Scholarship

Chaminade Scholar

June 13, 2023

Depending on the power grid in the countryside of Ukraine, Chaminade sophomore Victoria DelaCruz ’25 may or may not be able to teach American culture, environment and English to Kate (not her real name to protect her identity) through a volunteer role with ENGin, a nonprofit group that offers a unique opportunity to make a difference in a Ukrainian’s life. It’s a volunteer role that she pursued during her freshman year in 2021.

What she didn’t anticipate, though, was the Russian invasion of the second largest European country in February 2022. Still, the Saipan native persisted and persevered to maintain contact with Kate at least once a week to this very day.

“She wants to improve her English, and I’m trying to help her do that,” says DelaCruz, who opted to major in Data Science, Analytics and Visualization. “I am provided with class lessons, but I tailor them to fit with what I’m comfortable with.”

Growing up in the largest island in the Northern Mariana Islands, DelaCruz has always felt comfortable with helping her community, following her mom to work at KARIDAT, a not-for-profit, social service organization under the Catholic Charity Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. In 2018, when Super Typhoon Yutu, the strongest typhoon ever recorded to impact the Mariana Islands and the second-strongest to strike the United States or its territories, slammed into Saipan, DelaCruz was there.

Victoria DelaCruz helps out at the Kaimuki office of Aloha Harvest.

“She was doing basic intakes and helping out in the food pantry,” recalls mom Elaine DelaCruz, a Chaminade alumna who earned her bachelor’s degree in 1999 and her M.S. in Counseling Psychology (MSCP) in 2003. “She has always wanted to serve her community ever since she was a young girl.”

DelaCruz personifies the Chaminade Scholar, defined as a student who strives to discover his or her life vocation, to be a servant leader and to use God-given gifts and talents to pursue the common good. “Her reflection on service and the path she traveled to earn her internship with Aloha Harvest are inspiring,” says Bro. Ed Brink, a member of the Mission and Identity Committee that selects Chaminade Scholars. “She’s truly a remarkable young woman who exemplifies the Marianist education and values.”

While searching for a service project to fulfill one of the mandatory requirements of being a Chaminade Scholar, DelaCruz came upon the AmeriCorps Vista program and decided to become a member. The objective of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) is to provide needed resources to nonprofit organizations and public agencies to increase their capacity to lift communities out of poverty. It just so happened that Aloha Harvest was registering to participate in the VISTA program and looking for someone to work in its office.

“I started as a volunteer in late September 2022,” DelaCruz recalls. “At that point, Aloha Harvest was in the process of creating an AmeriCorps VISTA position (Program Data Evaluation Specialist), and found out I was a Data Science student. So, they asked me if I would be willing to fulfill that position, and that’s how I was recruited. My official first day as a full-time service member with Aloha Harvest was January 17, 2023, and I will be there until January 17, 2024.”

In addition to being a Chaminade Scholar, DelaCruz is also in the Experiential Honors Program, and she serves as vice president of the Chaminade Sustainability Council, the design manager for the Chaminade Student Programming Board and an Alliance Research Intern with the National Science Foundation.

DelaCruz credits her Chaminade Scholar status, not only for her monetary scholarship, but for helping her grow and commit to community service, which she plans to continue in Saipan after she graduates in 2024.

“When it comes to data science, there’s a great demand for it in Saipan, from the medical to the educational field,” DelaCruz asserts. “Saipan usually has to bring in people from the Mainland but it never lasts too long.”

And if you had told DelaCruz that she would be pursuing a degree in data science a year ago, she says she would have thought you were lying. “I never considered technology, and now I’m learning to code and use data,” she says. “I’m really glad I changed my major to DSAV because the skills that I have learned can be applied to so many fields. And I can use the knowledge that I gained and my passion for service to help my Chamorro community.”

Nursing Scholarship

May 4, 2023

Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union Announces New Scholarship Fund

During a check presentation to Chaminade President Dr. Lynn Babington, Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union’s Board Chairman, Neil Shimogawa, said this would be the first of hopefully many to follow in the years to come.

“We couldn’t do this without our community partners like yourselves,” said Dr. Babington to Shimogawa and fellow board members Ariel Chun, Director, and Alan Yasuda, Secretary. “Scholarships are often the optimal form of financial aid since, unlike student loans, scholarships do not need to be repaid.”

According to U.S. News & World Report, the average college student graduates with about $30,000 in student loans. That’s nearly a 25 percent increase from a decade ago. Many of these student loans carry high interest rates, and create a severe financial burden for young professionals. In contrast, scholarship programs can help students afford college without strings attached. As a result, scholarship recipients can pay off loans more quickly and use their extra income to start saving for the future.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, many colleges and universities experienced significant budget cuts. And while public schools experienced a squeeze in funding, passing these costs along to students, Chaminade did the opposite. Instead of increasing its tuition, the university introduced its Hawaii Guarantee pilot program, which ensures all graduates of Hawaii high schools entering as first-time freshmen pay the exact same tuition rate as the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s annual resident undergraduate tuition, and an achievable path to graduate in four years.

These days, many scholarship opportunities target communities that haven’t historically had access to higher education. These include students from communities with lower household incomes and who also represent the first generation of their families to attend a four-year university.

While many scholarships are need-based, or select winners based on academic achievement, others prioritize community service. The latter is one of the reasons that spurred board members of the Hawaii Central Federal Credit Union to establish its scholarship at Chaminade.

“Chaminade has one of the best nursing programs in Hawaii, and it was a perfect fit for what we wanted to do for the community,” says Shimogawa, with Chun and Yasuda nodding in agreement. “Our scholarship fund is targeted at nursing students, who are entering a field that the community really needs.”

Chaminade’s student-centric focus also appealed to the three Board Members. “This is all for the students,” Babington said. “I was reading the remarks of our student speakers at Commencement this year and it was inspiring to hear, and it’s why I come to work every day.”

Muʻo Scholarship

May 3, 2023

New Partnership to Address Teacher Shortage

Every state across the country is coming up with solutions to combat the teacher shortage, which many education officials describe as a severe crisis. For its part, Hawaiʻi introduced multiple incentives and retention efforts—from higher pay to student loan forgiveness—to attract new teachers, but more educators will still be needed in the near future.

To address the community’s needs, Chaminade University and Kamehameha Schools have introduced their own new carrot: an innovative and community-focused teacher prep partnership that will provide 150 Muʻo Scholarships to educate, train and prepare aspiring teachers to lead Hawaiʻi’s classrooms.

Chaminade President Lynn Babington addresses new partnership with Kamehameha Schools.

“We are excited to announce this partnership with Kamehameha Schools, which directly addresses one of our most pressing community issues: a teacher shortage,” said Chaminade University President Dr. Lynn Babington, during a press conference in the ceremonial chambers of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke. “By providing these scholarships, we’re removing barriers that too often hinder many working adults in the state from obtaining a bachelor’s degree while still maintaining family and work commitments.”

The new partnership will provide full-tuition scholarships, and aligns with Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke’s “Ready Keiki” program, which aims to create universal preschool access for all of Hawaiʻi’s 3- and 4-year-olds by 2032.

“Ready Keiki is a commitment by the State of Hawaii to provide access to early education,” Lt. Gov. Luke said. “In order to do that, it wasn’t just the state of Hawaii leading the charge. We needed partnership from many of the departments, all the counties and many of our private philanthropic partners, including Kamehameha Schools and Chaminade University.”

Beginning Fall 2023, Chaminade University and Kamehameha Schools will offer 50 students full-tuition Muʻo Scholarships to Chaminade’s online bachelor’s program to become teachers here in Hawaiʻi, prioritizing early learning. This enrollment will continue for two additional years for a total of 150 funded scholarships as a partnership through KS Kaiāulu, a new way for Kamehameha Schools to impact keiki and ʻohana in the kaiāulu (community) alongside community partners.

Dr. Wai’ale’ale Sarsona believes every keiki should have access to early learning.

“Every keiki should have access to early learning, which provides a strong foundation for a lifetime of learning,” said Dr. Waiʻaleʻale Sarsona, vice president of Hiʻialo at Kamehameha Schools. “We are committed to help make this vision a reality, and this latest partnership with Chaminade University will bring Hawaiʻi closer to achieving this goal.”

Chaminade University’s online bachelor’s degree program is designed for working adults in Hawai‘i who may already be serving as a teacher’s aide or, currently, in a similar position. The online delivery format will allow students to continue working while pursuing their bachelor’s degree. Program information is available and applications for the scholarships are being accepted. This transformative program is 100 percent online, with a requirement to complete a student-teaching track. Students will be paired with an academic advisor to guide them on the road to graduation.

Applications are open to all Hawaiʻi residents with additional consideration extended to those of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Recruitment and admittance priority will also be given to early childhood education applicants.

Chaminade University and Kamehameha Schools are institutions that value education and understand how teachers—at the early stages of childhood—have a positive impact on kids, their families and the community-at-large. This partnership is a testament to their commitment.

“This is a great day when we’re announcing this partnership, thanks to Chaminade University, thanks to the efforts of Kamehameha Schools,” said Lt. Gov. Luke. “We have found a way to fill that (teacher) void; and found the pathway to filling these classrooms with qualified teachers, qualified teaching assistants.”

Watch the KITV news coverage.

Watch KHON2’s news coverage.

Scholarship Luncheon

February 10, 2023

Students thank donors for their continued support

More than 80 donors, students and staff attended this year’s Mahalo Scholarship Luncheon on February 9, 2023, in-person and online. Dr. Lynn M. Babington, President of Chaminade University of Honolulu addressed the audience and expressed her gratitude for the support of our students. Dr. Babington shared how Chaminade offers more than 100 scholarships that have been generously established by individual donors and foundations. Many of them are endowed, and several are renewable investments that are replenished each year. This year alone, students received nearly $2.3 million in donor-funded scholarships.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to thank and to let donors know how much their support has made a difference in their educational journey,” said Jimmy Tran, Stewardship and Scholarships Manager in the Office of Advancement. “Our donors see how their support helps fulfill our students’ dreams of obtaining a quality college education and to go on to successful careers.”

Chaminade juniors Caitlin Bocobo and Aleeyah Lemons shared their appreciation for their scholarship. “Words are not enough to express how grateful we are for your gifts that made our scholarships possible. I am here today to offer my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to you all,” said Bocobo ’24.

“Donors allow students, like me, to get the most out of their college experience—to grow, mature and make a difference in this world,” said Lemons ’24. “The Silversword ‘ohana is grateful to have you all. I am grateful to have your support and faith.”

Dani Masuda, Assistant Vice President for Student Success shared with the gathering how the scholarships can be the difference between attending college or not. “Scholarships contribute to a student’s wellness and the reach goes far beyond just the individual student. Mahalo nui loa to our donors for your continued generosity, commitment, and investment in our students,” said Masuda.

If you would like to support a student attending Chaminade University, contact Jimmy Tran at [email protected]

Dr. Lynn Babington Address Scholarship Luncheon Attendees

Donors, faculty, staff and students gathered for the annual Scholarship Luncheon.

Living Legacy

January 26, 2023

A Place Close to the Heart: Honoring an Alumnus’s Final Wishes

Before losing his battle to hypopharyngeal cancer on July 15, 2017 in San Leandro, CA., Thomas “Tom” Siu-Wing Watt ’68 made his spouse of more than 35 years, Carol-Anne Tucker-Watt, grant him two final wishes: One of them was to have Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way” played at his funeral and another was “to fly.”

“He made it clear that he was fine with cremation, but he did not want his ashes buried, stuck in a niche or dumped over the side of a boat,” Tucker-Watt says. “He wished for his mortal remains to be ‘free like the wind.’”

Tom and Carol-Anne Watt were together for more than 35 years.

Indeed, Watt was a free spirit, developing close friends while attending Saint Louis School where he experienced academic success and a penchant for mathematics and sciences. After high school, he aspired to be an engineer—one of three popular professions chosen among Chinese immigrants at the time—and enrolled in the engineering department at the University of Hawai‘i Mānoa.

Unfortunately, his first-year experience would mark his last.

“The professors of the introductory engineering classes assumed that the students were already familiar with the fundamentals of mechanical drawing, but Tom was not,” Tucker-Watt recalls. “It did not take long for him to decide that he and UH were not a good fit, and that he would need to pivot.”

Having attended Saint Louis, Watt was familiar with the Chaminade campus, and several of his Saint Louis classmates were already attending what was then Chaminade College. There was one problem: Chaminade did not have an engineering program, so he decided to pass on his engineering books, drafting board and T-square to his younger brother and switched to a business major where he could apply both his math and English skills.

“Chaminade always held a place close to his heart,” Tucker-Watt says. “After retirement from a long and successful career with the Social Security Administration, Tom was able to connect with fellow alumni living in the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as students about to start at Chaminade.”

But having scattered Tom’s ashes in mid-air meant that there would be no headstone. “There would be nothing to mark his time on earth,” Tucker-Watt says. “And so it occurred to me that the best way to give him an ongoing legacy was to endow a scholarship at Chaminade.”

The scholarship has a single criterion: Students have to maintain a 3.5 grade point average, something that Tom successfully managed to do while studying at Chaminade.

“He would have been proud, and glad that he could help young Chaminade students,” Tucker-Watt says. “I miss him terribly, but I still feel his guiding hand. He still has my back.”

From Trauma to Transformation and Beyond

October 20, 2022

The road Kimmy Takata ’22 took to college wasn’t traditional—or easy.

But while she says much of her life has been defined by struggle, Takata is choosing to focus on everything she’s accomplished and all the people who have helped her along the way. “My journey has been one from trauma to transformation,” she said, on a recent afternoon. “It takes a village to save somebody and it took 10 villages to save me, including the village I found at Chaminade.”

Now the 53-year-old is setting her sights on new goals—from serving as a mentor to other women exiting prison to even going back to school to pursue a graduate degree. She said her story is an example of what’s possible when you work hard, dream big and get plenty of help along the way.

“People believed in me. That’s the key,” she said.

Takata wasn’t always confident in herself.

As a child growing up in an abusive household, she struggled with low self-esteem. She said she was constantly being called “dumb” and “stupid”—and often heard those words in her head when she was at school. Throughout her teens, Takata was in and out of youth lockup and struggled with drugs.

Eventually, she dropped out of school.

“I never even thought of myself going to college,” she said. “College wasn’t even in my vocabulary.”

In the years that followed, things got worse for Takata. And then, she hit rock bottom.

She was arrested and charged with 16 counts and sentenced to 40 years behind bars. Then in 2003, Takata escaped from Oahu Community Correctional Center and was gone for four days. When she was arrested again, she was transferred to a women’s prison and placed in lockdown “for a very long time.”

She thought that all was lost. But it was at that moment things started to turn around.

Takata was given the chance to enroll in classes and earned got her GED. She also participated in a program that allowed her to share her story through poems—pieces that she eventually shared with her children to help them understand her grief about how much of their lives she’d missed. And she was placed in a substance abuse program, where she was encouraged to continue her journey of self-reflection. “I really had to take a look at the damage I’d done to everyone,” she said.

After getting out of prison on parole, Takata knew she had to make the most of out of her new perspective. She got a job and paired up with the Pu’a Foundation, which helps incarcerated women transitioning back into the community. “I was locked up for 15 years. The transition wasn’t easy,” Takata said. But she eventually got her sea legs. And then, she started looking for opportunities.

Friends encouraged her to go back to school. And at first, she didn’t even entertain the idea. It was too far-fetched. “I’m not good enough for college,” she remembers thinking. “I’m not smart enough and I’m scared.” But her friends and mentors didn’t give up. And before long, she found herself enrolling.

With the help of the Pu’a Foundation, she first enrolled at Kapiolani Community College.

From there, she found her way to Chaminade University. Bro. Dennis Schmitz, of the Marianist Center of Hawaii, happened to work with the Pu’a Foundation and encouraged her to apply. Takata also clinched a Hooulu Scholarship, which covered her tuition and included robust career development and advising resources.

On her first day of classes at Chaminade, Takata couldn’t believe how far she’d come.

“It was like Disneyland to me,” she quipped. “I found myself smiling all day long.”

And while she had plenty of jitters about going back to class, she found no shortage of professors, counselors and peers ready to cheer her on—and give her the help she needed. As an Environmental Studies major, Takata formed a particularly strong bond with Dr. Gail Grabowsky, dean of the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and director of the CIFAL Honolulu Center at Chaminade.

In fact, she still keeps in touch with Grabowsky.

“She is absolutely the best professor in the world,” Takata said. “Her classes were hard, but she’s understanding. She helped me realize going back to school was the best thing I ever could have done.”

After a lot of hard work, Takata made it to graduation day—and invited friends to cheer her on.

Now she’s working with women as they leave prison, using her own life as a case study of what’s possible. She’s also ready to jump into the next big challenge. She’s seriously considering the master’s program in Criminal Justice Studies at Chaminade and is also busy growing a cleaning business on the side.

“There’s just so many things I want to do,” she said. “And I’m ready for anything.”