Volume 44, No. 8 May 2016

Ka ‘Ohana now on Facebook

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

This year’s commencement ceremony will take place

at the Ko‘olau Ballrooms and Conference Center on Friday, May 13 at 5:30 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to carpool as parking is limited.

The ceremony will feature two speakers who have found a home of solace and support at WCC. Graduates Lauren Dan-ner and Donita Garcia will share their journeys and represent the class of 2016.

Born and raised in Kailua, Danner started her journey at WCC in 2006 while in high school.

“This journey at WCC has sure been a long ride, and I’m lucky to have met so many won-derful people along the way to achieve this education goal,” she said. “WCC has a way of never

Two students to speak at commencementb y K a ‘ O h a n a

News Staff

wanting you to leave because it’s such a blessing to be given this opportunity to have such amaz-ing staff, teachers and people who surround WCC with so much strong willingness to help you in your academic goals.”

The wife and mother of four will attend UH Mānoa next semester to pursue a bachelor’s degree in business.

Danner said she’s grateful to everyone who has helped her achieve her goals. “I will miss WCC, but lucky that I’ll still be able visit and use its resources.”

Also speaking at com-mencement will be Donita Gar-cia who attended WCC from 2012 to 2015. While at WCC, she was a senator and vice president in the ASUH-WCC student gov-ernment. As a representative of ASUH, she attended numerous system and statewide student government caucuses.

Garcia was inducted into

WCC student Ash-ley Shankles (a.k.a. Ashley Nakanishi),

shares her life experience through poetry and just had her first poetry collection published by Pueo Press.

She titles the book, Blood, Sweat, and Breast Milk, as a response to the grief over the loss of a dear friend and ex-lover of hers who died last year. Last summer, Shankles made this her personal proj-ect.

Blood, Sweat, and Breast Milk consists of slam mate-rial, prose quotes and much more. The content of the book is mostly based on sexual violence, immigration, love, work and parenting.

The title is a metaphor that refers to the trials Shankles faced in becoming the woman and mother that she is today.

“Everything symboliz-es something in the book,” Shankles said. “All parts of the book and every word”.

The-24-year-old origi-nally from Chatan, Okinawa, Japan, said that she’s always enjoyed writing poetry, but it wasn’t until she attended WCC that she decided to

Student’s poetry gets publishedb y D u t c h e s R i c h a r d s

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

make something of it.She explained that the

intimacy between her and the book was intense. The book talks about the plight

of women on the journey of becoming, the condition of society, rape culture and her experiences as a byproduct of that culture.

In addition to some anec-dotes on life, family and love, Shankles said that this book was written to heal the bro-kenness she felt at the time.

She shares an array of topics from immigrating to America to domestic and sex-ual violence to the strength of her family ties.

“To avoiding feelings that I long repressed to find myself in the chaos of mad-ness that was depression and anxiety, to find love in midst of all my sorrow. I wrote the book to remind myself I’m a survivor,” Shankles said.

Shankles dedicated her-self night and day to writing non-stop. Any possible time she had to write she took that time during walks, bus rides, car rides, waiting in lines or on the front porch with count-less cups of coffee.

The process of making the book, which included organizing, editing, sending manuscripts and waiting for responses, took the most time.

However, it was Robert Barclay, WCC English profes-sor and head of Pueo Press, an independent publisher as-sociated with WCC’s Rain Bird literary journal, who picked up her work and said they could make something of it.

A year later, Blood, Sweat and Breast Milk was published.

“I’ve dedicated my suc-cess to many of our professors on campus,” Shankles said. “It was because of the faith of Roy Inouye (TRiO), the criti-cisms of Janine Oshiro and Libby Young, the support and encouragement of Robert Bar-clay and Annette Priesman, and the special and careful craft of Nick Logue and Tau-rie Kinoshita that really took my words from page to stage, that I was able to gather the confidence to send out my manuscript.”

Shankles is currently working on her upcoming play called “Surviving Mi-nerva” and her second book entitled She Crazy. These two projects will be covering im-migration, therapy, mental awareness and the trials of being a person of bipolarism. She expects both works to be out sometime this year.

With over 50 copies of Blood, Sweat, and Breast Milk already sold, Shankles will be launching her book as part of the Triple Premier Gala on May 5 at Hale ‘Ākoakoa.

The book is now available on kindle and Amazon, where it is ranked fourth among Asian American poetry.

Poet, writer and Windward Community College student Ashley ShanklesPATRICK HASCALL

Phi Theta Kappa in 2013 and held the office of president for four terms in the prestigious honor society. She also sat on several campus commit-tees such as the planning and

budget committee, safety com-mittee and the aesthetics com-mittee. She has participated in the Windward Debate Club and was its vice president for three years.

Garcia is currently pursu-ing her degree in justice admin-istration at UH West O’ahu. She plans on attaining a free ride scholarship to Harvard Law School.

WCC graduates Lauren Danner and Donita Garcia will speak at the commencement ceremony May 13.CYNTHIA LEE SINCLAIRLAUREN DANNER

M a y 2 0 1 6

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

2 News of the DayKa ‘Ohana

The state of Hawai i has the highest cost of living in the U.S., and many

residents struggle to make ends meet. Nonetheless, state legislators are eyeing tax hikes on gas and the general excise tax (GET), which has already gone up more than 25 percent since the 1990s. Legislators raised the GET from 4 per-cent to 4.5 percent for the rail project, and now senators want to pass Senate bill 2938 to increase three different vehicle taxes.

Where else could Hawai’i get money from? Proponents of marijuana legalization say that the aloha state could profit off stoners.

As Hawai’i is popular among weed enthusiasts for its “Kona Gold,” “Kaua‘i Electric,” and “Maui Wowi” strains, many tourists and residents mistakenly believe marijuana is easily accessible here.

“I didn’t realize how dif-ficult it would be to find my medicine in this state,” said Eric Gardner* (*names have been changed for privacy reasons). “But I moved here, and now I have to buy from the black market because my rental agreement doesn’t allow me to grow.”

Medical marijuana has been legal in Hawai‘i for 15 years, but the state hasn’t taken fiscal advantage of the opportunity until recently with the legalization of medi-cal dispensaries. Dispensaries will be able to sell medical marijuana starting July 15.

While medical dispensa-ries have been a long awaited achievement for residents with medical cards like Gardner, some think it’s time to legal-ize recreational marijuana as there is more money to be made and fewer people opposed to recreational mari-juana nowadays.

Local polling from Qmark research revealed that 57 per-cent of Hawai’i residents were in favor of taxed, regulated recreational marijuana, up 20 percent from 2005. Qmark polls also showed that 69 percent of people think jail time for marijuana use is inap-propriate.

Using a 10 percent retail tax, Colorado made $7 million from marijuana tax revenue last year, more than it did from

Legalization of marijuana could present a solution for Hawai’i

b y G r a c i e B e r k l e yKa ‘Ohana Editor in Chief

alcohol. Washington state has a 25 percent tax structure levied on producer, processor and retail levels of recreational marijuana and made $70 mil-lion in sales tax revenue last year.

University of Hawai‘i economist and associate pro-fessor of public policy Da-vid Nixon estimates Hawai’i would generate at least $11.3 million a year in new taxes. However, the estimates on how much Washington and Colorado would make were greatly exceeded, so it is diffi-cult to come up with a definite number for Hawai‘i.

Simply decriminalizing marijuana would save the state of Hawai‘i the $9 million spent annually on enforcing marijuana laws, up from $5 million in 2005.

“It’s not impossible that people would look at that and think, maybe we should scale back our efforts there and focus on stolen cars and other stuff,” Nixon said.

When asked what Hawai’i could do with $9 million, O‘ahu correctional officer Kristy Myers* said, “I think we most definitely could find bet-ter use for that money. People are going to smoke pot if they want to. If we can stop putting people in jail and start hav-

ing them pay our taxes then I could see it (legalization of recreational marijuana) ben-efiting more than harming.”

Some, however, are wary. “I don’t think it would

be a good idea,” said THCF Hawai’i Clinic doctor John Lacey*. “You may think this is because I am paid to prescribe (marijuana) to people, but complete legalization would simply get out of control and minors would be more at risk ... and contrary to (popular) belief some people can form dependencies to marijuana.”

Kailua resident Patrick Hascall said legalization might lead to overpopula-tion. “If you look at Colorado and Washington, the rent has skyrocketed as people are flooding into the states just because they can smoke pot.”

Amy Pasquaeriello, owner of Hawai‘i Hydroponics and Garden, said that another is-sue is that “huge challenges would come from using heavy metal fertilizers and contami-nation from pesticides.”

While that is traditionally more an issue for large scale crops, Pasquaeriello points out that Hawai’i has a lot of bugs. “And the humidity! But it could be done. Indoor grow-ing is just more expensive,” she said.

University of Hawai‘i economist Michael Roberts believes the biggest issue would be water because pine-apple and sugar cane crops have diminished Hawai‘i’s groundwater aquifers.

“We’re seeing a stabiliza-tion of aquifer head levels, but more and more of the wells are becoming infiltrated with salt water,” he said. “If we start growing marijuana on a large scale, there’d be important questions about how much water we’d be using.”

If issues concerning pes-

ticides and water could be addressed, Hawai‘i Business claims that legalizing recre-ational marijuana would cre-ate a new commercial industry for Hawai’i and could not only bring more tourists to the is-lands but collect more money from them as well.

Right now, money the state could be earning goes untaxed into the hands of il-legal dealers.

“Yeah I made like ... 100, 110k last year,” said a local marijuana-only street phar-macist.

“Honestly, I help a lot of people, and no I don’t feel bad about distributing, because it’s only weed, and hardly anyone else is stepping up to the plate ... And I’ll sell it to tourists too. These people come here on their honeymoons and end up dealing with sketchy people only to get ripped off and given the super low grade stuff. They’re lucky if someone hooks them up with me.”

When asked what would happen to his income if le-galization were to happen, he said, “Well, a lot of dealers would go out of business sure, but not me.”

However, legalization could also mean more job opportunities for Hawai’i resi-dents knowledgeable about marijuana. Colorado estimates 7,500 to 10,000 people in the state now have jobs in the can-nabis industry.

Regardless, many in Hawai’i will be watching to see what happens after medi-cal marijuana dispensaries open this year and contem-plating what the next best move for marijuana in Hawai’i is, if any move at all.

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CAMPUS NEWS 3Ka ‘Ohana

M a y 2 0 1 6

On April 12, WCC’s semi-annual college and career fair was

held to help students find career and college transfer options.

The one day event hosted myriad employers, colleges, and universities in Pālanakila courtyard. Participating stu-dents took in the sights and sounds of the event while they engaged with vendors and scoped out the next booths they wanted to visit.

Makana Tani, a student who helped organize the fair, said, “The fall and spring job fairs we hold are to help student employment in the community.” Tani, along with other students and staff, plan a month ahead by calling dif-ferent job organizations, non-profit services and colleges to participate. Tani said that there were 55 vendors at the spring fair.

“24 Hour Fitness, Kualoa Ranch, HPU, BYU and YMCA Honolulu are my favorite ones here,” he said.

The fair had more than just job and career possibilities.

One of the booths provided the ability to register to vote.

“We are here to raise awareness about the voting process and registering people to vote,” said Raymund de Vega, who was working with Nedielyn Bueno. “It gives you voice in the community; it’s a good way to choose your elected officials and make a difference,” Bueno said. To-gether they agreed that “this provides a convenient and fast way for people to vote, and you won’t have to seek us out in the community.”

College and career fair helps studentsb y S l a d e F r e i t a s ,

L o r e n e H a s h i d a , K r i s t e n K u m a k u r a a n d S e a n

R o m u a r Special to Ka ‘Ohana

Keanu Kim said that he “really liked the vendors and found it interesting, especialy Kualoa Ranch, student em-ployment and voting.”

Rainbow Ulii found the fair “both interesting and helpful ... with all the oppor-tunities, nice people and face to face conversations.”

The Kualoa Ranch booth looked more like an advertise-ment for the ranch rather than an employment possibility. T-shirts, hats and even a di-nosaur figure decorated the table. Kilolani (no last name

given), the operator of the booth, was the interviewer for Kualoa and said that it had jobs for students who want to work in agriculture and be part of a farm and customer-focused company.

“We provide many crops and food options that are for sale to the public, anything from squash to kale and ba-

nanas,” Kilolani said. “We also have our aquaculture facilities to provide fresh tilapia and shrimp, and even our own cattle to sell fresh grass-fed beef.”

With all of these products, someone has to grow, main-tain and harvest the crops, which provides a lot of job and career opportunities.

Gracie Berkley and Patrick Hascall help promote WCC journalism.

The 'Be a Jerk' table asked people to pledge not to buy alcohol for minors.

The Bus has reduced its service on the windward

side, affecting some of the most vulnerable members of society such as the elderly, disabled, lower-income and working families.

It also affects WCC stu-dents who rely on its service to get to campus–and to class–on time.

Former WCC student and Kahalu’u resident Paul Kawakami said he’s found t h at t he 55 (Honolu lu-Kāne‘ohe-Hale‘iwa) and 65 (Honolulu-Kahalu‘u) bus routes are late about 75 pe-recent of the time, which affected his grades.

“The bus has made me late to not just school, but whenever I needed to go to Kāne‘ohe on time,” Kawaka-mi said. “In the past, I’ve had points deducted in my Eng-lish class because of the bus being 30-45 minutes late.”

According to a March 4 Honolulu Star-Advertiser ar-ticle, community leaders on the windward side of O‘ahu say residents have reported

Poor bus service creates hardship for residentsb y D u t c h e s R i c h a r d s

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

“losing jobs, missing col-lege classes and facing other hardships” due to “being an isolated stretch of the island which remains underserved by The Bus.”

Problems date back to 2011, when city transporta-tion officials lengthened the average bus wait time from 32 minutes to 40 minutes and then made the wait a full hour as part of the island-wide bus cuts in 2012.

that budget limits are keep-ing them from fully restoring the route. They would like to reduce the bus wait time mainly because residents on the windward side will not benefit from the new rail system being built.

W C C s t u d e n t a n d Waimānalo resident Darla Richards said the inaccu-rate bus schedule has made catching the bus to school hard at times.

“The bus is always either really late or really early, so I would miss my bus,” Rich-ards said.

Cu r rent ly, routes 56 (Honolulu-Kailua-Kāne‘ohe) a n d 7 7 ( W a i m ā n a l o -Kāne‘ohe) are the only buses that come in and out of WCC on weekdays.

Students can wait up to 45 minutes to sometimes an hour waiting for the next bus to show up.

“There's only one 77 bus route that runs all day, and if I miss my bus the next one won't arrive until an hour and a half later,” Richards said. “A couple of times I end up not coming to school at all. People wait for the bus along Kea‘ahala Road in Kane‘ohe.

DUTCHES RICHARDS

CYNTHIA LEE SINCLAIR

CYNTHIA LEE SINCLAIR

“In the past, I’ve had points deducted in my

English class because of the

bus being 30-45 minutes late.”

– Paul Kawakami

Mayor Kirk Caldwell has restored much of the cuts, but route 55 was only partially restored to now a 45 minute wait time.

Also, city officials say

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

4 CAMPUS NEWSKa ‘Ohana

One cannot help but be im-pressed when talking to Mar-cus Nakoa.

The 23-year-old Kāne‘ohe native is personable and friendly with a quick smile and positive attitude. He is a self-professed chocoholic and a die-hard Steelers football fan. He is also a disabled student here at WCC.

“There are anywhere from 130 to 150 disabled students here at the WCC campus,” said WCC disabilities coun-selor Ann Lemke.

Nakoa was born three months early, weighing just two and a half pounds. He has cerebral palsy and at the age of 16 had to have brain surgery to correct hydrocephalus, a problem with fluid on the brain.

One of six kids and the only boy in his family, he was spoiled by his sisters growing up. He said it created a bit of dependency on his part always having things done for him. He is learning to be more independent these days and prides himself on being very persistent.

He cannot walk and is confined to a wheelchair. But he has a sharp mind.

“He is a very interesting conversa-tionalist,” said Keyah Rowsey-Briggs,

one of Nakoa’s good friends at WCC.After graduating from Castle High

School in 2011, Nakoa came straight to WCC, though in hindsight he said it might have been good to take a break first.

He commutes to school every day on the 77 bus from his home in Waimānalo, where he lives with his aunt, uncle and grandparents. The commute takes over an hour each way. But he rides with his best friend, which he said makes “the time go by fast and makes the trip seem not so bad at all.”

Working toward his associate’s degree in liberal arts, Nakoa plans to

transfer to UH Mānoa to study law. “I like to talk, so I might as well get paid for it,” he said.

His biggest struggle at WCC is the layout of the campus. “To get from the front of the campus to Hale ‘Ākoakoa is like torture.” While WCC is an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessible campus, there are several improvements that could be made to make things better for disabled stu-dents. There is an option to call campus security to come and give rides to any disabled student needing one, but very few students know of this option.

“I feel stuck in a mobility over con-venience problem,” Nakoa explained.

He has a motorized wheelchair, but it has very small wheels and if they get caught in a pothole then he is completely stuck. If he is alone, he is unable to get out of the pothole himself. If it is raining, the potholes are difficult to see and then he finds himself stuck out in the rain. A motorized wheelchair does not work well in the rain, since the battery should not get wet.

The larger wheels on his manual wheelchair make navigating rough surfaces easier. “There are a lot of places on campus where the pavement is very rough, and it’s full of a lot of potholes,” he said.

So he sacrifices the convenience of a motorized wheelchair for mobil-ity. The main drawback is that he has to use the strength in his arms to get up the hill from the front of the school. “Don’t get me wrong. It is a

good workout,” he said. There is no direct path from one

side of the campus to the other for a wheelchair, and he must take a very circuitous route to get there. “If not for friends helping out each day, I would be dead tired every day,” he said.

Nakoa’s friends speak very highly of him. “He always has your back,” said Jocelyn Matsumoto.

“He is a good friend. He is always there to listen or make up the differ-ence if you find yourself short at the bookstore,” said Rowsey-Briggs

Nakoa takes just two classes a semester because of the time involved getting from class to class and the energy he expends getting there. So it will take him longer to get his degree than he would like.

He said his teachers have been flex-ible and helpful about making adjust-ments to due dates when he has needed the extra time to complete assignments.

His most difficult subject by far has been math. He said he is glad he got it out of the way in the beginning. His favorite class was history with instruc-tor Ryan Koo.

So far, he said he has not had to use the services that are in place for disabled students. “I am persistent and always find ways to get around challenges that have come up,” he said.

Nakoa works hard at being as independent as possible but credits his success in school to the good friends that are always around to lend a helping hand.

My journey through school

ADHD/ADD: It’s not an excuse ... it’s an explanation

b y C y n t h i a L e e S i n c l a i rKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

A disabled student speaks out

Marcus Nakoa often studies in Hale ‘Akoakoa.CYNTHIA LEE SINCLAIR

College is well known for being a stressful academic environment

but imagine trying to pursue school while also having ADD or ADHD.

“College is stressful no matter what, especially when you are dealing with a learning disability,” said WCC mental health counselor Karla Silva. “You got more hurdles that you have to jump over of course naturally. And so you are looking to reduce those hurdles, and being able to reduce them means being (able) to tap into your resources.”

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), also known as at-tention deficit disorder (ADD), is a chronic condition that has to do with the regulation of a particular set of brain functions and behavior. These brain operations can collectively be categorized as “executive function skills.” The disorder is characterized by having problems with things such as attention, concentration, memory, motivation, effort, impulsivity, hyper-activity, organization and social skills.

ADHD has been known by dif-ferent names since the late 1700s when it was first recorded medically, which is why it is common for people to use the terms ADD and ADHD interchangeably. The disorder wasn’t officially recognized until 1968 when

it was included as Hyperkinetic Reac-tion of Childhood in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) that many health professionals use to identify, describe and code various conditions. A big reason for the fluctuation of the name, along with description, is due to the new research and information that has been found.

There are over 11 million people in the U.S. who have ADHD. While often associated with children, the disorder also affects adults and both genders. About two-thirds of the children di-agnosed with it continue to struggle with it to adulthood.

b y I t z e l C o n t r e r a s M e n d e zKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Although there are subtypes for ADHD, no two cases are the same. There is Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation, in which pri-mary symptoms are hyperactivity-impulsivity but no inattention were present for the past six months. The second subtype is Predominantly Inat-tentive Presentation, in which mainly symptoms of inattention, but not hyperactivity-impulsivity, were pres-ent for the past six months. The third subtype is Combined Presentation, in which symptoms of both criteria inat-tention and hyperactivity-impulsivity were present for the past six months.

Each person who has ADHD can show different combinations of symptoms, and the intensity or the manner in which those show are very different.

Often Silva said that a student might tell her, “I’m having a hard time focusing on school, taking notes, tak-ing my test, what can I do?” So then she focuses on how to support that individual student.

“The diagnosis isn’t necessarily the focus. It’s more of ‘I need some support, let’s work on this together.’ So it really depends more of what the students is looking for … ”

If students want to be diagnosed, Silva suggests they see a medical doc-tor, psychologist or psychiatrist.

“But it’s not the definitive end all to end all, because you can see an-other provider who says ‘Oh, I don’t think that is it, you know I think we are dealing with a different disorder or no disorder or maybe it’s a trauma that’s going onʻ … I think for the most part, we are really genuinely looking for those that have difficulty concen-trating, difficulty completing things,” Silva explained.

For those with ADHD, some tips to help increase focus include identifying what distracts you, breaking up your study times into chunks and moving around. For more information, go to Attention Deficit Disorder Associa-tion’s website at add.org.

People with ADHD have less activity in areas of the brain that control attention.EDUBLOX.COM

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IN DEPTH 5M a y 2 0 1 6

The struggle: Immersion education for a westernized worldB y K a ‘ a i n o a F e r n a n d e z

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Aikue Napoleon can often be found sitting at his usual table at

the Kailua Starbucks–laptop and textbook open, earbuds in, hard at work.

The 20-year-old Kapi‘olani Community College student is a regular at the coffee shop, where he spends a few hours most weekday afternoons studying. He said it takes him a little longer than his friends to do schoolwork as he has to reread things until they make sense. He is working toward his associate’s degree –an ac-complishment that he and his family are eager to achieve.

After attending Ke Kula O Samuel M. Kamakau, a Ha-waiian language immersion school in Kāne ohe where he spoke strictly ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) from first through fifth grade, Na-poleon struggled when he transferred to Maunawili Ele-mentary, an English speaking, western-style school in Kailua. He described the experience as “culture shocked.”

While Hawaiian immer-sion schools may link students closer to their culture, many struggle with academics after transferring to English me-dium schools.

“It’s so hard. You grow up doing it one way (speaking and writing in ʻōlelo Hawai i) and then you’re told that’s wrong, do it this way,” said Kauʻi Goodhue, a WCC stu-dent who attended Kamakau for 12 years.

In 1896, three years after the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Hawai-ian language was banned from all public and private education in Hawai‘i follow-ing the model of U.S. policy towards the use of American Indian languages in educa-tion, according to a timeline from ʻAha Pūnana Leo, a family-based educational or-ganization dedicated to the revitalization of the Hawaiian language.

The Hawaiian renaissance of the late 1960s and early 1970s led to an increase in interest and practice of the

culture. The fear of losing the Hawaiian language became a major focus of the move-ment. After four generations of Hawaiian language being banned in schools, Hawaiian language scholars and com-munity leaders lobbied for the removal of the near century-long ban.

In 1987, the state Depart-met of Education (DOE) es-tablished a pilot Hawaiian language immersion program, Ka Papahana Kaiapuni, in two public schools where students were taught exclusively in Hawaiian until English was formally introduced for one hour a day in grade 5.

The program has grown to 21 schools across five islands and services more than 2,000 students annually.

Charnay Kalama-Ma-comber describes Ke Kula O Kaiapuni as a Hawaiian dwelling where students learn more than the language but the culture too.

“You need to be willing to immerse yourself in the customs and in the practices, in the values that come with ʻōlelo Hawai i,” she said.

Kalama-Macomber and her mother were at the fore-front of this movement. She was a student of the first Ha-waiian immersion class of Ke Kula Kaiapuni O Pū ohala, a Hawaiian language immer-sion program at Pū ohala El-ementary School in Kāne ohe.

When the DOE required English to be formally intro-duced to students in Kaiapuni schools, Kalama-Macomber received help at home. She grew up with a mother who she said supported her edu-cation and the importance of being able to understand both worlds, Hawaiian and English.

After school she would go home and do her schoolwork then study in English with her mom, who would coach her along.

Kalama-Macomber said the Hawaiian mindset is very different from an English mindset in the way that it’s not literal. The way you speak and the words and concepts you use are metaphorical. After transferring to Kamehameha

Schools, reading something at face value was difficult for her.

“It was a struggle for me to really excel in reading compre-hension, and to this day that’s still my lowest thing that I try to work on,” she said.

Napoleon believes Hawai-ian immersion “prepares you culturally and broadens your perspective on things, but academically it’s not up to par.”

Students introduced to English in grades 2-5 show evidence of a “lag” in specific English language skills–spell-ing, capitalization, punctua-tion and word knowledge and discrimination, according to researchers from the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. But researchers also stated that the lag should be temporary, usu-ally lasting one to two years.

Austin Ewaliko, 17, is a senior at Damien Memorial School, which he’s attended since ninth grade. After be-ing accepted into the private Catholic school, he had to relearn the grammar and me-chanics of English. He spent after school tutor sessions relearning his first language.

“It just felt harder, putting everything together,” he said. “It was real different than Ha-waiian.”

Ewaliko previously at-tended Ke Kula O Samuel M. Kamakau for four years. He

said while in the seventh grade, he was surprised to see most of his peers reading third grade level books.

“They weren’t reading the level they were supposed to be,” he said. “I knew it (the school’s academics) wasn’t go-ing to be enough to make it to college.”

Makanani Salā, a Hawai-ian studies professor at WCC, has seen Hawaiian immersion students struggle in her classes.

“I don’t know if we want them to transition to us, or we want to be able to transition and offer them what is good for them,” she said. “Which is an education in their own language.”

“That’s really trying to push the academy to think of our populations differently, as assets rather than this deficit model that we get stuck into,” said Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Lipe, who works as a Native Hawaiian affairs specialist at the UH Mānoa.

Lipe said studies about Hawaiian immersion students and their transition to English, western-style schools are little to none.

“The university is growing to think of Hawaiian things differently,” she said.

She sits on multiple boards and committees, including KSUH–a partnership between Kamehameha Schools and the

University of Hawai‘i–which she said is gathering in June with teachers and practitioners to talk about how the two insti-tutions can help renormalize the Hawaiian language and possibly create a liberal arts degree students can pursue speaking only in ōlelo Hawai i.

Currently, students at UH have access to various campus resources including Hawaiian language courses, access to mana leo (native speakers), Ka Leo Hawai i recordings and the Hawaiian newspaper.

“I’m hoping that one day, we have an educational system in immersion, in English, in Hawai‘i that we’re preparing them (students) for whatever they want to do,” Lipe said. “We re preparing them to be farmers again and fishermen and kapa makers and kumu hula. And that we’re creating a world that if they wanna be just Hawaiian, then they can.”

Kalama-Macomber urges Hawaiian immersion students to use the resources they have access to.

“Use whatever, put your-self out there. Let people know this is what I wanna do and this what I need from you ... and take it,” she said. “Be ha’aha’a, humble your-self and take whatever help is going to come your way because it’s only going to be better in the end.”

IMAGE BY PATRICK HASCALL

Ka‘iwa Ridge Trail

Waimano Falls

Yokohama Bay

Moku Nui

Cromwells Beach

Mermaid Cave

From Mauka to Makai...Things to do this summer on O‘ahu

If In Doubt, Don’t Go Out

When going to the beach, pay attention to posted warnings and management signs. The safest beaches are identified with yellow squares. Red octagons rep-resent hazardous conditions, while beaches with black diamonds are extremely hazardous and people are advised to stay out of the water. City beach parks are closed for public safety reasons when a red octagon with a horizontal dash through the middle is present.

Whether you decide to hike Hawai‘i’s mountains or explore life underwater, always use the buddy system. Experience does not make you immune to accidents. Accidents can happen, and they can happen to anyone. Remember to use common sense, and pay attention to your environment.

Yokohama Bay

Whether you are a wave, scenery, or music enthusiast, Yokohama Bay has got a little love for everyone. During the winter months and into the spring, it is known for its picture perfect yet dangerous waves. In the summer, it has calm epic sunsets. It is one of those places where you can feel the positive energy.

Mermaid Cave

Walking along the bumpy rocks in Nānākuli, there is a secret spot: Mermaid Cave.

Not many people can find it on their first try, but if there are locals fishing, you can ask them and they’ll most likely tell you where to walk. It’s a small journey, but worth it.

Walking along the rocks, you’ll see mini tide pools along the way. About 10 minutes along the rocks with the ocean on your right, sand will start to appear on your left near the backyard of houses. A big hole in the rocks will appear on your left, and the sound of waves hitting rocks will echo out of the hole. Climb down carefully, and there’s the cave.

People call it the Mermaid Cave because it looks like a place where mermaids would go and hang out.

Pounders Beach

Cromwells Beach

Cromwells is a popular spot for many locals to swim, fish and surf. The small boat dock is what teenagers come for. Imagine a pool but

filled with salt water connecting to the ocean. The house above is known as “Shangri La” and is an Islamic-style mansion built by the late American tobacco heiress Doris Duke. The dock was built for her yacht.

The dock is known for “bombing,” which is jumping off of the rock wall into the water trying to create the biggest slash. People, however, have gotten seriously injured jumping off the wall. As a result, the state put up a fence to prevent access.

Cromwells is also a great place to fish. Nenue are abundant here but not so easy to catch. You will need a nenue hook, some bread and patience. Fishing is a great way to have fun at Cromwells, and you might even get to bring home some dinner.

Moku Nui

The Mokuluas, otherwise known as “The Mokes” or “The Twin Islands,” provide a unique and stunning beach experience.

Roughly a half mile off of Lanikai Beach, the Moku-luas are a protected marine and bird sanctuary. In fact the smaller of the two islands, Moku Iki, is off limits to people. The bigger of the two islands, Moku Nui, has a nice beach in front perfect for relaxing, listening to your favorite music and enjoying the incredible view.

“I love rounding up the boys and going out for a Mokes mission,” said Kana Logan, a sailing and surfing enthusiast and current crew member of the Hōkūle‘a. “Especially when there is some waves right off the point at the beach at wraparounds. It’s the best feeling when you get in from a nice little session and can just relax, jam to some music and soak in the good energy around you.”

All in all if you are feeling adventurous and have a way to transport yourself out there, Moku Nui is a must see!

Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail

Kuli’ou’ou Ridge Trail is a 5-mile popular hike that climbs a dry, shady ridge to the top of the Ko’olau Range. The trail begins in Kuli’ou’ou Valley and switchbacks to the top where you are rewarded with a 360-degree view of the island with Kailua and the Moku-lua Islands to the left, Waimānalo straight ahead and the tip of the Ko’olau summit, Rabbit Island and Koko Head Crater to the right.

The first portion of the hike slowly ascends through Kuli’ou’ou Valley and is protected from the sun by a canopy of trees and ferns. Phase two is along the side of the mountain and overlooks the valley. As you continue your way up, the climb becomes steeper, and you can feel the burn in your thighs. Return by the same route. Caution: the trail is also open to hunters and mountain bikers.

Pounders Beach

The name Pounders came from how the waves crash and pound at the shore. It used to be called “Pa-humoa” after skilled fisherman Pahumoa Kamakeaina.

It is said that the beach park is haunted and lies in or near the path of the Hawaiian night marchers, ancient ghosts or spirit warriors headed for battle who come out on full-moon nights. They are recognizable by their lit torches, repeated oli (chants) and the beat of their drums.

At the far right of the beach stands a big rocky cliff where people fish or cast out nets. On the opposite end are old pillars from a pier that once stood in the ocean.

Today, Pounders is mainly used for body boarding because of its big waves. Once a year, usually in June or July, the Pounders Roundup body boarding competition takes place. Several movies were filmed there too such as Soul Surfer about surfer Bethany Hamilton from Kaua’i and her story of not giving up even after losing her arm in a shark attack.

Ka‘iwa Ridge Trail

The Lanikai Pillbox Trail, officially known as the Ka’iwa Ridge Trail, is well known for being one of the easiest hikes on the island and the most scenic, a rare combination. But watch your footing because much of the trail is over loose dirt and rock.

You are immediately rewarded with a stun-ning view of the clear waters of the Pacific, the Mokulua Islands (commonly known as the Mokes) directly offshore and Mokoli‘i Island (also known as Chinaman’s Hat) in the distance. On the right, you are greeted by the Ko’olau Mountains that overlook Kāne‘ohe and Kailua.

“The best time to do this trail is either early morning or at dusk because it gets very hot in the afternoon,” said Kailua resident Kathy Young. “The Pillbox Trail is one of my favorite hikes. It’s a challenge every time and is great for relieving stress.”

Ka’iwa Ridge Trail can be completed in an hour or less, but the view will keep you there longer.

Kuli‘ou‘ou Ridge Trail

Waimano Falls

The Waimano Falls hike is a 3-mile round-trip trail that is suitable for hikers of all experience.

It begins at Manana Trail, and you are immediately treated to a view of Waimano Valley and Pearl City. Up ahead, the trail splits into two: Ko’olau Ridge Trail and the Waimano Falls. Be sure to follow the signs to the falls or you might end up on the Ko’olau summit.

On the way down to the falls, the trail is lined with skinny strawberry guava trees whose fruit litters the ground. Relieve your nose from the rotting fruit and stop to smell the sweet nectar of the white ginger. Just as you begin to think you are lost in the midst of the guava, you are greeted by a lone palm tree and the sound of rushing water.

The fall has two sections: the main pool that is directly under the waterfall and another pool that is deep enough to jump in. While the main pool is not deep enough to jump in, it is wide enough to comfortably fit 10 people. The water flows to the second pool that has a five foot drop into water that is deep enough to jump in (diving is not recommended). You can also swing into the pool with a rope that is tethered directly above the water.

Heading out is more challenging than the trip down. Past the strawberry guava trees is a nearly vertical hill nick-named “Cardiac Hill.” It will get your heart pumping and your buns burning.

This trail is also a public hunting area, so exercise cau-tion. Wear brightly colored clothing and stay on the trail to avoid hunters.

Story and photos by Griffin Colombe, Lorene Hashida, Deborah Higa, Kristen Kumakura and Alexandria Tuia

Graphics by Armi Habal

M a y 2 0 1 6

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 LIVINGKa ‘Ohana

Coffee, coffee and more coffeeb y D e b o r a h H i g a

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Lazy days are the best. But when we do have to be productive adults,

there is only one thing getting our butts out of bed. Coffee.

“The moment the fra-grance reaches his nostrils ... the eyes grow bright, a health-ful color and natural fullness returns to the cheeks, smiles wreath the mouth, the mind becomes active,” said Robert Hewitt in his book Coffee: Its History, Cultivation, and Uses.

We live in a society sur-rounded by coffee and caf-feine. Why? Coffee not only helps us get the day started, it gets us through the day.

There are two types of people in this world: The Caffeinated and the Un-Caf-feinated. The Caffeinated are bright-eyed and ready to seize the day. They read the news or check their emails. They walk a little faster and smile a bit wider as long as they have their trusty mug in hand.

The Un-Caffeinated are not as fortunate. They make their morning commute with bleary eyes, walk slowly and are more irritable when you hurry them along.

No one knows exactly how or when coffee was dis-covered, but legend has it that Kaldi, a goat herder from Ethiopia, discovered the po-tential of these beloved beans

COURTESY OF PALOMARR

Coffee not only helps us get the day

started, it gets us through the day.

after noticing his goats eating red berries from a certain tree and becoming so energetic that they did not want to sleep, according to the article “His-tory of Coffee” by the National Coffee Association.

The herder shared his findings with the local abbot who shared the tale of the berries with the monks at the monastery, and slowly the knowledge of the energizing berries made its way east and soon across the globe.

When coffee arrived in Europe in the 17th century, it took the continent by storm. Some people reacted to the new beverage with suspicion,

calling it the “bitter invention of Satan.” The controversy was so great that Pope Clement VIII was asked to intervene. He decided to taste the bever-age for himself before making a decision and found it so satisfying that he gave it papal approval.

By the mid-1600s, coffee was introduced to the New World. However, tea was still the favored drink until the Boston Tea Party changed the American drinking preference forever.

Post-revolt, coffee houses began to rapidly pop up across the nation, and coffee pro-vided a social lubricant that

brought people together. They were and continued

to be venues where people gathered to talk, write, read, entertain one another or pass the time.

During the first wave of coffee’s popularity, coffee came in cans, was bland and weak tasting. Not wanting to pay for overpriced, bland coffee, consumption of coffee began to decline.

The second wave of cof-fee began in direct response to the lack of quality. Places like Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Starbucks came up with new ways to distribute fresher, higher quality products and emphasized quality, value and image. People began to drink coffee again. There was a dif-ferent flavor for everyone and a style for every lifestyle.

Recently, we have moved away from the social aspects of coffee culture and have started to look at coffee as a boost of productivity. More coffee means more work done, a boon in our society that

leisurely activities, it’s far more common to see people working on laptops, reading or doing some form of produc-tive work at coffee houses.

“Most simply grab their coffee and go ... while others prefer to keep human interac-tion to an absolute minimum by using the drive-through window,” said Colin Marshall

GRAPHIC BY KATHERINE NOBORIKAWA

demands productivity at all hours. Chances are you have a coffeemaker in your workplace.

Over the years, cof-fee drinking seems to have moved farther away from the social activity that it appears to be.

While people st il l frequent coffee houses for

in the article “The First Star-bucks Coffee Shop,” which appeared in The Guardian. The number who are there solely for social purposes seems very small.

Coffee is a powerful bev-erage. On a personal level, it helps keep us awake and active. On a much broader level, it has helped shape our history and continues to shape our culture.

Spring 2016 Phi Theta Kappa inductees

Ka ‘Ohana (the family) garnered another first place national award from the American Scholastic Press Association. The newspaper has ranked

among the top winners in the ASPA competition for the past 21 years.Ka ‘Ohana was recognized by the judges as “an exceptional newspaper”

and “a wonderful example of how the students have reached the highest standards of news reporting.” The competition provides recognition for excellence and feedback to the newspaper staff on strengths and areas to improve in content, page design, general plan, art, editing and creativity.

Congratulations to WCC’s student newspaper

Spring 2016 staff (clockwise from top left:) Deborah Higa, Gracie Berkley, Itzel Contreras Mendez, Dutches Richards, lab assistant Armi Habal, adviser Kimberlee Bassford, lab assistant Patrick Hascall, Cynthia Lee Sinclair and Ka‘ainoa Fernandez (not pictured: Zachary Rupp-Smith).

PATRICK HASCALL

Tiffany T. AbeDaniela AgnesiniJoshua K. AkauGeorge E. AkrinsJoann M. AkrinsJuliana AlvarezcontrerasJohanna C. AnagaranMichael K. AndrewsChasen ArdoKryshelle ArellianoJessica K. AttwoodNanianela BoyleMichelle R. BroomeLovell BrunoRossana M. BussDerinette ChavesMichelle J. CorpuzJannie Y. Cudahy-MathiasElaine A. DemaddisGabriel J. DunnSheila L. EstaniqueStuart K. FeatheranMary K. FloresMateo K. GalengGabrielle C. GarciaDonald P. GatesJoanne C. GleasonEdiann M. Gomes

Ashlynn GouveiaSabrina N. HebbKiana M. HeitzmanSheena W. HernandezBrandon HolmesShari HusseyPaul R. InouyeJay JosephBrandy U. KahawaiCasey A. KaneshiroAudrey N. KauweCynthia L. KeNathan K. KelekolioNicole Lee KiddCiana Shaye A. KimRandy KochiyamaYumi D. LamanskyAmy Q. LeeRobin LeeRobert LinogonKainani Marie S. LuberAkamulyn MakuaRachael MartinPerla V. Mieses MontesinoDarlene M. MirandaJodie M. MiyamotoRebecca H. Miyashiro

Christian A. MoratinTamara MortensenHannah R. MullaneyLaurie K. MurphyMaleah K. OkuGenet P. OmerodAimee K. PaahaoJarena H. PacarroAngeleen K. PedersenLinea M. PerryBrianna H. PiligrinoGabrielle M. PolendeyStacie L. PriceDarla K. RichardsKealohi K. SabateNakoa K. SabateKelly A. SegalJessica R. SimpsonCynthia L. SinclairBenjamin C. StevensDayna R. TanakaAnn M. TiltonDaniel M. TraylorRainbow K. UliiRonald K. Vacca-FarleyReichel M. YamashiroKeante F. YingRebecca K. Zabell

Ka ‘OhanaW 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 9M a y 2 0 1 6

On April 15, the WCC Sexual Violence Prevention Project sponsored an event on cam-

pus called No More/No More Excus-es. The event featured three students from the theatre department who read aloud the many excuses that people use to justify rape.

She was wearing tight jeans. She was asking for it by wearing sugges-tive clothes. She was flirting online. She was his steady girlfriend. She was drunk and partying. She had it coming. She was his wife. She has sex for money. She cannot hear, talk or report. You assumed consent.

After the students read the excuses, they read the reasons the excuses are no good. There is no ex-cuse not to support survivors. There is no excuse to joke about rape. There is no excuse not to support male survivors.

Also at the event were three survivors of sexual assault and child abuse. The three women shared mov-ing personal stories and inspiring poetry.

One survivor talked about how her father used to break her feet with a hammer. He would tell her that he wanted her to remember with every step she took what he would do to her if she ever told anyone what he was doing to her at night.

Another student shared her poet-ry about a rape that she experienced.

The third student shared stories of her abuse as a child. She wants people to feel safe and supported when they tell their story to some-one and believes it is important to talk about this issue in order to raise awareness and break down the bar-riers that keep people from reaching out for help.

“The word that comes to heart is courage,” said Debra Ledward, a stu-dent who attended the event. “How you gonna know how to help, if you don’t know about domestic abuse?”

“It’s powerful stuff,” said student Mike Andrews. “It would have been nice if more people had been there, because it’s important to have a plat-form for people to both talk about it and hear about it.”

WCC is proactive when it comes to abuse prevention, organizing events and programs to keep stu-dents safe on campus and to raise awareness about how to stay safe at all times.

During April’s Sexual Violence Awareness Month and Child Abuse Awareness Month, there was focused education about believing victims if they come to you with a confession of abuse. It is important to believe them and offer support because the wrong reaction can cause more trauma for the victim.

WCC counselor Kate Zane who chairs the Sexual Violence Preven-tion Project can be contacted through the counseling office in ‘Ākoakoa 212 for support or questions.

Windward commits to ‘No More Excuses’ b y C y n t h i a L e e S i n c l a i r

Ka ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

Clockwise from top left: Student Breanna Ohiro, student Mike Andrews, student Kat Bronston, instructor Sarah Hadmack, security guard Katherine Masuniga, Chancellor Doug Dykstra. Photos by Cynthia Lee Sinclair

Early College is a dual credit program that allows stu-

dents to earn college credit while attending high school. It started in summer 2014 at the request of parents and the community.

“Basically our goal is to increase public school gradu-ates to go to college and fin-ish,” said WCC administrative coordinator Kehau Iwashita. “So we are offering students all opportunities to get that to graduate. There’s statistics that show if students have some college credit by the time they graduate from high school, they are more likely to continue to college. And that’s a good thing.”

The Early College pro-gram fits the state of Hawai’i’s larger goal of having 55 per-cent of adults earn a college degree by 2025. The UH com-munity college system as a whole has been focusing on offering dual credit programs

b y I t z e l C o n t r e r a s M e n d e zKa ‘Ohana Staff Reporter

to prepare students for college.WCC faculty have been

teaching classes at Ku Kula O Samuel M. Kamakau, a charter

school that focuses on Hawai-ian culture and language, for about year an half. Usually, one WCC instructor teaches

alongside one Kamakau teach-er. Kamakau students can take the courses for free.

This spring, HWST 107: Hawai‘i: Center of the Pacific was taught, which is an intro-duction to Hawai’i and Ha-waiian culture that includes Hawaiian origins, settlement, language, land, history, so-ciety, religion and the arts. It was the first time an Early College class was taught in the Hawaiian language.

“Like I tell all my stu-dents, college is an exercise in finishing things,” said WCC Hawaiian studies and Early College instructor Makanani Salā. “So if you do your part, our part is to meet (you) 50 percent (of the way). We want to help students get to this point where they take an ac-tive role … And our job is to help you get there.”

Kehau Glassco’s son, Ka’io, is a freshman at Kamakau tak-ing an Early College class.

“For him to have this opportunity to take college classes to earn college credit,

The early bird gets ‘Early College’ creditI feel is amazing,” she said. “It will also help him get a head start when he actually gradu-ates from high school and then goes into college. So I feel like it’s a good opportunity for our school, for our students ... and we don’t have to pay anything. That’s the main thing, because later on he’ll have to get schol-arships, and we don’t have to do that.”

Glassco herself is a gradu-ate student at the University of Hawai‘i pursuing her doctor-ate in education. As part of her doctorate program, she did a consultancy project at Kamakau to see what helps its students graduate from college.

“A lot of the things we looked at that Kamakau does actually help students gradu-ate from college,” she said. “Their college counselor that helps them with the FAFSA and with this Early College stuff. So that’s what makes me excited about it because they have more of a chance to graduate.”

High school freshman Ka‘io (left) and mother Kehau GlasscoITZEL CONTRERAS MENDEZ

M a y 2 0 1 6

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

10 EditorialKa ‘Ohana

Note: Content on the Editorial page represents the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Ka ‘Ohana or its staff.

For at least the past five years, WCC and the Hawai‘i State Hospital

have been embroiled in a dis-pute over the Bishop Parcel, or what students may more com-monly know as “that empty lot with the boarded-up building on the ‘Ākoakoa side of cam-pus.”

What’s the issue? Plain and simple, the state hospital wants to build another multi-storied facility there. WCC wants it to be built somewhere else.

Even though it looks like it’s part of WCC’s campus, the Bishop Parcel actually belongs to the state hospital. It’s a histor-ically protected piece of land – an extension of the Great Lawn that runs through our campus and includes the abandoned, boarded up but still historically protected Bishop Hall building.

The new facility, which would require knocking that building down and digging up the lawn, would provide long-term care housing for el-derly residents and long-term patients from the state hospital.

WCC proposed a land swap, offering to take over the Bishop Parcel in exchange for a larger piece of forested land at the bottom of our campus, right next to the Windward Health Center. Although it would have to clear the land first, the state could use this land to create more parking for the always crowded health center, as well as build its facil-ity without the restrictions that come with development on historic land or demolishing a historic building.

This swap would have a multitude of benefits for our school and students. At the bottom of the property, WCC would build a Small Business Service Center and Entrepre-neurial Business Incubator that will house our business and computer science departments and is desperately needed for employment and entre-preneurial training, enabling students to learn skills for future employment that will surely improve the future of our economy.

At the top of the prop-erty, we would collaborate with Hakipu u Learning Center to renovate Bishop Hall, preserv-ing the historic building while allowing the charter school to grow and expand its enroll-

ment and further its relation-ship with WCC by developing the existing co-curricular and dual credit offerings at our school. All of this ensures that we protect the Great Lawn by leaving it open and untouched.

Most importantly, we would not be surrounded on all non-forested sides by potential security issues and therefore feel safer on campus.

Due to past incidents on campus and delayed or non-reports of patient elopement, both students and faculty gen-erally feel wary of their safety and security in regards to the patients and residents of the state hospital.

ASUH surveyed students about the potential of the new state hospital facility and the majority consensus was, “We don’t like it, and we don’t want it.”

This land swap was pre-sented five times to the state and rejected every single time on the grounds that contracts and permits are in place for the proposed long-term care facility and that the facility is needed now.

In response to the Febru-ary 2016 resolution written and submitted by the Kāne‘ohe Neighborhood Board in sup-port of WCC’s land swap, the Governor’s office wrote a let-ter back, once again stating

that they’re too far along in the planning process to backtrack and the need is immediate so they’re moving forward. But the facts prove that this isn’t the case.

Hakipu u previously oc-cupied Bishop Hall but was evicted in 2010 to expedite development of this long-term facility. Intensive level surveys and an environmental assess-ment need to be done before authorization is given to demol-ish Bishop Hall.

The state acknowledged this need in June 2015. In its August 2015 master plan, it stated that it still didn’t have approval. In February 2016, it acknowledged the need again and promised that work was going to begin in a matter of weeks. As of April 2016, the state hospital still doesn’t have clearance from the appropriate authorities to demolish Bishop Hall or to develop the land.

ASUH has written and submitted a resolution in op-position to the Governor’s deci-sion on the proposed land swap between WCC and the state hospital. In addition to asking the Governor to reconsider his decision, we are asking local lawmakers to investigate the plans in place and their impacts and trying to raise awareness of what’s going on around our campus and our community.

We presented the reso-lution to other UH student governments and garnered individual campus support and are now spearheading another resolution by the UH Student Caucus, an overarching, sys-tem-level body representing all students (undergraduate, grad-uate, part-time and full-time) from across the UH system.

This new caucus resolution is a general resolution calling for the state to follow proper protocols, policies and proce-dures when dealing with the university and its agreements. (TMT, anyone?)

In response to the distribu-tion of our resolution, I have been contacted by KHON2 News and The Honolulu Star Advertiser, and there has been expressed interest from Hono-

Students oppose Governor’s decision on land swapb y K e l l i A c o p a n ,

A S U H - W C C p r e s i d e n tSpecial to Ka ‘Ohana

The map shows the parcels to be swapped in WCC’s proposal to the Hawai‘i State Hospital.

WCC MEDIA SERVICES

lulu Civil Beat. The chair of the University

of Hawai‘i Board of Regents (the ones who make all the really big decisions for the UH system) emailed to let me know the resolution was distributed to all regents.

The Kāne‘ohe Neighbor-hood Board supports our resolution and has written a letter back to the Governor’s office reaffirming its stance. Ko olaupoko Civic Club will be submitting this issue to its membership for consideration and has invited me to speak at its May meeting.

So many of us, students and faculty alike, take pride in our campus and in being at WCC. ASUH is the students’ mouthpiece, and we are mak-ing sure that we are heard.

Even Clark Kent thought it was a ‘super’ job!!!

JournalismYou can be a

superhero too!Join Ka ‘Ohana this

fall and fight for ‘Truth, justice and the

American way.’(and satisfy a WI requirement)

JOUR 150 – Media and SocietyJOUR 250 – Media WritingJOUR 270 – Multimedia Storytelling

JOUR 285V – Newspaper Lab

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

Editorial 11M a y 2 0 1 6

Yes, I do believe that there needs to be a fence or something separating the two properties. I have had personal experience with being a bit frightened by a few of the clientele that were walking through our campus.

One individual was fol-lowing me and kept asking me for my phone number ... (however) most walking through our campus are harmless.

I do believe it would be safer for all parties con-cerned if there was some kind of decorative partition that would be pleasant to the eye.

– Donita Garcia

I think we should have a fence to keep students safe. They have had people break out before, and some of those people are danger-ous. It is also safer for the people at the state hospital.

My grandpa used to work there and told me crazy stories about what patients used to do and how often they wandered out of the hospital.

It wonʻt look pretty with a fence, but itʻll be safer for everyone and give people more peace of mind.

– Rachel Jones

I believe it is extreme-ly important to build a fence separating WCC and Hawai‘i State Hospital.

The two facilities are back to back with nothing to keep the patients from wandering onto the WCC campus, and while most of them do not pose a threat to the students’ safety, there are still a few that do. Build-ing the fence would help ensure the safety of the students.

Furthermore, the pa-tients can also be a dis-traction from the learning process. On the other hand, we must take into consider-ation patient s rights; not all of them are court-ordered, and building a fence may hinder their freedom.

– Tim Wells

Fences only divide people. They never bring a common agreement but

Do you think there should be a fence built between WCC and the Hawai‘i State Hospital? Why or why not?

only draw a line for de-fense. Being a student for the past two years at Wind-ward, I have never heard of negative experiences be-sides a few stragglers now and again.

With no account of ma-jor incidents, what would be the reason to withdrawal monetary funds from the health care of mentally ill patients or add a tuition cost for WCC students.

As a college student I am able to knowingly use my resources to defend my-self. And being on such a highly populated campus, I know there will is usually someone at least within yelling distance.

– Zak W.

I don’t believe that the patients in the Hawai’i State Hospital pose any real threat to WCC, so a fence would only serve to ease the undue paranoia that some hold against the mentally ill.

A fence would only make what is and should be a medical treatment facility seem more like the insane asylums that have been done away with for decades.

Putting mentally ill people behind a fence may ease the minds of some but would do some amount of damage to the fragile mental states of some of the patients of the hospital.

This sort of behavior toward the mentally ill has been around for millennia, yet unfortunately has not been put behind us.

This sort of thinking led morally minded people to lock “crazy” people up like animals and beat them with sticks until as late as the be-ginning of the 20th century.

Men will always fear what they do not under-stand.

– Bryson Cheung

I donʻt think it is en-tirely necessary to build a fence around both struc-tures. Not only would it be horrendously expensive, it would also be a huge eye-sore for both properties.

In the two years Iʻve attended WCC, Iʻve only ever heard of one incident where a patient has es-

caped. Thankfully it is only a state mental facility, and not a prison.

If the patients are high enough risk, they should be held at a more secure facility.

– Kyle Leland

Yes I do think that building a fence is a good idea for many reasons.

First of all it will keep the patients from escaping from the hospital. It will also prevent them from attempting to harm others in the college or the com-munity.

It can also prevent any-one from just walking onto the state hospital property thus keeping them (the pa-tients) safe as well. In the end itʻs a win-win situa-tion, and it would be more organized.

– Adam Aku

I don’t think a fence should be built between WCC and the state hospi-tal. The main reason is an economic one.

I think the funds would be much better spent if they were funneled back into our education sys-tem, rather than addressing some phantom risk that is a remote possibility at best.

Secondly, I didn’t even realize the state hospital was located near the school, so that shows how little this impacts our daily lives and learning environments as students.

– Angie Lanier

No, I do not think there should be a fence and the hospital. First off, it is a waste of money that could be spent on much better things. Fenc-es are meant to keep people/things in or out.

If they’re trying to keep patients in and students out, if either really wants to, they will find a way in or out.

A fence will not stop someone who is determined to escape or break in. Sec-ondly, the fence will make the campus seem contained and not an open, friendly place.

It will take away from the beauty of the Ko’olau mountains. No one wants to view the mountains through a fence.

– Jessica Lauaki

I don’t agree that there should be a fence. I assume people want one because they are fearful that “crazy” or “unstable” patients will escape and attack someone. This is plain wrong.

My family moved to Hawai’i in 1998 because my father got hired at the state hospital as a psychologist. He got hands-on experience with most of the patients, and essentially all of them were kind or at least not a danger to others.

People need to stop al-lowing their fears to influ-ence their decisions. They need to stop conjuring ideas of a delusional, violent and criminally insane patient aimlessly wandering onto campus and killing students.

– Russell Elting

Though a visible fence may put some people a little more at ease; the real ques-tion is whether or not it’s actually necessary.

Many of the individual buildings already have fenc-ing around them, and given how large the whole prop-erty is, I’m certain a fence would be a huge expense affecting taxpayers.

– Jordan Blais

Unless there have been incidents of people getting out and harassing students, I don’t think there should be a wall. Walls outside of your windows will harm even the soundest of minds. It can make you feel like an animal and encourage outbursts of panic and rage.

If we are trying to heal these people, a wall around them is one of the most effec-tive things you could do to hinder their progress. If they are causing problems, then maybe the hospital should be moved to a more secluded location.

– Joshua Hackman

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

Gracie Berkley

STAFF REPORTERS

Itzel Contreras Mendez

Ka‘ainoa Fernandez

Deborah Higa

Zachary Rupp-SmithADVISER

Kimberlee Bassford

Dutches K. Richards

Cynthia Lee Sinclair

WEBMASTER/LAB ASSISTANT

Patrick Hascall

LAB ASSISTANT

Armi Habal

“Men will always fear what they do not understand.” – Bryson Cheung

Yes, I believe that it is important to make the distinction between the school grounds and the hospital in order to keep the more dangerous peo-ple from bothering stu-dents and the problem -causing students from bothering the patients.

Iʻm not saying build a fence so no one can escape. Iʻm saying we should build a fence to keep everyone minding their own business.

– Lizzy Colon

M a y 2 0 1 6

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

12 Food & EntertainmentKa ‘Ohana

He runs back and forth in the kitchen, opens the walk-in fridge and freezer, checks to

see if the line is ready and chops up fresh vegetables all while keeping an eye on a pot of simmering fresh tomato sauce. Baci Bistro executive chef and co-owner Reza Azeri is always busy making sure his Kailua Italian restau-rant is up to standard.

Born and raised in Italy, Azeri grew up running around with his sib-lings and “causing trouble.” His father owned a restaurant, and he also spent a lot of time watching his grandmother cook family dinners of traditional Ital-ian pastas.

“So simple, but taste like heaven,” Azeri said.

His grandmother would have to kick him out sometimes because he would get in the way. However, food was not his first passion. Travel was.

Azeri traveled to many places in Europe–Germany, Hungary, France, but mostly Spain–and learned about different foods and cooking tech-niques. He later came to the U.S. hop-ing to expand his knowledge of food and culture.

In the 1970s, he made his way to Los Angeles without knowing anyone, with hardly any money and not a word of English.

“Work, work, work,” he said, “That is all I did.”

He worked three jobs at one point just to support himself. He eventually got bored, so he made his way to San Francisco, attended culinary school and found a job in a restaurant. He also met some business people and got tips

Cooking with passion at Baci Bistrob y K r i s t e n K u m a k u r a

Special to Ka ‘Ohana

on how to be an entrepreneur. But he wanted to travel more.

Hearing that Hawai‘i had different foods and places, he decided to come

to the islands in 1980. The first thing he did was find a job at a restaurant in Hawai‘i Kai.

“It was not easy taking three dif-ferent buses just to get to work, but I had to do what I had to do,” he said.

He met friends who were trying to open a restaurant and needed a chef. They recruited him and opened a restaurant on Wai‘alae Avenue in Ka‘imukī.

The restaurant was a success and attracted many people, making it almost impossible to get in without a reservation. Unfortunately, the lease was too expensive to renew, and his partners moved back to the mainland. So it closed.

Wanting to open another restau-rant, he met Bill Duval through friends, and the two became partners and started looking around for a new spot. They found a small place in Kailua that

was affordable and reasonable. They opened Baci Bistro in 1985.

It was not easy at first. With few employees and not many customers, he worked mornings and nights, often the only one in the kitchen. Eventually more people started dining in.

“Everyone needs to eat ... take care of them, they take care of you,” he said.

“Working with Chef Reza is an honor,” said Matt Sargent, a manager who has worked at Baci Bistro for five years. “During work, chef is a ‘bad ass,’ pardon my language ... outside of work, he is an enjoyable person to be around. He is witty with the best of them and is not afraid to call you on your faults at any time.”

Sargent added that Azeri is a jokester and likes to joke around with ticket orders or crack jokes with the waiters.

However, Azeri had many ob-stacles to get to where he is now. One tragic incident happened in January 2014 when he was jumped from behind while unloading groceries. He was brutally beaten and left with a broken jaw, a few stitches and a long road to recovery.

The random act of violence forced him to take months off of work to re-cover. Being away from the restaurant was painful for him.

“Without chef, the restaurant would not be the same,” Sargent said thinking back on those months.

“He has the biggest heart out of anyone I’ve ever met,” said Kevin “Taylor” Kuhia, a busboy who has been working for Azeri for 10 years.

“Rez treats us like his kids ... you can talk to him about anything, but I am (more) scared to tell him some things than my dad,” he said while giggling because he knows Azeri will be more hard on him, like a father would be.

“Chef is very smart but can be grouchy when we don’t do things right,” said Johnette Fulton, a waitress who has been working for him for two years.

Even though Azeri himself has worked under different chefs and tried many different foods, he said his grandmother’s cooking is the absolute best, and he misses it.

He learned everything from her, but when he tries to recreate her dishes, they’re nowhere near the same.

“I wish I could eat some of her food today,” he said while sipping a glass of wine.

Chef Reza Azeri sits at the bar top of his restaurant Baci Bistro located in Kailua.

Chef Reza Azeri sautées clams for a dish called vongole.

The staff of Ka ‘Ohana wish you a fun and safe summer. Look for our next issue in September.

KRISTEN KUMAKURA

KRISTEN KUMAKURA