Chaminade University of Honolulu

Campus Event

Chaminade Celebrates Service Learning

The Clarence T. C. Ching Conference Center in Eiben Hall was packed with students, faculty, staff and representatives from local community organizations at Chaminade University’s annual celebration of service learning.

Representatives greeted you from SHINE Hawaii as soon as you walked through the door. They shared how involved students had tutored immigrants in English and on passing citizenship tests. Environmental + Interior Design had a large number of projects on display including plans for the spaces at Holy Nativity School in East Oahu. There were nursing projects and business projects, environmental projects and teaching projects.

Alex Morris, a business major working on Professor Kido’s FAFSA project, said “I can afford school. Helping these students to find the means to afford a college education was like doing something that you would do for yourself but to someone who is not me.”

Joshua Fukumae, a senior majoring in Communication, served as an intern with Jarret Middle School helping to develop and maintain the school’s website. “I worked for a client to make sure that the website presented information in a concise way,” he said. Fukumae practiced skills that he would need in his career as well as served a client who needed help.

2017 Service Learning Day
Professor Wayne Tanna and Palolo Elementary students, who won the Stock Market Game

Guests from Palolo Elementary School also attended the celebration for special recognition. The SIFMA Foundation,  an educational non-profit organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of the financial markets for individuals of all backgrounds, awarded two teams at Palolo Elementary School first and second place in the Hawaii Elementary School division of The Stock Market Game for fall 2016.  Both teams were coached by business students from Chaminade University who were led by Accounting professor Wayne Tanna. The Stock Market Game™ is an online simulation of the global capital markets that engages students in grades 4-12 in the world of economics, investing and personal finance, and prepares them for financially independent lives. Medals and certificates were given out to the young winners, who received them with great pride.

The director of Service Learning, Candice Sakuda was pleased with Chaminade’s impact. According to Sakuda, learning through service has been ingrained in programs for decades with the impact of service learning coming through the convergence of civic engagement in the Catholic Marianist tradition.

Panelists Offer Solutions for ‘Housing the Houseless’

Faith-motivated responses to Hawaii’s homelessness epidemic was the topic of “Housing the Houseless,” a well-attended panel discussion at Chaminade University. Moderated by Hawaii News Now TV reporter and weather anchor Ben Gutierrez, the March 12 event was part of the Mackey Marianist Lecture Series: Catholicism in Prophetic Dialogue.

Panelist Peter Savio, a real estate broker/developer and social worker, characterized homelessness as a symptom of a greater problem – that being the high cost of housing in the Aloha State. As a result, many renters are just one paycheck away from losing their homes.

Savio called for the construction of affordable housing units financed by low-interest government loans. He also favors expansion of home ownership through equity-building rent-to-own projects that create “hope and opportunity” for lower-income families and individuals.

Panelist Terry Walsh (Behavioral Science ’93.), the new president and CEO of Catholic Charities Hawaii, believes in a “housing first” approach to getting people off the streets. First, provide shelter and meals for these needy individuals, Walsh said. Then tackle more deep-seated challenges such as alcohol abuse, drug addiction and mental illness.

“It takes a community to address this problem,” Walsh emphasized. “All of us together.”

Rounding out the panel were Dave and Bernie Reeves, retired teachers from Chaminade College Preparatory School in West Hills, California, and chairs of the Homelessness and Affordable Housing Committee at St. Ann’s Parish in Kaneohe.

Bernie Reeves, who volunteers for the state’s annual point-in-time homeless count, said the crisis is worse than the numbers indicate. That’s because many street people decline to provide information about themselves to outreach workers.

According to the statewide count from a single night in 2016, there were 7,921 homeless in Hawaii, up 4 percent from the previous year. More than half those counted lacked shelter of any kind.

“You have to organize individuals to solve problems,” Dave Reeves urged. Homeless people can help themselves to an extent, he said, “but they cannot do it alone.”

The Mackey Marianist Lecture Series has been sponsored for 20 years by Chaminade, Saint Louis School and the Marianist Center of Hawaii. The twice-annual lectures are dedicated to the memory of Chaminade’s first president, Father Robert R. Mackey, SM.

Marshallese Poet and Activist Inspires Chaminade Students

Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, poet and activist

More than 125 students, faculty and staff packed the Clarence T. C. Ching Center in Eiben Hall to hear the Marshallese poet and activist Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner read poetry from her book Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter. Published this month by The University of Arizona Press, Iep Jāltok made history as the first published book of poetry written by a Marshallese author.

Considered an important new voice for justice, Jetñil-Kijiner connected the Chaminade community to Marshallese daily life and tradition through the weaving of her impassioned words and rhythmic descriptions. She shared her background and the role of women in the matriarchal Marshallese culture and highlighted in her poems the traumas of colonialism, racism, forced migration, American nuclear testing and the threats of climate change.  However, she ended with a vision of hope in her deeply moving rendition of  “Dear Matafele Peinam,” performed originally at the 2014 Opening Ceremony of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Summit. It received international acclaim.

Students from environmental studies and student members from the Micronesian Club and other Pacific Island clubs were especially moved by the activist poet. One Chaminade student was invited to read with Jetñil-Kijiner.  He read in Marshallese, and she read in English. Students were visibly moved.

Iep Jaltok, Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner's book

Jetñil-Kijiner’s writing and performances have been featured on CNN, Democracy Now, Mother Jones, the Huffington Post, NBC News, National Geographic, Vogue, Nobel Women’s Initiative and more. She co-founded the nonprofit Jo-Jikum, dedicated to empowering Marshallese youth to seek solutions to climate change and other environmental impacts threatening their home island. Jetñil-Kijiner has been selected as one of 13 Climate Warriors by Vogue in 2015 and the Impact Hero of the Year by Earth Company in 2016. She received her Master’s in Pacific Island Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

The division of Humanities and Fine Arts hosted the February 17 event, which was coordinated by the English department and spearheaded by English professor Koreen Nakahodo.

Guest Speaker Touts Hawaii as Leader in Eldercare Solutions

Hawaii “has a unique and critical role to play” in achieving a comprehensive solution to America’s “elder boom,” according to Ai-Jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and co-director of the Caring Across Generations Campaign.

The social activist, named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in 2012, spoke on campus Feb. 15 at a public policy forum presented by Chaminade University’s Hogan Entrepreneurs Program.

Every eight seconds, someone living in the United States turns 65, Poo pointed out. And this phenomenon is particularly striking in the rapidly graying Aloha State, where residents enjoy the longest lifespans in America.

Poo emphasized that this demographic trend is a blessing because seniors have more time to spend with their friends and loved ones. But the massive number of retiring Baby Boomers also poses a significant challenge, she cautioned, because America’s eldercare infrastructure is woefully inadequate.

Eldercare professionals typically earn just $13,000 annually, Poo said, thus forcing many to seek other employment. And because about 75 percent of American workers make less than $50,000 per year, they often struggle with the steep cost of caring for aging relatives.

Representing a bold step forward, according to Poo, are the “Kupuna Care” bills (SB534 and HB607) under consideration by the Hawaii State Legislature. These measures would provide up to $70 a day for the respite that family caregivers need to stay fully active in the workforce while caring for their kupuna at home.

If passed by the legislature and signed into law by the governor, the Kupuna Care Program could help pay for homemaking services, adult day care, transportation to doctor appointments, etc. This would allow seniors to continue “aging in place” at home, while postponing or avoiding the transition to far more expensive institutional settings.

Caring for one’s elders is “part of the DNA of this state and this culture,” Poo concluded. And that means Hawaii could serve as an outstanding model for the rest of the nation.

Additional information on the Kupuna Care Program is available at care4kupuna.com.

Love You Then, Love You Still

More than 40 people celebrated their marriages by renewing their wedding vows on Sunday, February 12, in Mystical Rose Oratory.  The event was sponsored by Alumni Relations and Campus Ministry.  It has become an annual tradition at Chaminade in honor of Valentine’s Day and marriage.  Some of the couples were newlyweds while others have been married nearly 50 years. Alumni Relations director Be-Jay Kodama and her student assistant Arielle Regis cheerfully handed out red carnations and gave out prayer cards.  The renewal followed Mass with couples invited to come up to the altar.  Fr. Allen DeLong, SM, the presider, encouraged the couples to hold hands and look into each other’s eyes.  They each repeated the vows with a kiss to follow, as Fr. DeLong blessed them.

During refreshments, couples enjoyed each other’s company and remembered the proclamation of love and faithfulness made to each other in the past. Lots of hand holding with a few stolen kisses between bites of chocolate cupcakes continued, thanks to Alumni Relations. Later Kodama shared a Marianist thought from Our Marianist Heritage by Stefanelli (p.94) in light of Valentine’s day: “Father Chaminade insisted on the example of the early Christian Community….they had their quarrels and their battles.  But beyond that, they had so much to show forth to the world — a spectacle of love.”

Surely “a spectacle of love” — enduring love– would be an apt description of the couples participating in the wedding vows renewal.

Chaminade University Celebrates Founders’ Week

Banners with the images of Marianist founders, Blessed William Joseph Chaminade, Venerable Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon and Venerable Marie Thérèse Charlotte de Lamourous, held steady by the high winds, unfurled throughout Chaminade University’s campus. Banners of past founders and presidents of Chaminade University also heralded in the week. It was Founders Week (Jan. 23-28) and an opportunity for the University to celebrate its Marianist heritage, affirm its present day Marianist spirit and carry forward its Marianist values.

Honoring the Past

Monday morning, Campus Ministers set up a lei making station in the Vi and Paul Loo Student Center.  They stacked boxes of white and purple dendrobium orchids and threaded lei needles for students, staff, and faculty to craft together long garlands of flowers.  The garlands were completed in time for a simple draping ceremony at the Father Chaminade statue on the oval.  A simple prayer united the onlookers and gave pause. The group reflected on the rich Marianist past that preceded them.

Fully Present in the Here and Now

On Wednesday, the Chaminade family gathered at Mystical Rose Oratory for Mass and to honor three of its finest.  This was the 15th year that Chaminade University gave out its Heritage Awards. These awards, given annually to members of the faculty, staff and student body, who embody the Marianist spirit, give clear evidence that the Marianist charism is alive and well on campus.

 

This year’s awardees were:

  • Joan Riggs, associate professor and director of the Environmental and Interior Design program, who will receive the Chaminade Award, given to a faculty or professional staff member who has exhibited a continuous commitment to Marianist values in education;
  • Elaine Oishi, director of Administrative Services, who will receive the Marianist Award, given to a staff member who has exhibited a continuous and extraordinary commitment to the vision and mission of Chaminade University while drawing others into the collaborative community (Elaine was unable to attend due to health issues);
  • Jerri Gisela Francisco, vice president of CSGA Programming and Campus Ministry volunteer, who will receive the Founders Award, given to a student who has exhibited a commitment to Marianist values by outstanding generosity, respect for others, and spirit of faith.

Sowing Forward

Combining education and application, Campus Ministry on Tuesday presented an exhibit of Marianists doing good works globally. That afternoon the Chaminade community prepared food to serve to the homeless at Next Step Shelter in Kakaako, Honolulu. On Thursday, it was off to see the film Hidden Figures, which reminded students of social justice issues. On Friday, it was an Ice Cream Social, where Campus Ministry highlighted activities of involvement and civic engagement available to students and winners for the Founders’ Week photo contest were announced.

On Saturday, Founders’ Week culminated in service.  Faculty, staff, and alumni joined more than 60 students to outwardly express their Marianist Catholic values together. From sorting out clothes and household items at the Institute for Human Services to refurbishing furniture at Habitat for Humanity, from cleaning up the campus to cleaning out an ancient fishpond in Heeia, the Chaminade volunteers poured their energy into doing good works across the island.

The good works that the ‘ohana did that service day and participated in throughout Founders’ Week would continue to pay forward towards a rich Marianist future.