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Student and Faculty Activities

CTAHR strives to maximize students' personal growth and development by providing a variety of opportunities to network, build and strengthen relationships, and get involved in fun, enriching co-curricular activities.

Below are selected examples of recent student activities sponsored by CTAHR.


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CTAHR Graduation Convocation

group attending convocation

On Thursday, December 8, 2016, over 250 CTAHR students, their families and friends, and CTAHR faculty and staff attended CTAHR’s Fall 2016 Convocation in the Campus Center Ballroom. This celebration, co-emceed by Irene Morrow and Maile Sing, began with congratulatory remarks from Associate Dean Charles Kinoshita and CTAHR Alumni Association and Friends President Kauahi Perez. Our Fall 2016 student marshals, Jerrisa Ching (ANSC) and Jason McMurray (FSHN), selected for their academic achievements, leadership and service to CTAHR and the University, were then recognized. Afterwards, graduating students active in CTAHR-affiliated student organizations were acknowledged for their participation in these organizations. CTAHR also recognized five students who were graduating members of Phi Upsilon Omicron, one of CTAHR’s honor societies. The ceremony concluded with the individual recognition of 36 of our graduates. Following the program were refreshments and a chance for family, friends, and mentors to mingle with the graduating students, as well as capture memories with the photo booth. Congratulations to our graduating students for achieving such an important milestone! Good luck in your future endeavors!

A big mahalo to all those who supported our graduating students. Thank you to SAPFB for partially funding this event, Commuter Services for providing parking passes for the graduates, the Office of Admissions for allowing us to use the photo booth backdrop, the CTAHR Alumni Association and Friends for their support, Steven and Karen Sato for funding purchase of the lei, CTAHR scholarship recipients and student ambassadors for volunteering at the event, and Academic and Student Affairs for providing the CTAHR memorabilia presented to the graduates and organizing this event.

Photos from the event can be viewed on the CTAHR Flickr page.


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CTAHR Blood Drive

Every day, 200 blood donors are needed to meet the needs of Hawaii’s patients. Although statistics show that 60% of us will need blood sometime in our lives, only 2% of our state’s population donates. To continue its support for this important cause of saving lives, CTAHR hosted its blood drive on Tuesday, November 22, 2016.

This year, we collected 22 units of blood. Since each pint of blood can be separated into three components, as many as 70 lives can be saved from donations collected at our drive. The precious gift of life not only helps those who need the blood, but touches the lives of the families of the recipients as well.

The Blood Bank and CTAHR truly appreciates the time and generosity of everyone who contributed to this successful event and giving the precious gift of life. Much mahalo to those who came out to donate blood. Thank you to Steve and Karen Sato for the support and generous donation to supply malasadas for our blood drive. Also, thanks to the scholarship recipients who helped throughout the day and provided a positive and comfortable environment for those who came to donate.


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A Meaningful Experience

Nineteen CTAHR students and staff traveled to “the Garden Isle” of Kauai on Friday, October 14, 2016 for the Thirteenth Annual Meaningful Experience. The group first visited the Kauai Plantation Railway for a fun and educational tour. The Kauai Plantation Railway is the first new railroad to be built on Kauai in nearly 100 years. The train cars used for the tour is a reproduction of the railway cars of the period of King Kalakaua.The railway cars are elegant with hand finished wood interiors. Student got to learn more about Kauai’s railroard history and also got to walk through and sample some of the exotic fruits during the orchard tour. Following the orchard walk, students got to take a 45-minute hike through the lush foliage and exotic flowers of the rainforest. After climbing back from out out of the valley, the group was treated to some lunch, followed by a stop to feed the animals.

After learning about Kauai’s railroad history at the Kauai Plantation Railway, the group got to experience and witness some of Kauai’s hidden beauty at Kipu Ranch Adventures. Kipu Ranch is a 3,000 acre property which extends from the Huleia River to the top of Mt. Haupu. The 3,000 acre private property is home to many movie sites and wildlife and is not accessible to the general public. The group took part in the Kauai Ultimate Ranch ATV Tour which is a 3 hour Kauai off-road scenic tour through the ranch. The tour includes a ride through lush green pastures, an incredible view of Kipu Kai from the top of Mt. Haupu, through the forests and along the Hule’ia River to the Indiana Jones Rope Swing. Some of the famous movies filmed on the property include Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, and most recent The Descendants. Along the ride, the group got to see cattle, wild pigs, pheasants, peacocks and wild turkeys. The entire group enjoyed this fun and epic ATV tour. The tour would’ve not been as enjoyable without the help of our tour guides Troy and Kyle as well as our Kipu Ranch Tour Coordinator Sadie.

Following the tour, the group got to check-in to Kauai Beach Resort and freshen up for dinner. The last scheduled activity of the day was teambuilding activities. The group got to learn more about each other as well as build interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and leadership skills.

The next morning, the group woke up early for a filling breakast at Naupaka Terrace on the grounds of Kauai Beach Resort. The group ventured out to the north shore of Kauai and visited the town of Hanalei to the Ho’opulapula Haraguchi Rice Mill and Taro Farm. It is a 501c(3) nonprofit agrarian museum located in the taro fields of Hanalei Valley. Our very own CTAHR Alumni Lyndsey Haraguchi-Nakayama is the Education Administrator and Co-Owner. The excursion featured a guided tour of the lo’i and auwai, information about agricultural history, the endangered birds and invasive species, Hawaiian culture, and the Hanalei Valley ahupua’a. The tour includes a guided tour of Hawai’i’s only remaining rice mill, which is also considered a living history museum and on the National Register of Historic Places. The tour ended with a delicious hawaiian food plate lunch along with a taro hummus veggie sandwich for vegetarians. A special thanks to Nick with Kauai Plantation Railway, Saddie with Kipu Ranch Adventures and Lyndsey with the Haraguchi Rice Mill for making these educational tours possible. Lastly, thank you to the students who participated and made this experience meaningful for the entire group.


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2016 Welcome Back Ice Cream Bash

CTAHR strives to maximize students' personal growth and development by providing a variety of opportunities to network, build and strengthen relationships, and get involved in fun, enriching co-curricular activities.

Below are selected examples of recent student activities sponsored by CTAHR.


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2016 Welcome Back Ice Cream Bash

CTAHR’s 28th Annual Welcome Back Ice Cream Bash, originally scheduled for September 12th which was postponed due to weather, took place on Monday, September 19, 2016 in the Sherman Courtyard. Representatives from CTAHR’s departments and administration vied for the top honors in the costume contest as well as ice cream eating competition. After the friendly competitions, CTAHR students, faculty, and staff enjoyed free ice cream generously donated once again by Meadow Gold Dairies of Hawaii.

Competing in this year’s contests were Dr. Jeff Goodwin (Family & Consumer Sciences), Dr. Jenee Odani (Human Nutrition, Food & Animal Sciences), Michael Espiritu (Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering), Tim Zhu (Natural Resources & Environmental Management), Brad Reil (Plant & Environmental Protection Sciences), and Chad Goldstein/Kealoha Moody (Administration). Congratulations to PEPS’s Brad Reil for winning the costume contest and HNFAS’s Dr. Jenee Odani for downing the contents of her ice cream bowl in record time.

This year’s beneficiary for monetary donations was the NREM Graduate Student Organization, a CTAHR student organization who’s mission is to provided graduate students with opportunities to connect with NREM faculty, local non-profits, community groups and schools, professionals in our industry, and other graduate students. NREM GSO also attends and/or organizes events or service projects that are designed to promote community within the NREM department and encourage volunteer service.

Thank you to all who attended the bash, our contestants, and especially to those who donated to the NREM Graduate Student Organization. Big mahalos go out to Meadow Gold Dairies of Hawaii for its continuous support of CTAHR; Joannie Dobbs, and the NREM department for the usage of their facility; Ray Uchida of the Oahu Extension Office and Richard Fisher and Angelito Cacho of Pearl City Urban Garden Center for tent coverage; and our ice cream scoopers. Also, thank you to our co-emcees Brandon Ngao and Sheldon Arakawa, ‘Olana Chow of the planning committee, scholarship recipients, ASAO, SAPFB, and everyone whose efforts made the 28th Annual Welcome Back Ice Cream Bash a huge success!


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2016 CTAHR New Student Orientation

CTAHR’s New Student Orientation provides a great introduction for incoming freshman and transfer students to our college. This year’s NSO took place on Monday, August 15, 2016.

During this program, the newest members of our college received words of welcome by the Interim Dean and Director for Research and Cooperative Extension, Dr. Rachel Novotny, an overview of our four main values of instructional philosophy (Scholarship, Ethical Behavior, Diversity, and Service) from Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Dr. Charly Kinoshita. Lisa Kitagawa-Akagi then briefly talked about co-curricular programs and campus resources. Representatives from various student clubs and organizations in CTAHR then made short presentations to publicize their organizations to encourage new students to join and get involved. The formal program ended with a video of college events within the last academic year.

Afterwards, the new students were divided into smaller groups, each led by a small team of current CTAHR students. During these more intimate sessions, current students mingled and provided advice to the incoming students. The new students first introduced themselves and shared an interesting fact to get to know each other better, then learned about campus resources and services, got tips about college from the student leaders through a survival kit and hearing about their personal college experiences, and ended with a question-and-answer segment for the new students to ask current students about what it’s like being a student in CTAHR. Afterwards, groups were split into four groups. Half the students embarked on a campus tour photo scavenger hunt and the other half received academic advising from our college’s professional and faculty advisors. Students then enjoyed lunch before switching for advising and the campus tour.

CTAHR’s New Student Orientation would not have been possible without the assistance of many individuals. A big thank you to SAPFB for funding a portion of this event, the student committee members and Scholarship Recipients/Student Ambassadors who served as NSO leaders: Jaclyn Lee, Kira Fox, Jerrisa Ching, Abraham Kwan, Anthony Mau, Amber Au, Leah Funtanilla, Joanna Galingana, and Jason McMurray; the Interim Dean; professional and faculty advisors, student club and organization representatives; and ASAO for helping us welcome the newest members of our college!


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Ag and Environmental Awareness Day

The Waimanalo Research Station held its Ag and Environmental Awareness Day and open house on Friday and Saturday. Exhibits included taro, cacao, and native sugarcane, or ko. The UH Honeybee Project showed how honey is extracted from the comb, and MBBE students demonstrated ways of creating bioenergy. Station tours were conducted, and guests got to see the new learning pavilion Hale o Pu‘u o Kona. Funding support was provided by USDA through CTAHR’s Agribusiness Education, Training, and Incubation Program. Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs Charly Kinoshita gave a warm welcome in the middle of the morning. Thank yous go to the Waimanalo Research Station staff and volunteers, ASAO staff, and Urban Garden Center staff for planning and setting up the event. Also, a big mahalo is due to the CTAHR faculty and staff, government agencies, community members, and company representatives who volunteered their time and knowledge for the presentations and exhibits at the Friday and Saturday events.


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Student Research Symposium

For the sixth year, CTAHR teamed with the College of Engineering (COE) to host the 28th annual Student Research Symposium. Roughly 300 students, faculty, staff, and guests gathered for a lively scholarly exchange in the Agricultural Science building on April 8 and 9 to marvel at the outstanding and innovative research that the students have accomplished. The Symposium gives students the chance to present their work in a friendly yet academic setting, while travel grant awards enable top students to share their research at national and international conferences. A large number of poster and oral presentations, 134, were given by undergraduate and graduate students in all six departments in CTAHR and three in COE. The topics spanned all stages of the process of research and development, and all forms of student learning: discovery; advanced diagnostics and lab testing; design, validation and field testing; adoption of new methods and technologies. The caliber of the students’ work was impressive! Here are CTAHR's illustrious winners. Thanks go to the student participants and faculty advisor/mentors, the judges and moderators, staff and student volunteers, and members of the Symposium Coordinating Committee. Thanks also go to USDA-NIFA for helping to fund student travel awards, and to ASUH and SPFB for partially funding the event.


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Blood Drive

Every day, hundreds of people’s lives depend on volunteer blood donors. Every two seconds someone needs blood and 1 in 7 people entering the hospital will receive blood. Although statistics show that 60% of us will need blood sometime in our lives, only 2% of our state’s population donates. To continue its support for this important cause of saving lives, CTAHR hosted its twelfth blood drive on Tuesday, February 16, 2016.

This year, we had a total of 44 donors, collecting 29 units and saving up to 87 patients in Hawai’i. The precious gift of life not only helps those who need the blood, but touches lives of the families of the recipients as well.

The Blood Bank of Hawaii, CTAHR and the UH Bookstore appreciates the time and generosity of everyone who contributed to this successful event and giving the precious gift of life. A special mahalo to those who came out to donate blood. Thank you to the scholarship recipients who helped throughout the day and provided a positive and comfortable environment for those who came to donate.


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Spring Event 2016

CTAHR held its annual Spring Event on Friday, February 5th, 2016 in the grassy area next to Gilmore Hall. About 150 CTAHR students, faculty, and staff came out for food and fun. Carnival games included fishcup toss, ring toss, bean bag toss, and rainbow trivia roulette. Additionally, caricature artist Frank Uratani wowed the crowd with his amazing artwork and shave ice by Ewa Seed Company was refreshing. The highlight of the carnival was certainly the dunk booth. Attendees enjoyed watching our brave faculty volunteers (Alan Titchenal, Zhiqiang Cheng, Monica Esquivel and ASAO’s very own Charly Kinoshita) get dunked. Also, money was collected this year for Phi Upsilon Omicron, a National Honorary Society in Family and Consumer Sciences.

Mahalo to everyone who assisted in planning the event. A special thanks to Ryan Kurasaki for helping with the food arrangements, and Dr. Janice Uchida for donating the potted plants for prizes. Thank you to everyone who attended and donated to this year’s cause and making this CTAHR carnival-themed Spring Event one to remember.


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