Volume 44, No. 2 October 2015

Ka ‘Ohana now on Facebook

K a O h a n a O n l i n e . o r g

WCC is bringing together the mil itary as wel l as veter-

ans to participate in “Talking Ser-vice,” a new pilot program with the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities (HCH).

“I think this country wants to show that we appreciate and that we are grateful for the service that you offer,” said WCC Chancellor

Doug Dykstra to a group of military students at a welcome reception on Sept. 24. “I think there’s a feeling that I have here at WCC that we haven’t done enough. We’re going to do better.”

“Talking Service” is a reading and discussion program that uses the book “Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian” by Great Books Foundation. The book features per-sonal accounts, memoirs and poetry written by or about members of the service. Robert Chang, who is the Motheread/Fatheread statewide coordinator for HCH, facilitates the discussions.

“It’s not something that should be overwhelming,” said Chang. “It’s not something that should be intimidat-ing in any way. What we’ll do is get together, sit down and talk about it. I always try and keep a real safe, real calm, real comfortable environment.”

“I guarantee that you will read things that will connect with you and if they don’t, the other people in the class will connect it to you,” said Dykstra to the students.

HCH Executive Director Robert Buss said that the National Endow-ment has done other programs where veterans act in Greek plays because “the Trojan war was about veterans, the Odyssey was about veterans. A lot of the things that are there deal

with these stories of war and our experience.” The National Endow-ment for the Humanities, one of the sponsors of “Talking Service,” and the National Endowment for the Arts were established by Congress ap-proximately 50 years ago so that “the length of the mind could flourish just

b y D e b b r a B a e t zKa ‘Ohana Editor in Chief

“Standing Down: From Warrior to Civilian” by Great Books Foundation

WCC students, faculty and staff and the Windward community will have a

chance to discuss some of the state’s most pressing issues with Gov. David Ige at a town hall meeting Monday, Oct. 26 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in ‘Ākoakoa 101-105.

Students are especially urged to attend the event, co-sponsored by the Associated Students of the Universi-ty of Hawai‘i-Windward Community College (ASUH-WCC) and Ka ‘Ohana. The governor will talk briefly about strategic initiatives his administra-tion is working on, then respond to questions from the audience.

“This is an honor and an oppor-tunity for us to educate ourselves about issues in our state and on our own campus,” said Jessica Spencer, ASUH-WCC president.

Spencer said she wants to learn how the state can expand affordable housing, especially for students struggling to make ends meet.

“We see students who are doing well in school but have to drop out

Governor Ige to hold ‘Town Hall’ at WCC

“One of our main goals is to hear from constituents — especially young people — about their con-cerns for the future,” said Gov. Ige.

“I wanted to take this discussion directly to Windward since Mike McCartney and I were able to help the college launch its master plan years ago.”

McCartney, now the governor’s chief of staff, was a young Kāne‘ohe state senator in 1991 and chair of the

Higher Education Committee while Ige was education chair in the House.

Together, they rallied WCC stu-dents, faculty, staff, alumni and the community to persuade the legisla-ture and Gov. John Waihee to provide funding for new classroom buildings for Windward and Maui CCs.

Gov. David Ige (left) and chief of staff Mike McCartney at a Capitol press conference on moving state government toward a more efficient “paperless” environment.

COURTESY OF GOVERNOR’S OFFICE

b y K a ‘ O h a n a News Staff

have,” said Ebanks. “I want to par-ticipate because of pure curiosity.”

Students can also participate in online discussions outside of the pro-gram sessions, which Chang said can be another safe space for participants to connect.

“We see this as kind of the begin-ning of something that we hope gets off the ground,” said Dykstra. “We’d like to have a veteran’s organization here at this campus.”

The program consists of six ses-sions that are held bi-monthly on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 & 21, Nov. 4 & 18 and Dec. 2 & 16.

For more information, contact Stacy Hoshino, HCH director of grants and special projects, at 469-4551 or shosino@hihumanities.org.

BLOOD DRIVENOV. 17 & 18

8 a.m. - 3 p.m.‘Ākoakoa 101-105

Save a life and sign up in Manaleo 106 today

to donate!

not in academic settings,” said Buss. First year psychology student

Kaipo Kiaana served in the Coast Guard and brought his best friend and first year student Blake Simeona, who is in the Army Reserves, to the program’s welcome reception. Ki-aana said that he is interested in the program because they’re “used to living in their head” and as a result they feel out of place socially.

Jonathan Ebanks, a first year student in mental health and former Marine who fought in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, is interested in the program because of its student/veteran-oriented theme. “It’s not common for campuses to

because they have to choose between work and school to survive.”

Kelli Acopan, ASUH-WCC vice president, added that the town hall meeting will provide a way to pres-ent student concerns directly to peo-ple who actually make the decisions.

“Sometimes people may feel their voice is insignificant so they complain but don’t know what to do about it. This is a chance to be heard.”

ASUH-WCC encourages students to contact them on Facebook with is-sues they’re concerned about or drop their questions for the governor in the box in the Pālanakila lobby.

“Sometimes people may feel their voice is insignificant ... This is

a chance to be heard.” – Kelli Acopan

“I think this country wants to show that we appreciate and that we are grateful for the service that you offer.”

– WCC Chancellor Doug Dykstra

Reaching out to military and veteran students

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2 CAMPUS NEWSKa ‘Ohana

Where are all the parking stalls?

Do you drive onto cam-pus hoping with an-ticipation to find a

convenient parking stall that is close to your class? Or do you circle around a number of times trying to find an open one?

You might experience dif-ficulty finding parking de-pending on the time of day you arrive on campus.

“If you come in after 10 a.m. especially on Tuesdays or Thursdays, now we’re get-ting full,” said Rick Murray, WCC’s Safety and Security Manager. “We already know that the Pālanakila lot’s full. We already know that the lower parking lot’s full, and as we see the ‘Ākoakoa lot and those last stalls are full, we’re already going to open the overflow parking.”

The overflow parking on the “Great Lawn” is opened by security as the last resort; meaning, when the ‘Ākoakoa parking lot is full.

“We park people on that lawn when we have no other choice,” said Murray. “One day of 50 cars on that lawn when it is soaked and wet will

b y D e b b r a B a e t zKa ‘Ohana Editor in Chief

completely ruin it.”According to Murray, visi-

tors often notice the beauty of the lawn. With big events such as the Ho’olaule’a, people come from all over the world to enjoy the festivities and comment on what a beautiful lawn WCC has. So it’s impor-tant to preserve the “Great Lawn.”

Murray said that imme-diate improvements to the parking situation or increased parking are not likely to occur in the next year or so; how-

ever, the administration is aware that there is an issue and is discussing future plans.

In the last five years, 28 new stalls were added across the Hale Kuhina building where the UH law library building is located; nine ex-tra stalls were added along the fence in the Pālanakila lot; and a parking section was added across the Hale Mana’opono building where there are faculty and staff stalls, handicap stalls and

DEBBRA BAETZ

Campus security opens the designated overflow parking area on the “Great Lawn” when more space is needed.

If you have enough credits to transfer to UH Mānoa but

still have classes at WCC that fulfill course requirements for your chosen major, you might end up doing the split-campus shuffle.

Mānoa requires students to take six credits to declare it their home campus. But students can also enroll in courses at any of the other nine UH campuses through-out the islands.

Each campus has its own strengths. WCC has a country and family feel while remain-ing focused on education. Mānoa is enormous—a city unto itself with shuttles run-ning students from one area to the other.

By doing the split-campus shuffle, students can ease into Mānoa, giving them time to adjust to the campus and the commute.

While parking can be a challenge at Mānoa, dual cam-pus student Wyman Barros has taken public transporta-tion from Waimanalo to both WCC and Mānoa.

He had to coordinate his schedule with The Bus to ar-rive on time for his classes. The Bus has a phone app that students can download to determine bus arrivals in real time.

Fortunately, Barros was able to schedule his classes at WCC for Mondays and Wednesdays and at Mānoa for Tuesdays and Thursdays, a feat that isn’t always possible.

Usually incoming stu-dents from other campuses register last when the courses are slim-picking. So going every day to both campuses can be a necessity in a split-campus shuffle.

Barros shares a useful tip in navigating Mānoa: “I found my way around campus by going to Mānoa between se-mesters and grabbing a map and mapping out where my classes were.”

Doing the split-campus shuffle last semester allowed Barros to register early this semester at Mānoa because he was already a returning student.

He said financially it was harder because he had to notify “the people who gave him his scholarships to have

them transferred to Mānoa as his main campus.” He also had to redo his FAFSA grant application.

Denise Riding In, a junior majoring in public health and pre-nursing, is another dual campus student.

She said she spends a lot of time traveling from campus to campus but was able to save a few thousand dollars since tuition at WCC is cheaper than Mānoa.

WCC charges $122 per credit hour while Mānoa charges $431. Students can save money by taking prereq-uisite undergraduate courses

at WCC, which can be trans-ferred to Mānoa.

Riding In said that she couldn’t have made the tran-sition to Mānoa “without the kind care and guidance” of Nicole Iwasaki of the Ka’ie‘ie transfer program. Ka’ie‘ie helped her get into the classes required so she could meet her graduation goal on time.

“The Ka’ie‘ie transfer program gave me the fore-sight I needed to understand my junior and senior year at Mānoa,” Riding In said.

This helped her make the best of her studies in her last year at WCC.

b y W a y n e R i c k sKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Students manage the split-campus shuff le

Students can park in the lot near the UH Law Library building, which is located below the main road from Hale Kuhina.

DEBBRA BAETZ

energy efficient stalls.“We’re always looking

to make more parking,” said Murray. “We’re certainly look-ing at creating more parking in the future as the college grows.”

WCC’s website provides general information about parking and advice to ease frustration such as arriving early, carpooling and un-derstanding that parking is available but not necessarily where a student may prefer to park.

Go to http://www.wind-ward.hawaii.edu/parking for more information and for a campus map showing all the areas for student parking.

The Ka’ie‘ie program as-sists WCC students in making the transition as smooth as possible.

Iwasaki discussed the different programs and pre-requisites with Riding In and helped her complete the admissions application for Mānoa.

The program charges a $70 fee for its services. There is an application deadline for each semester: Feb. 1 for fall and Sept. 1 for spring.

For more information about the Ka’ie‘ie program, contact Iwasaki at 235-7464 or niwasaki@hawaii.edu.

GRAPHIC BY ARMI HABAL

W I N D W A R D C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

CAMPUS NEWS 3Ka ‘Ohana

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Developments of a new Ha-waiian immersion child-

care center are in progress for Windward Community College. Hale ‘Ākoakoa 107 and 109 will be allocated for the new facility.

Last October, WCC was awarded a $9.9 million reno-vation grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III – Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions Program. Funds will be distributed over five years.

The grant, named “Hānai a ulu: Feed and Grow,” will aid in student parents’ abilities to succeed in school.

In addition to the child-care center, a portion of the grant will fund the renova-tion of WCC’s STEM program facilities and curricular im-provement.

“The new center will be the first of its kind,” said Vice Chancellor for Academic Af-fairs Ardis Eschenberg. “We will be the only Hawaiian lan-guage based childcare facility in the University of Hawaiʻi system.”

The facility will offer a student parent counselor and childcare services to accom-modate infants and toddlers. Services will be available to students only during the grant period.

New counselor ready to help studentsb y T a m m y P r a t t

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

WCC consistently ranks among the top two communi-ty colleges, along with Hawai‘i Community College, with the largest Native Hawaiian enrollment.

“We were specifically able to receive this grant because of our high Native Hawaiian stu-dent population,” explained Eschenberg.

Currently, WCC is the only community college in the state without a childcare facility.

The road to the Title III renovation grant was paved by funds awarded from a previous federal action grant. Eschenberg credits the stu-dents with the idea for the childcare center.

“We applied for this little tiny $5,000 action grant to cre-ate a survey,” said Eschenberg, “And we were awarded it. The students really took owner-ship and leadership. They pushed the survey forward to make sure that we got a great response, and we did. The re-sults were really compelling. It was really clear that the major gap in resources on this side of the island was for infants and toddlers.”

The next step was to do extensive research on avail-able childcare resources in the Windward area, specifically for children ages 0-5.

“If your child was be-tween 0-12 months, there were three places at the time on this

side of the island where you could bring them,” Eschen-berg said. “Two of the three had a waiting list. The one without the waiting list was $1,000 per month.”

Research results con-firmed the scarcity of child-care services.

“Lack of childcare access is a barrier to education,” said Eschenberg. “The larg-est determinant of whether a

child gets a college degree is whether their mother has one. Of the different factors that you can look at, that has the best predictive value. It is very important to remove barriers and provide access.”

Timing was imminent.“The crazy thing was Title

III put out their renovation call that spring,” said Eschenberg. “It’s not something that comes out every five years on the

We are all faced with daily challenges in our lives. Some-

times the challenges are be-yond our control and require assistance from others.

WCC offers a free and confidential Mental Health and Wellness Program located in Hale ‘Ākoakoa 220, which provides counseling services and educational activities to support students’ life and academic goals. Services in-clude individual counseling for dealing with such issues as depression, substance abuse, stress and time management; couples counseling; crisis intervention; outreach and consultation; and community referrals.

Karla Silva, a WCC alum-na and Windward native, is the new full-time mental health counselor. Passion and life experiences led her into the mental health field.

“I used to be a DOE teach-er,” said Silva. “When I was in

the classroom, I had already known that I wanted to go into counseling. I went into the classroom to get a better understanding of what kids were dealing with. The longer I was teaching, the more I real-ized the need to have interven-tions for young kids to better prepare them for success later in life.”

Silva transitioned her focus to community-based counseling allowing her to work with any age group.

“In terms of my passion, I’ve always enjoyed helping people,” said Silva. “I always knew that I was going to be a helper profession whether it was going to be staying in the teaching field or counseling. I myself as a high schooler saw a counselor outside of my school. Unfortunately, it was not the best experience for me. I decided that I never wanted a teenager to have to go through that. So that was another inspiration into get-ting into mental health.”

Silva features an impres-sive resume. As a National

Certified Counselor, she has worked with people from all walks of life including incar-cerated inmates and people on probation.

“I have the background of working with a lot of trauma and substance abuse issues, as well as severe mental illness,” said Silva.

Silva was responsible for the development and im-plementation of the Veter-ans Treatment Court for the Hawai‘i State Judiciary First Circuit, a specialized court in which veterans are offered a holistic approach to available resources and treatment to aid in their recovery.

“I genuinely feel like my experience over the years has definitely prepared me to round back to this kind of setting where we have such a diverse population and every-body’s dealing with different challenges and issues,” said Silva. “I’m definitely grateful for the experiences I’ve had.”

All students currently enrolled at WCC are eligible for counseling services with

Silva at no cost. To get started, students must schedule an initial appointment.

TAMMY PRATT

WCC’s new menta l hea l th counselor Karla Silva.

Plans underway for a Hawaiian immersion childcare center at WCCb y T a m m y P r a t t

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

dot.” With the survey and re-

search prepared, everything else fell into place.

“It was a real powerful thing,” she added. “It just worked out like it was meant to happen.”

Once detailed plans are compiled, a forum will be open to the campus commu-nity to solicit input for the new childcare center.

The first session is an in-take appointment, which con-sist of gathering client back-ground information including the “presenting challenge

that’s going on for the stu-dent,” said Silva. “We can then start to look at what we want to do in terms of establishing a goal. We may not even have a goal set in the first session, but kind of getting an idea of where we want to go.”

For the initial appoint-ment, students are asked to arrive 10 minutes early to com-plete necessary paperwork. Sessions are 45-50 minutes.

“I’ve had a lot of family members and close family friends that have struggled with severe mental illness,” said Silva. “I had always been drawn to helping my family members and friends get through challenges that they’ve had in life. For me coming back and being able to work here is kind of like being home.”

Students needing assis-tance can contact Silva at 235-7413. An informative work-shop on counseling services offered through the program will be held on Oct. 23 from 9-10:30 a.m. in Hale ‘Ākoakoa 101-103.

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4 CAMPUS NEWSKa ‘Ohana

Are you worried of trick-or-treating nowadays?

Do you hesitate bringing your keiki to scary places that can give them night-mares?

On Friday, Oct. 30, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., WCC’s Center for Aerospace Educat ion (CAE) will revive its Haunt-ed Village, an otherworldly place minus the creepy fac-tor.

“Haunted Village is a family event where par-ents and children can come and enjoy the spookiness of Halloween in a safe setting without any of the gore and terror of haunted houses,” says Joseph Ciotti, director of CAE.

C A E h a s s p o n s or e d Haunted Village since 2001, but due to construction on

the grounds around Hale Hokulani and Hale ‘Imiloa, it stopped the event for four years.

But this year, together with Nick Logue’s Theatrical

One black night, near an old abandoned plantation town by the sea, two cousins lost

in the darkness unknowingly cross a supernatural threshold.

That is the premise of playwright Susan Soon He Stanton’s “‘Ō‘ōkala 100,” a collection of eerie Hawai‘i-based ghost stories written specifically to be performed by WCC’s Theatre 260 Dramatic Production class.

Directed by WCC theatre lecturer Taurie Kinoshita, the show runs Oct. 23-30 at Palikū Theatre.

The idea for the play began last year when Kinoshita was looking for performance material for her class.

“Every semester, finding a play which will give every student regis-tered in 260 a ‘meaty role’ with the exact number of men and women, their approximate ages, individual skills and strengths and ethnic backgrounds is a huge challenge,” says Kinoshita. “I refuse to do a play in which half of the students are just ‘chorus members’ or have limited amounts of lines.”

So Kinoshita approached Stanton, whose play “the underneath” she had previously directed, about writing a piece exclusively for her students.

The result is “‘Ō‘ōkala 100,” a pro-duction that Kinoshita says is “mean-ingful,” “enlightening” and “speaks to what is indelibly and inextricably human in us—love, life, how we deal with debilitating circumstances and the fear of not dying peacefully.”

Ghost stories at Paliku Theatreb y K a ‘ O h a n a

News Staff

In the play, the cousins stumble onto a leina, a Hawaiian term for a “leaping place” or portal to another world, where they encounter ghosts from different backgrounds and time periods from the past century of Hawai‘i’s history, all of who have gathered nearby to drink and relent-lessly relive moments of pain and joy in their lives.

There is Marisol, a Puerto Rican seamstress living with her family until she is kind to the wrong person; Jordan, an out-of-work paniolo who dies drying to save a suicidal woman; Shizuko, a plantation worker from Okinawa who loses her children in a tsunami and wanders the beach end-lessly searching for them; Adrienne, a military wife who has a nervous breakdown; and Dalton, a teenager peer pressured into sabotaging his grades and then his future.

Kinoshita says the production al-lows for “exciting light, makeup and multimedia choices.”

She invited a makeup specialist to come in to teach the students how to do gore makeup, and she chose music to set the period.

While many of her Theatre 260 students will be acting on stage for the first time, Kinoshita says that she holds them all to professional standards. And they deliver.

“Theatre changes people’s lives for the better, and I love seeing this every single semester,” said Kinoshita.

For more information about the production, contact Taurie Kinoshita at 779-3456 or taurie@hawaii.edu.

‘Ō‘ōkala 100 showtimes• Friday and Saturday Oct. 23 & 24, 8 p.m. (Post-show discussion

with cast on Saturday, Oct. 24) • Sunday, Oct. 25, 4 p.m.• Wednesday and Thursday, Oct. 28 & 29, 4:30 p.m.• Wednesday-Friday, Oct. 28 – 30, 8 p.m. • Tickets: $5 WCC Students with valid ID; $10 Students/Senior/Mili-

tary; $15 General • To Purchase Tickets: eTicketHawaii.com or call 235-7310 to charge

by phone.

Counter clockwise from far right: Elizabeth Colon, Tricia Kirn, Bailey “Beyonce” Campbell, Sorsha Scott-Holmes, Adam Baradi and Jahdi Maunakea-Stamler.

BONNIE BEATSON

Due to adult language, situations and themes, this play is recommended for ages 16 and older. Running time is one hour.

WCC’s Haunted Village rises from the grave

b y A r m i H a b a lKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Group, Phi Theta Kappa, the Society for Creative Anach-ronism and Associated Stu-dents of the University of Hawai‘i, it will again offer exciting activities and thrill-

ing shows in “the village.”The village will be deco-

rated with a graveyard scene, carved pumpkins and giant inflatable monsters. Lighted lanterns and torchlights will

dot the landscape. Village people will walk around doing “Halloween mischief and antics that will leave one breathless,” according to event organizers.

At Dr. Phrankenstein’s Phantom Physics Lab, there will be optical demonstra-tions and hands-on activities about light. The village will include a special theater to see a Halloween cartoon show and listen to Hallow-een stories. There will be a nook for face painting. In the courtyard, knights in full medieval armor will battle each other.

For $3, guests can check out the “Nightwalk” Imagi-narium show, a 15-minute virtual tour of a crypt and a haunted mansion. Pur-chased refreshments will be available at the Village Café o’ Terror. And if you come dressed in your most creative Halloween costume, or the cutest, or the scariest, you might win a prize.

So come out for this eerie-sistable event and prepare to have a spook-tacular time.

COURTESY OF JOSEPH CIOTTI

W I N D W A R D C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

CAMPUS NEWS 5Ka ‘Ohana

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Alumna opens annual pumpkin patchb y T a y l o r K i p a p aKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

For the 6th year straight, Waimanalo Country Farms, a family-run

business owned by WCC alumna Shawn Kadooka and her husband Dom, is open-ing its Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch.

Starting Oct. 3 through Halloween, the patch will be open every weekend from 9 a.m to 5 p.m., and weekdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for school and group excursions.

The pumpkin patch offers country fun for the whole fam-ily with activities like pump-kin picking, hayrides, a “cow train” with a newly built train depot, a pumpkin cannon and slingshot, sunflower maze and much more.

This year, there is a new educational walk where visi-tors can pass through an herb tunnel and learn about the ways different vegetables like eggplant, kale and soybeans are grown.

The patch also offers food and drink like gourmet burg-ers, steak plates, hot dogs and fresh farm squeezed lemonade

and sweet tea. Founded by Ronald Ka-

dooka in 1948, Waimanalo Country Farms is a 52-acre farm with a mission of produc-ing and growing local food for the community.

The business has been passed down through the family, with four generations currently working on the farm.

Shawn and Dom Kadooka took over the farm in 2001.

Kadooka says she’s experi-enced some difficult situations along the way, like the loss of half their corn and pumpkin

crops this year due to weather. It was in 2009, after five

years of bad farming, that Kadooka decided to open the pumpkin patch as a way of generating more business.

“We put a sign on the road and had our first pumpkin patch,” said Kadooka. “And each year we just build on it, do a little more, a little more.”

The farm now serves ap-proximately 20,000 people a year.

For more information about the farm or pumpkin patch, contact Shawn Kadooka at 306-4381.

Visitors to the Waimanalo Pumpkin Patch can pick their own pumpkins to purchase and take home or have fun in the towering sunflower maze.

ASUH-WCC and Hakuoh University students visit the new hale together.RONALD VACCA-FARLEY

ASUH hosts Japanese students b y K a ‘ O h a n a

News Staff

Members of the Associ-ated Students of the Uni-

versity of Hawai‘i-Windward Community College (ASUH-WCC) hosted more than 20 students, faculty and staff from Hakuoh University, a pri-vate university from Oyama, Japan, on Sept. 4.

The goal of the visit was to renew ties between the two schools and to engage in a hands-on project together.

A c o n t i n g e n t f r o m Hakuoh last visited in 2013. Hakuoh sponsors an annual summer study tour that selects one student from each UHCC campus for a 10-day home stay

program in Japan. “We got to know these

students in the little time that we had,” said ASUH-WCC corresponding secretary Mi-chelle Medeiros. “We showed them the diversity we have on campus and what academic programs we have to offer.”

ASUH-WCC students shared information on the new hale on campus, Hawai-ian immersion schools and the Merrie Monarch Festival.

The students made ti leaf lei together and enjoyed a meal that included poi, kulolo and sushi.

“It was an awesome ex-perience, and we thank all those who could make it,” said Medeiros.

Test out your global knowledge at World Questb y K a ‘ O h a n a

News Staff

Students interested in in-ternational affairs are en-

couraged to participate in the World Quest Fall 2015 competition scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20 at 11 a.m. in Hale ‘Ākoakoa.

This informative and fun event is sponsored by the col-lege’s International Education Committee and the Associ-ated Students of the University of Hawai‘i – Windward Com-munity College (ASUH-WCC).

World Quest Fall 2015 will be the final event celebrating International Education Week at the college.

It is similar to the televi-sion game show “Jeopardy,” where individual contestants respond to questions in vari-ous categories.

The World Quest format, however, is based on four-person teams working to-gether to come up with correct responses.

This fall, the categories include: Current Events; Sus-tainability; Environment; Ge-ography; World Religions; People in the News; Current History; and World Culture. Questions will have an Asian and Pacific emphasis.

Light refreshments will be provided by the ASUH-WCC prior to the event at 10:30 a.m.

The three teams with the highest point totals will be awarded prizes, also provided by ASUH-WCC.

The event is supported by the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council and WCC’s social sci-ences department.

Interested students and

teams should obtain sign up sheets at the ASUH-WCC of-fice in Hale ‘Ākoakoa 203 or from various faculty mem-bers.

Participants must be en-rolled at WCC.

For more information about participating in this year’s event, contact Tom Doi at 235-7460 or stop by Hale ‘Ākoakoa 207.

KA‘AINOA FERNANDEZKA‘AINOA FERNANDEZ

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6 CAMPUS NEWSKa ‘Ohana

WCC plugs into energy savingsb y Z a c h a r y R u p p - S m i t h

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

In September 2015, “intel-lisockets” were installed in energy-consuming socket

outlets on the WCC campus. The initiative, launched

by local company Ibis Net-works and made possible with financial support from Hawaiian Electric, was part of a three-campus pilot project that saw 471 devices installed at UH Mānoa, 461 at UH Hilo and 300 at WCC.

Intellisockets simply plug into existing electrical outlets. Energy-consuming devices then plug into the intellisock-ets, which collect informa-tion on devices like comput-ers, refrigerators or vend-ing machines that use higher amounts of electricity.

Users from anywhere in the world can log onto a web-site that shows real-time data for every intellisocket in the network, with options to turn on and off the sockets.

Madori Rumpungworn, a WCC student who works with Professor Dave Krupp on the project, currently monitors the intellisockets from her com-puter and advises the school on which energy-consuming devices need replacing or discarding.

“I like to think of WCC as being the green model school, with a goal to energy effi-ciency,” said Rumpungworn.

Besides the intellisockets program, Rumpungworn has experience with software and mechanical engineering and has been involved with other scientific projects on cam-pus like Project Imua, which launched a payload into sub orbit this past summer.

Hawai‘i ranks first in the nation in electric energy costs.

According to the Hawai-ian Electric website, homes in Hawai‘i average 30 cents/kWh compared to 11-12 cents/kWh on the mainland.

Hawai‘i’s energy rates are much higher because of the

cost to import oil to the is-lands. Currently, oil is the main source of energy on O‘ahu.

University of Hawai‘i ad-ministrators think intellisock-ets might be the answer to sav-ing both energy and money.

While the project requires an investment of approxi-mately $142,000, about $110,000 of the cost will be funded by Hawaiian Electric and the rest will be covered by the university.

The university expects to save about $40,000 a year with all the new intellisockets purchased and installed.

WCC has already achieved “green status” as a leader of energy efficiency within the university.

The new library was de-signed to use less energy by having LED lights and wa-terless urinals. It was built using recycled materials and maximizing natural light from the sun.

A Grand Award in the

Hawai‘i Built Green New Commercial– National Green Standard category was given to WCC’s library for being a certified green building.

WCC has already installed solar panels on the roofs of buildings, and all facilities have been updated with en-ergy efficient lighting.

Solar panels, however, work best when it is not rainy

or too cloudy and only during the daytime.

“WCC just doesn’t get enough sunlight to benefit from photovoltaic solar pan-els,” said Rumpungworn. “We are on the windward side. The sunlight isn’t that strong compared to the leeward side, therefore the answer to im-proving energy efficiency is intellisockets.”

Data from the intellisockets can be accessed anywhere via the internet.

Students in WCC’s Sustain-ability Hui are working

together to pave the path toward a sustainable environ-ment through extra-curricular education and activities.

According to club presi-dent Kalanikapu Copp, sus-tainability is to “do things to make sure that our grandchil-dren will be able to survive on the planet.”

The club conducts many projects such as the Rain Garden that was installed in February in front of Hale ‘Imiloa.

The Rain Garden is com-prised of native Hawaiian plants designed to capture and filter storm water run-off before entering nearby streams.

Club members teach vol-unteers the importance of pre-venting storm water pollution and how these practices can be applied at home. Workdays to maintain the garden will be held in October.

Madori Rumpungworn, a founding group member, is conducting an energy audit on WCC.

She teamed up with Ibis Networks, an environmental research company, to install 300 “intellisockets” in three buildings on campus: Hale La’akea, Hale ‘Imiloa, and Hale Pālanakila.

Hui teaches sustainabilityb y D e b o r a h H i g a Special to Ka ‘Ohana

These sockets monitor the energy consumption of everything from incubators to vending machines. The data shows the peaks and depressions of energy usage throughout the day. Infor-mation that is collected will then determine when to shut inactive devices off to reduce consumption. Energy sav-ings won’t be conclusive until spring 2016.

The Sustainability Hui plans to host an event for Earth Day in April. They are also brainstorming other events such as trash art.

Trash art is the transfor-mation of discarded items into works of art and creates an opportunity for the club to collaborate with the art department and showcase artists’ work.

In order to accomplish their goals, the Sustainability Hui needs more volunteers to join in their efforts.

Copp said the group is focusing this semester on rais-ing awareness for the club and recruiting members whom to pass the baton.

“The hui needs people who are dedicated to make a difference,” said Rumpung-worn. “This will be a great semester. I can feel it.”

For more information or to join the movement towards sustainability, contact club ad-viser Floyd McCoy at 236-9115 or fmccoy@hawaii.edu.

W I N D W A R D C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

Editorial 7Ka ‘Ohana

O c t o b e r 2 0 1 5

I would ask Governor Ige what is-sue is most important to you to resolve at this time. Why, and how? I’d ask this questions so that I know where he stands, or what he values and what his plans are to resolve it.

– Michelle Medeiros

It would be on homelessness here in Hawai’i. There are many homeless individuals living on beaches, parks, at bus stops, behind dumpsters, etc. My questions would be what can be done to assist these individuals? What is being done? Recently, I’ve seen City and County at Waimanalo Beach Park throwing away the belongings of the residents there. How does this help them? What does it do and who does it help anyone if these homeless individual’s personal items are being thrown away? I also see police officers removing homeless/houseless indi-viduals out of parks and beaches. Does relocating these individuals solve the problem? Some of these houseless individuals work and come back to this beach they call home to find that their belongings (clothes, blankets, toiletries, food) have been thrown away. I have been homeless on a few occasions and seen this happen many times, so my questions to Governor Ige would be: Is there anything you can do to assist these individuals and what can be done to either end or decrease the number of houseless individuals? What kind of services are available to these individuals? Do they know these services are available? If not, why not? How can we ensure these individu-als are aware of services available to them?

– Yecenia Perry

I would like to address the issue about military living off base. The BHA (Base Housing Allowance) is more than most locals make in two months. So the homeowner can make their rent high, but where does it leave us? The government builds big nice homes for their troops with everything they need is right there on their bases. My way of thinking is that if we treat the military as tourist, because that’s all they are, they are here for a three year tour then they moved. So if we treat them like tourists and keep them on the bases, then they will spend money on other things instead of driving our rent through the roof. Also, the home-owner can’t be so picky and greedy for over-valued rental units.

– Lester Makali’i

It would be about fixing the sew-age system because it’s been a decade of not maintaining the sewage system and why not all of the roads around the State of Hawai’i aren’t getting any repairs. For example, some or most roads have potholes and nothing is getting done besides just doing the main roads or highways. The other issue would be the additional bicycle lane and the $20 tax. This bicycle lane

is just going to create more traffic and accidents for those who drive and why don’t those ride the bicycle pay a tax every year instead of paying that one time when they register? I’m saying that this new bicycle lane is just going to create more traffic.

– Karanne Souza

I would ask about Mauna Kea and why he didn’t stand with us Hawaiians to protect our sacred land against TMT. I would ask why is his administration opposing the proposed NextEra-Ha-waiian Electric merge when it claims to save citizens a lot of money on their electric bills.

– Amanda Mundon

Government offices managing our roads, sewer systems, water sys-tems, schools, etc. seem to be lacking. With the growth in Hawai’i it seems that someone “forgot” to plan for the impact on these resources and this will result in major problems not only for those of us living here but will also have an impact on tourism. These programs need to be evaluated as well as the officials in charge. It seems with all the money coming into Hawai’i from tourism and investors that we could do a better job of man-aging funds to address these issues. What is happening and how could this project (rail system) be so far off budget? Who is responsible? What is being done to correct this situation? The rail system is looking more like a money pit than a viable solution to our traffic concerns. Overall, I would like to know how we can bring in so much money yet we cannot seem to balance a budget. Imagine if each of us were this irresponsible.

– Shelia Smith

I would ask him about public school systems. I feel that although high school courses state they are college preparatory classes, they don’t really prepare students for college. Coming from a public high school and going into a college in the mainland with many local students whose school system s̒ base education seems much more advanced is quite challenging. So I would ask Governor Ige why we don’t change our school systems to be more like the educa-tional structure in mainland schools. Private schools like ‘Iolani and Mid-Pac are more like college classes than at public schools which may be how private school students are more prepared for classes instructed like a college course. But not everyone can afford to send their children to private schools so why not improve how public schools are run?

– Erin Kanda

I would feel it would be appropri-ate to talk about Hawai’i’s disaster preparedness, being as multiple ar-eas of Hawai’i were flooded just by tropical storms. What if a category 2-5

If you were to meet with Governor Ige, what issue(s) would you ask him about and why?

hurricane was destined for Hawai’i? What would be your plan to minimize destruction if any? Secondly, being a car enthusiast myself, I would inquire about a possible track/drag strip being built which would very likely bring more tourism and revenue to Hawai’i in a time when it needs it most with the secondary cause of getting illegal street racers off the roads and impos-ing heavier penalties on those that continue to race.

– Charles W. Rosers

Working in the local agriculture industry, I have been very interested in GMO testing and GMO crops on O‘ahu. Due to this interest, I would ask Governor Ige what his thoughts and feelings were on the subject. While I am aware he would most likely not be able to give an honest answer due to Monsanto’s heavy role in government, it intrigues me to know what he would say. I would also ask him if he feels GMO products should be labelled. I would ask this because I feel everyone has the right to know what they put in their bodies. They should be able to make the choice between GMO and non-GMO. At its core, this is a human rights issue.

– Ryan Taylor

An issue I would ask him about is how to make it easier for military vet-erans to find jobs here in Hawai’i. This state does not provide many benefits for veterans as some other states do. And it is because of this that veterans have an extremely hard time trying to make a living in Hawai’i and finding jobs available that can provide enough for them to get by. I have personal experience with this issue because, although I am not a veteran, my father is one, and he finished his 20 years of service last year. Ever since he got out of the Army and we moved back here to Hawai‘i, he hasn’t yet found a job that will take him, even with all of his years of experience.

– Akamu Wahineokai

What is he going to do to lower energy costs for the average consumer? Electricity prices have only been esca-lating in recent years, which is primar-ily due to lack of commitment towards utilizing Hawai’i’s abundant alterna-tive energy resources. We are the only

state in the U.S. that can research if not implement every form of alterna-tive energy currently available, which includes, but is not limited to: wind, so-lar, geothermal, biofuel, wave energy, and even nuclear power. Yet, despite having all of these potential energy sources sitting all around us our state is still ridiculously dependent on the importation of fossil fuels to light our homes. I’m not even mentioning the environmental impact of lessening our carbon output could have on our state’s world famous eco-system. I would ap-proach the governor from the purely fiscal standpoint of lessening our need to import oil if only to a small extent which would still have a tremendous impact on the overall quality of life of the Hawaiian citizenry.

– Bryson Cheung

The most important issues to me relate to poverty. Our homeless problem has become larger and less manageable while the property values keep increasing. I would ask him what he plans to do about Hawai’i being the most expensive state to live in.

- Kyle Leland

Issues in Hawai’i that I would ask Governor Ige about would be about the land. It deeply troubles me that Hawai’i has land that is rich in soil and has year-round sunny conditions, but we don’t take advantage of it. Instead others want to build more hotels, buildings, etc. I would want Ige to emphasize that we should steward the land towards agriculture so we would depend less on the mainland. With cultivating more land for growing, it could provide more jobs for citizens here and our money would stay here on the islands.

- Rebecca Kelley

I’d be glad to ask him to bring back the days when each family would pop fireworks each new year. Celebrating with fireworks was a tra-dition for Hawai’i that has been with us for some generations. We would pop our fireworks to chase away the evil spirits for our next new year to have a safe year. Governor Ige, I am coming for you so that you will legal-ize fireworks again.

– Nicolas Gibbons

Ka ‘Ohana is published monthly by the students of Windward Community College. 45-720 Kea‘ahala Rd, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i 96744. Phone (808) 236-9185. The newspaper reflects only the views of its student

staff. Visit Ka ‘Ohana’s website at www.KaOhanaOnline.org.

Ka ‘Ohana(The Family)

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Debbra Baetz

STAFF REPORTERS

Taylor Kipapa

Tammy Pratt

Wayne Ricks

Zachary Rupp-Smith

ADVISER

Kimberlee Bassford

LAB ASSISTANT

Armi Habal

WEBMASTER/ LAB ASSISTANT

Patrick Hascall

O c t o b e r 2 0 1 5

W I N D W A R D C O M M U N I T Y C O L L E G E

8 CAMPUS NEWSKa ‘Ohana

2015 Windward Ho‘olaule‘aSuccess! It was a beautiful day for the 2015 Windward Community

College Ho‘olaule‘a on Oct. 3. Thousands of O‘ahu residents turned out to enjoy the excellent entertainment, food, crafts and fun.

1 – Kapena closed out the Ho‘olaule‘a with a bang. 2 – Turnout was exceptional. 3 – The keiki had a blast. 4 – Keiki from Mehetia Productions perform the hula. 5 – Hi‘ikua showed its incredible talent. 6 – Ah... that feels... zzz! 7 – Hawaiian Soul was on it with powerful vocals and excellent music. 8 – Rock climbing was a hit with the keiki. 9 – Pila Nahenahe’s slack key was beautiful as always. 10 – Ka ‘Ohana adviser Kimberlee Bassford’s husband and daughter. 11 – Retired WCC professor Libby Young with Ho‘olaule‘a chair Bonnie Beatson. 12 – Michael Cobb from Hawaiian Soul gets interactive with the crowd. 13 – U.S.A.F. ‘Small Kine’ band earned every one of its stripes.

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