great grandchildren to answer their question, “What did you do when you had the chance?”

Taum said it’s also important to understand our priorities as an island community. “When we take fertile lands that we grow food in, and grow cement in them instead, what we’ve suggested is that we’ve shifted a priority—we’re OK with shipping our food in rather than growing it,” he said.

“Imagine if we created policies on caring. Do you think the carrying capacities will follow? I think so.”

He added that it’s important to understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge and recognize the importance of each in creating resilient, sustainable communities. “Maybe our success living on this island called Earth could be supported by talking to islanders,” Taum said.

In her address, Lee also touched on the value of place-based solutions.

A solution for one community, she pointed out, might not work for another. She added that communication and dialogue are also central ingredients in making headway on some of society’s biggest obstacles. To underscore the point, Lee recalled her first navigation experience onboard the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa. She and other students were charged with finding Nihoa island.

At the time, the Environmental Studies major said, Polynesian Voyaging Society President and Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson told her that he didn’t care if she found the island in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

What he cared about was whether she was leading her crew. “You can be the best navigator in the world. If no one wants to be on crew with you, you’ll be sailing solo for the rest of your life,” she said.

*Josh Stanbro, Dr. Chip Fletcher, Dr. Gail Grabowsky, Chris Benjamin, Scott Glenn and Aimee Barnes*

The final event in the speaker series, on April 18, was a panel discussion on climate resiliency and mitigation. The talk was moderated by Alexander & Baldwin CEO Chris Benjamin and included scientists, policy leaders and others discussing the stakes for Hawaii, the fight ahead, and how the Hawaii Executive Collaborative is seeking to drive change for the better with its Climate Coalition.

“We’re here today because our planet is in peril,” Benjamin told attendees. “Hawaii will experience climate change particularly acutely. This can’t just be a government solution or a nonprofit solution. It’s not just about educating people. It’s about all of these things. We’re trying to connect the dots.”

Dr. Charles “Chip” Fletcher, a panelist and dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said climate change is an immense problem with no easy solutions. But he’s optimistic about how Hawaii will tackle global warming’s many challenges.

“We have the cultural and economic and social framework with which we can thrive in this century,” Fletcher said. “Our community in Hawaii can by strongly unified. That is a community that can be prepared for the shocks and stresses of climate change. But we have a lot of work to do.”

Aimee Barnes, founder and CEO of Hua Nani Partners, said despair and doom are frequent and unfortunate themes in climate change circles. As she told attendees, however, there is an antidote: action. “The work that we’re doing really does matter. It’s going to help,” she said.

And, said Elemental Excelerator Policy Fellow and former city Resilience Officer Josh Stanbro, sustainable action also adds up—especially at the local level. “When we’re talking about turning these islands into a climate resilient place, I think we have a better shot than most,” he said.

Panelist Scott Glenn, the state’s chief energy officer, agreed and said fighting climate change and mitigating its impacts shouldn’t be seen simply as good for the environment or for communities but should be considered the right thing to do. “For all of us, it comes down to the opportunities we have to be a good person, to be a decent human. Fighting poverty, planting a tree is about making life better.”

For more details on the speaker series and on CIFAL Honolulu, click here.

Walking the Walk: Creating a Sustainable Hawaii

April 8, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

Cara Gutierrez pouring old food onto composting pile

Cara Gutierrez doesn’t just want to learn about leaders in the green movement. She wants to be one.

The senior at Chaminade, who is majoring in Communication with a minor in Environmental Studies, is passionate about helping build a more sustainable Hawaii and has gotten involved in a number of projects on and off campus designed to do just that—from food waste audits to composting.

“I’m just trying to make an impact,” Gutierrez said.

And along the way, she’s hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Gutierrez, who transferred to Chaminade from St. Mary’s College in California as a sophomore, has created a Campus Sustainability Council Club at the university in addition to serving as vice president of the Surfrider Club and a resource recovery specialist at Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

She said her community service efforts grew out of an Environmental Ethics course at Chaminade, where she learned just how important a single person can be in making a positive difference. “I really felt called to help and did different types of volunteering. I wanted to do my part,” she said.

Sustainability Council Club a the beach picking up trash

So she started in her own backyard—by looking at sustainability at Chaminade.

In addition to launching her new club, she also conducted a food waste audit at the university to determine how much is thrown away that could instead be redirected to productive composting. That work led her to connect with the agricultural director at Saint Louis School for an innovative zero-waste project now underway and he in turn connected her with the Windward Zero Waste School Hui.

Gutierrez said she when she first reached out to the hui, which works with five public schools to turn their food waste into composted nutrient-rich soil, the director warned her the work wasn’t glamorous. She would be gathering food waste into huge compost piles, the hui told her, turning and watering them as worms break up the organic materials, and then selling that rich compost to the community.

“She told me, ‘This is really hard work. You’ll have dirt everywhere,’” Gutierrez said.

After working for a day, Gutierrez was hooked. “I said, ‘OK, sign me up!’”

If her volunteering and work with the hui wasn’t enough, Gutierrez is also an intern focused on sustainability projects at Chaminade’s new CIFAL Honolulu Centre, part of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. She said through CIFAL and her sustainability club, she’s planning an educational Earth Day event and a gathering on Oahu’s North Shore to promote agriculture.

With all the hats she wears, Guteirrez doesn’t have much downtime.

Cara Guiterrez winding a lever on the Golden Rule Peace Boat

But that’s OK. What she has instead, she said, is a community that believes in her—and her mission.

“Climate change is so important and our generation has a responsibility to act. I’m only here for a limited number of years and I want to leave the lightest footprint possible but also have an impact on younger generations,” she said. “Everything I do is for the people who came before and after me.”

She added that her CIFAL Honolulu internship has also helped her zoom out and think about the value of sustainability policy and climate change work at the international level. “In the future, I would be really interested in working toward those bigger goals to make a greater positive difference,” she said.

For now, though, she’s focused on her grassroots work—and on graduation just around the corner. She said she plans to pursue a graduate degree, but will first take a year off to travel. “I’ve learned so much in Hawaii,” she said. “Now I want to go to different communities to learn even more.”

Marianists and the Arts Program

March 28, 2022 by University Communications & Marketing

An exciting year-long workshop series at Chaminade is seeking to help tell the rich stories of the University and its Marianist founders through art in a bid to give participants an engaging and hands-on way to appreciate the institution’s sense of place—and reflect on their own place in it.

Each Marianists & the Arts workshop approaches Chaminade’s history through a different field of study or craft, from Olelo Hawaii to ceramics to digital art to woodworking. And when each workshop ends, participants walk away with their own hand-crafted “artifact” that helps tell Chaminade’s story.

The series was developed by Sr. Malia Wong, a Humanities, Arts and Design senior lecturer.

Wong said each of the Marianists & the Arts workshops include a presentation based on readings and a unique “creating session that’s focused on bringing a part of the story to a contemporary audience.”

In launching the workshop series, Wong was able to secure a grant from the Marianist Sponsorship Ministries Foundation for supplies and other costs. Additionally, she recruited a number of Chaminade faculty members and staff who were delighted to help tell Chaminade’s story in a new way.

Kumu Kahi Renauld teaching olelo as part of the Marianist and the Arts program

Wong said that by the end of each workshop, participants walk away with insight into “one or more parts of the history of Chaminade through the vision, dreams, struggles and successes, faith and humanity, and values of the first Marianists as represented by the artifact produced.”

In one recent workshop, Kumu Keahi Renauld explored the life and contributions of Bro. Oliver Mahealani Aiu—a Native Hawaiian who went away to study and then returned to serve his community. He said the participants considered how language and culture are intertwined, and how Olelo Hawaii plays a relevant and important role in the story of the Marianists and Chaminade today.

“We all need to realize the power of our words in everyday life,” Renauld said.

Dr. Junghwa Suh teaching a Marianist & the Arts workshop

Dr. Junghwa Suh, a professor in the Environmental + Interior Design program, used digital arts to illuminate the contributions of Bro. Joseph Becker, who helped to found Chaminade and wrote its alma mater. For her workshop, she tasked participants with visualizing the emotions of the lyrics.

Suh said she jumped at the chance to lead the workshop because she wanted to learn more about Chaminade’s founders. She added that giving participants the freedom to interpret emotions in art and then incorporate their perspectives is powerful. “These activities are designed to reflect on who and where they are in the story of our founders and journey, and learn about the University,” she said.

International Studies student Marl-John Valerio attended a Marianists & the Arts workshop that focused on the legacy of Bro. Bertram Bellinghausen, the first president of what would later become Saint Louis School. Attendees reflected on his life and work as they tackled a ceramics project.

“What I enjoyed most about the workshop was the process. Shaping and forming the art that you envisioned was difficult for a novice like me,” Valerio said. “My biggest takeaway is that mistakes are OK. You can envision what you may want in life but sometimes it won’t work out as you thought.”

Chaminade student working on a ceramics piece during the Marianist & the Arts workshop

Devin Oishi, a Fine Arts professor at Chaminade, led the ceramics workshop. In addition to helping students to make pinch pots or slab pieces, he created a collaborative piece with participants. “I threw a large base on the potter wheel and students, staff and friends then added coils as a mirror of how Chaminade developed, with a foundation and generations contributing to the legacy,” he said.

Oishi said he wants attendees to think of themselves as “the next layer of stones being added to the foundation” of Chaminade and members of a strong ‘ohana contributing to society in a meaningful way.

Kumu Kahoalii Keahi-Wood, a cultural engagement specialist in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, led workshops on campus la’au, or vegetation, and the teachings of Marianist Father Joseph Priestley. Keahi-Wood said he sought to underscore how Priestley, who was Native Hawaiian, embraced Marianist values without losing his cultural identity.

“In this workshop, we explored the values and steps required to be a practitioner, protocols involved in picking plants, carrying out healing, and basic chants that can be done to refocus your mind,” Keahi-Wood said. “We also take a look at plants that are found on campus and viewed for healing.”

Kahoalii Keahi-Wood instructing his Marianist & the Arts workshop

And the takeaway from the gathering? It’s simple.

“You don’t need to lose your traditions to follow Marianist ones. There is overlap,” Keahi-Wood said.

Dr. Dale Fryxell, dean of the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, said he was honored to participate in the Marianists & the Arts series. He led a workshop focused on woodworking and the life of Father Stephan Tutas, who served as director of the Marianist community in Honolulu, taught at Saint Louis School, and was a professor and administrator at Chaminade before leaving the islands.

Fryxell said Tutas is well-known for his reflections, including his writings on an “attitude of gratitude.”

Workshop participants turned and assembled their own pen out of koa wood on a lathe.

“What better way to start each day than to use the pen that they created, to learn and write about things they are passionate about and will hopefully lead them to become leaders that will inspire others, just as Father Tutas did?” said Fryxell, who previously owned and operated a woodworking business.

Dr. Dale Fryxell watches a student woodwork during the Marianist & the Arts program

Fryxell said Tutas also wrote about “turning points in our lives,” and so he encouraged participants to consider the connection between these critical moments and the turning of an object on a lathe. “Often when you start to create something on the lathe, you may have an idea about what it will turn out to be. But in the process, it may end up completely different—similar to many of life’s journeys,” Fryxell said.

That was the big lesson that Nursing student Taylor Crawford walked away with.

“I need to have more patience as life has many turns,” she said, adding she hopes to take more workshops. “I enjoyed being creative and making something linked to the people we learned about.”

Charlie Clausner, MBA ’21, attended the workshop on Olelo Hawaii. He said he chiefly wanted to add to his Hawaiian language skills. But along the way, he said, he also “gained a deeper foundation of the Hawaiian language and learned a lot about some Chaminade classmates and the university.”

In addition to the various workshops, Bro. Edward Brink and Bro. Thomas Jalbert offered a walking tour of the Chaminade campus where participants learned of the University’s history and heard stories of the Marianists.

Hokulea Navigator and Environmental Lawyer in Training

September 20, 2021 by University Communications & Marketing

Lucy Lee '23, environmental studies major on Hokulea smiling at camera

Over the summer, Lucy Lee ’23 was one of five student navigators invited on a training expedition of Hokulea and sister voyaging canoe Hikianalia to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

One of their big challenges: use traditional Polynesian navigation techniques to find Nihoa island.

How tough is that? Lee said Polynesian Voyaging Society President and Master Navigator Nainoa Thompson has compared the task of navigating to Nihoa—with an area of just over a third of a mile—to departing from Hawaii Island’s south shore and finding something about half the size of Diamond Head.

So … pretty tough.

On the day they were set to arrive at Nihoa, Lee had the midnight to 6 a.m. navigation run.

“I was really nervous because we wanted to be at a certain place at sunrise,” the Chaminade Environmental Studies major said. Once Lee conducted some calculations as day broke, she and the other student navigators concluded they were close to where they wanted to be.

They woke Thompson up to share the news and he didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to.

Lucy Lee '23, environmental studies major navigating on Hokulea

“He smiled. We were about a degree and a half off (course)—about as close as you can get without using modern tools,” said Lee, adding that her first deep sea navigation on Hokulea was an awe-inspiring experience. “Papahanaumokuakea is not a place people typically get access to. It’s super special. I think going anywhere by canoe is awesome, and pulling Nihoa out of the water was definitely the highlight.”

While the Papahanaumokuakea voyage was a major milestone for Lee, it’s also only a start. She is training to navigate during Hokulea’s next major voyage: a 41,000-mile trek to circumnavigate the Pacific Ocean, stopping at 46 countries, 345 ports and 100 indigenous territories.

The launch date is tentatively set for summer 2022.

The Pacific Voyaging Society has called the massive expedition, coming on the heels of Hokulea’s worldwide Malama Honua voyage, an opportunity to focus on the vital importance of oceans while developing young crew members, navigators and leaders. Lee said she’s honored to be training as a student navigator, “learning and watching and being taught what it takes to be on the crew.”

“It’s learning how to change lines, how to change knots. But it’s also learning what it means to be a helpful and active crew member,” added Lee, who had only navigated on inter-island and coastal sails before the 10-day voyage to the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. “I feel very fortunate to be … learning the skill and the art of traditional Polynesian navigation.”

And she’s balancing all that learning on the water with her studies at Chaminade.

Lucy Lee '23, environmental studies paddling on Hikianalia

“School is really important for me,” said Lee, who graduated from Kamehameha Schools and is interested in going into environmental law. She said she chose Chaminade because she wanted to stay in Hawaii and was interested in a university with an individualized approach to instruction.

Lee said she applied and got into several colleges on the mainland but knew they weren’t a right fit. “You know in all those cliché college movies where they walk into the lecture room and there’s like 200 people?” Lee asked, laughing. “I was like, that’s not for me. I like how Chaminade is small.”

Lee was also interested in an option that wouldn’t break the bank.

At Chaminade, she is receiving the Regents Scholarship (a merit scholarship), which covers about half of her tuition.

And, Lee said, she was looking for an environment-focused program that incorporated policy and advocacy. The Environmental Studies program at Chaminade was perfect. Lee said her ultimate goal is to offer legal expertise and representation to sustenance fishing and farming communities in Hawaii.

“They are ingenious, but they struggle in literacy when it comes to law and defending themselves in justice systems,” she said, pointing to decades-long legal challenges over water rights for small farmers on Maui. Lee added, “I started hearing about that case when I was in elementary school.”

But before heading to law school (and after graduating from Chaminade), she’ll be taking a break.

Because around that time, she plans to be sailing on Hokulea—on its pan-Pacific voyage.

Beyond Academics: Co-Curricular Awards

May 12, 2021 by University Communications & Marketing

2021 Co-Curricular Awards at the Silverswords Student Appreciation event

Every year, the Co-Curricular Awards recognize members of Chaminade’s student body, clubs and organizations, and staff and faculty members whose efforts to make the campus and the community a better place go above and beyond—and embody the University’s mission of public service.

This year’s in-person awards presentation was particularly poignant, honoring those who truly exemplified the Silversword spirit despite the challenges presented by the pandemic. Honorees were recognized during a Silversword Student Appreciation event on April 28, which was also an opportunity to thank all students for their resilience and flexibility in grappling with COVID’s many impacts.

This was the 16th annual Co-Curricular Awards event.

The recipient of the Silversword Award, which recognizes a student-athlete who represents the Marianist philosophy with sportsmanship, integrity and respect for others, was Chaminade women’s tennis captain Catrina Liner. In addition to her hard work on the court, Liner serves as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and has also provided input on COVID safety procedures and protocols as the student-athlete representative at athletic department meetings on the topic.

Her efforts in the classroom are also impressive. She is a three-time member of the Pac-West All-Academic, which recognizes student-athletes who maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA after completing at least two semesters at their institution while participating in regular season competition.

Silversword Student Appreciation event and Co-Curricular Award presentation

Meanwhile, there were two recipients this year of the Service Award: Connor and Lillie Flynn. The Service Award acknowledges those who demonstrate outstanding servant leadership, specifically in the areas of restorative justice and service for the people and lands of Hawaii. And the Flynn twins have done just that, working on countless community service projects to make a positive difference.

Both are part of the Chaminade Scholars program, through which they have sought to pursue their shared passions of protecting Hawaii’s environment while using what they’ve learned to help others.

Student leader Reyna Riesgo was honored with the Outstanding Peer Mentor Award, which recognizes upper-class students who work tirelessly as peer mentors to ensure that first-years feel supported as new members of the Chaminade ‘ohana. Peer mentors commit significant hours of their time as co-teachers of CUH 100 First-Year Experience Seminar, and prepare for the position with training and class preparation.

Riesgo has not only shown herself to be an outstanding peer mentor. She has served as a leader, collaborating with her fellow CUH 100 team members to make the first-year experience even better.

This year’s Tutor of the Year is Rachel Reedy, a student-athlete who has managed to help her fellow students make progress in their academic journey as she also juggles her own studies and excels on the volleyball court. The Tutoring Center has lost count of the number of students she’s helped.

Dominic Coffey was honored with the Dean of Students’ Special Recognition Award for his strong leadership skills, including as a Resident Assistant. The award spotlights those whose contributions have helped build a better community. Coffey has done that while preserving his affable leadership style.

Five students were recognized with the Bro. Joseph Becker Award of Excellence. The award acknowledges undergraduates who display exceptional leadership, demonstrate strong initiative and motivation, and show outstanding character, service, integrity and scholarship.

The freshman honoree was Sean Lorenzo, whose peers and Chaminade mentors can attest to his uncanny ability to motivate others around community service, including through his tireless work with the Student Government Association and Office of Student Activities and Leadership.

There were two sophomore honorees: Pamela Oda and Montserrat Lanfranco. Mentors say Oda has provided exceptional Office of Student Activities and Leadership virtual programs during the pandemic to ensure members of the Chaminade can connect and feel supported. Lanfranco, similarly, has demonstrated a tireless work ethic—and is always willing to help a fellow Silversword.

The Junior honoree was Celine Mesiona-Perez, who has proven to be a key asset to both Campus Ministry and the Office of Student Activities and Leadership. She has embraced her role as a servant leader, stepping up to the responsibilities before her and making sure she isn’t leaving anyone behind.

Finally, the senior honoree was Keahealailani Takushi, who has put in innumerable hours as part of student leadership activities since her very first year at Chaminade. Takushi, who has secured several internships and conducted research projects, has also been recognized for her scholarly achievements.

Among the faculty and staff members recognized was School of Nursing and Health Professions Professor Denise Cooper, who received the Rev. David Schuyler Award. The award acknowledges faculty or staff members who advise a student organization, supporting them in their endeavors, expanding their horizons and demonstrating a commitment to meeting the community’s needs.

Cooper serves as an advisor to Chaminade’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals chapter, and has helped to expand its membership significantly and bolster participation in innovative projects. HOSA members are particularly excited about the organization’s future growth and community service opportunities.

2021 Co-Curricular Awardees:

Male Athlete of the Year: Isaac Amaral-Artharee
Female Athlete of the Year: Randi Fontes
Athletics’ Silversword Award: Catrina Liner
Campus Ministry Award: Edward-James Adachi
Liturgy Award: Kamaile Aipa and Taylor Skye Diego
Retreat Leader of the Year: Keanu Whitfield and Sierra Murobayashi
Service Award: Connor Flynn and Lillie Flynn
Outstanding Orientation Leader: Martina Segura
Outstanding Peer Mentor: Reyna Riesgo
Tutor of the Year: Rachel Reedy
Resident Assistant Award of Excellence: Tihani Rivera
Residence Hall Association Award of Excellence: Marianna Oka
Dean of Students’ Special Recognition: Dominic Coffey
Bro. Joseph Becker Award of Excellence: Sean Lorenzo, Pamela Oda, Montserrat Lanfranco, Celine Mesiona-Perez and Keahealailani Takushi
Bro. Elmer Dunsky Outstanding Student Organization Award: Chemistry Club
Rev. David Schuyler Advisor of the Year Award: Professor Denise Cooper
Fr. Stephen Tutas Program Award for Excellence: Taste of Culture (CSGA)
Frederick K.K. Kauhane, Sr. Aloha Spirit Award: Kamaile Aipa
Henry Halenani Gomes Alaka‘i Award: Edward-James Adachi