Bro. Ed Brink, Vice President for Mission and Rector of Chaminade University of Honolulu, HI, sent us this update about Chaminade's University celebration of Indigenous Peoples Day on October 14, 2024, which included community service projects, hands-on activities, and educational workshops. Silverswords are CUH's varsity athletic teams and represent a Hawaiian plant prized for its beauty and ability to withstand harsh conditions.
Chaminade students along with members of the faculty and staff gathered on Indigenous Peoples Day for a special Aloha ‘Āina Kalaepōhaku event to celebrate the Hawaiian value of mālama ʻāina with community service projects, hands-on activities, and educational workshops and lectures.
As part of the daylong event on campus, supported by a grant from Kamehameha Schools Kaiāulu, participants planted native flora and weeded community gardens on Chaminade’s campus. A group of students also ventured to Cromwell’s Beach to conduct invasive limu removal.
“Today is a wonderful day for Chaminade University of Honolulu to celebrate the place, Kalaepōhaku, where we reside and to give back and celebrate our ʻāina,” said University President Lynn Babington. “So we come together as a community of mostly students, but faculty and staff, too, to protect the ʻāina, celebrate it, work in our community garden and also work with our native plants.”
Later in the day, students also got hands-on demonstrations in hula, lei making, and more.
“Our Marianist mission and values of the University really focus on community,” said Babington, who assisted in clearing the community garden and putting in native plants. “Anytime we have the opportunity to gather people together to celebrate our place here in Hawai’i, we take advantage of that.”
Great Work! Thanks for this post, Ed!