Early January 30—well, 8:30 is early for students on a Sunday—members of Rotaract and GSO gathered sleepily at the Student Life office on Fort Street Mall.

After breakfast, courtesy of Rotoract club advisor Dr. Ernesto Lucas, members of the two clubs were driven to Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park on Tantalus, where they joined members of the West Honolulu Rotary club to clean up the park.

Students and Rotarians separated into two groups. The first group, including Dr. Lucas and six students, painted the roof of the park’s shelter. The other clean the park area.

Picking up rubbish and painting a roof may not sound like a lot of fun, but club members all realized that everyone’s contribution was vital, no matter what they were doing, and they enjoyed working as teams.

Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park is one of the most beautiful places on Oahu, and helping to clean it up and beautify it made everyone in the group feel they were taking responsibility for protecting the environment in which we live. Everyone there agreed with Rotaract Club member Julia Bogachevskaya who said, "Everybody ought to protect nature and the environment we live in."

Working hard for a worthwhile cause made time fly, and before we knew it, lunch time was upon them. The West Honolulu Rotary Club provided lunch, and all the volunteers enjoyed their meal sitting on the grass under the bright Hawaiian sun.

To make the event as memorable as possible, organizers arranged a drawing. Most of the participants won small gifts.

The volunteers included: Ting Huang, Julia Bogachevskaya, Alessya Brizhak, Naveen Kumar, Katia Silvera, Ashish Pradhan, Manpreet Mokha, Akashay Sood, Dr. Lucas, and Petros Tsiros, president of both clubs.

Alessya Brizhak the Secretary of the Rotaract club, summed up the experience: "We all acted with integrity, served with love, and worked for peace. After all that is how we should view the world."

Fall 1999 was my first semester, and I am still unsure about what my major should be. I am taking WRI 1200 now, and I know that I will be able to take some upper division courses when I complete it. What courses should I take so that I don’t waste my time while I’m making my decision?

Dear Deciding,

If you leaning toward business, but are unsure about which major, start on your lower division accounting, math, and management courses and the upper division business courses for which you meet the prerequisites. If you are leaning more towards a science degree, definitely continue in math and take the first level of one of the sciences in fall 2000, so that you can continue the sequence the following spring. For most of the Bachelor of Art’s majors, you have flexibility because you can take unrestricted electives in any area. In most majors, you will have some degree of choice because of unrestricted electives.

A visit to the Career Services Center would also be helpful. You will be able to determine which careers are active at the moment, and the requirements for various occupation opportunities. Reviewing the various employment options should assist you in defining your professional goal.

For many students, much of the excitement about college is having your own apartment, for this means freedom, independence, and a kiss goodbye to curfews.

However, finding an apartment may not be easy. Many factors are involved—facilities, location, budget, and knowing your options.

The apartment complex nearest to HPU’s downtown campus is Kukui Plaza. Located just across Beretania Street, it consists of two separate towers with 20-plus floors offering studios, one- two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Proximity to HPU is the main benefit to living in the complex, according to an HPU senior finance major who declined to give her name. She expressed dissatisfaction with her unit’s fixtures, which she says are "old, falling apart, and in dire need of replacement." She also said her kitchen was plagued with insects despite her clean living habits, and added that this was characteristic of all the other units she had seen in the building.

Accordingly, however, she said the rent in the building is relatively inexpensive, starting at approximately $800 a month. Three-bedroom apartments come with one parking stall; otherwise a stall can be rented for about $75 a month.

The complex has a swimming pool and a large outdoor landscaped area with picnic benches on the third floor. "That was one of the things they really did a nice job on," she said.

This same student also lived for two years at Harbor Square, on the corner of Queen and Alakea streets. She said she was pleased with most aspects of this 20-plus floor building, noting benefits such as central air-conditioning, a pool area, sprawling lanais, and walking distance from HPU. She said the apartments are "nicely kept," and enjoyed the financial district location, a safer and cleaner area of downtown.

The building is also secure, as tenants use a key to enter, and guests can enter only after being buzzed in by security.

Another popular downtown residence for HPU students is Honolulu Tower. This 40-floor high-rise on the corner of Beretania and Maunakea streets offers one- two- and three-bedroom apartments with floor-to-ceiling windows, balconies, a heated swimming pool, jacuzzi, and a barbecue area on the first floor. Monthly rent ranges from $900 for a one-bedroom, to $1,800 for a three-bedroom.

Monny Vijeshwar, an HPU marketing major from Sweden and former resident of Honolulu Tower, said he enjoyed his experience living there but was puzzled by the unique architecture. "The shape of the bedrooms is triangular, not square. It was hard to fit more than one bed in a room. But our two-bedroom apartment came with a parking stall, which was very convenient. It was also less than a five-minute walk from campus, and the building itself was very clean," he said.

Located between Honolulu Tower and Kukui Plaza at Nuuanu Avenue and Beretania Street, it’s a wonder HPU students living in the luxury complex of Park Place get any homework done. This 40-floor apartment building is practically a resort in itself.

Park Place offers one- and two-bedroom apartments ranging from about $1,200 to $1,800, and penthouse units from $1,800 to $2,100, which fit any student’s budget—that is, if you split the rent 15 ways and don’t mind five to a room.

It may seem outrageously pricey for an apartment, but consider the array of facilities the building offers: a heated pool and jacuzzi, sauna, a gym, bowling alley, golf driving range, a tennis court on the eighth floor, along with central air-conditioning, large lanais, and well-maintained premises.

"You don’t have to leave the building or drive anywhere because of the endless facilities they offer here," said Vijeshwar, who currently lives at Park Place. He likes living there due to its many facilities and proximity to HPU.

The Executive Centre is a hotel and apartment high-rise on the corner of Hotel and Bishop streets. Floors 3 - 20 are rentals, and floors 20 and above are for hotel guests. The advantages and disadvantages to living in this building are various, according to previous Executive Centre tenant Lisa Fralic, a senior public relations major from Florida.

Benefits include central air conditioning, 24-hour security, a fitness center with a sauna, a pool on the roof of the 12th floor, and a hall near the pool that has large couches and a big screen TV and that can be rented for parties or gatherings. It is also close to HPU, right next to the library.

The main inconvenience, according to Fralic, is the cost of parking. One stall costs $100 a month, and a second stall is an additional $200 a month. Fralic also mentioned that dust and mold is a problem because none of the building’s floor-to-ceiling windows can be opened, although they do provide a beautiful view of the downtown neighborhood.

The Queen Emma Gardens Apartments are a lush, green haven set apart from the concrete jungle yet only a short walk away. The complex, on the corner of Nuuanu Avenue and Vineyard, has three towers: the King, the Queen, and the Prince.

Becki Kinnersley, a senior psychology major from Visalia, California, lived at the Queen Emma Gardens for a year and enjoyed the fact that "it wasn’t in the heart of the city, and it has a beautiful garden area." It is also a five-minute walk to HPU and conveniently across the street from Safeway and Longs drugstore.

Queen Emma Gardens Apartments offer studios, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments ranging from $600 to $975 a month. Parking is an additional $35 a month per stall.

Benefits, according to Kinnersley, are the pool, the gardens on the first floor, and the small Japanese-style teahouses which can be rented out for parties or gatherings.

Disadvantages are that the apartments are without carpeting, air-conditioning, or a dishwasher. You don’t need a special key to access the elevators, so anybody can ride on up to your front door; however, there are always security guard roaming the premises.

HPU’s Graduate Student Organization (GSO) members and officers joined the American Lung Association of Hawaii (ALAH) Jan. 29 at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park for a "Fun-K Walkathon" that organized activities for children who suffer from asthma. GSO assisted at one of three rest stops and served bananas and oranges to weary walkers. The event lured current and future members of the Oceanic Keiki Club to take part in a morning of exercise and fun.

More than 100 children who suffer from asthma came to enjoy a day of festive activities and games. ALAH designed a small version of an Olympic village. Children from all over Oahu, ages 2 to 12 years, could participate in activities at each station.

The children and their parents walked along a Fun-K route consisting of going up and down hills and making periodic stops at each booth along the way. After each child completed an event, he or she received a sticker of completion and moved on to the next station.

The children walked the entire path energetically as far as they could go, visiting such stations as a dragon lair, krazy kastles, putt-putt golf, shaka soccer, tennis bop, tractor treader and more, all creatively designed to attract their attention and interest.

"The new residents had questions about everything from scheduling and shuttle times to where to go to get their tongues pierced. Three residents called from the North Shore wondering how to get home because they decided to run out on orientation camp. There were residents riding mopeds all over campus."

This is how Katie Roberts, resident advisor for Lokelani Hall on the windward campus, remembers the first week of school, for her one of the hardest and most hectic weeks of the semester.

Roberts choose to be a resident advisor after living on campus last year as a freshman. Returning as a second year nursing major, she saw being a resident advisor as "a good opportunity to get more involved with the University as well as a great chance to help and get to know all kinds of different people.

"Some of the best things I took away from living here as a freshman were all the close friends I made, and I enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and learning about all the places they were from," explained Roberts. She was sitting at big, old desk in the office below the dining commons that she shares with the other resident advisors.

In between students seeking to borrow basketballs and speaking with security officers over a two-way radio, Robert’s speculated that living in the dorms is a good transition for students in their first year away from home. "They are living on their own, but they are in a safe environment where there are always people to help them if they need it."

One of the six resident advisors who live on campus can be found on duty from 6 to 11 p.m. week nights and to 1 a.m. on weekends.

Residents seek advice and help from resident advisors on all kinds of problems. "I didn’t expect so many residents to come to me for help with personal issues, but I love that they feel comfortable enough to talk to me about their problems. That’s what the RAs are here for," Roberts said with the positive smile that is her trademark. She added that she has become good friends with many of her residents and sometimes goes to them when she needs advice of her own.

The role of a resident advisor often goes beyond coordinating security and giving advice. Each semester, every resident advisor must run five programs for the residents of their hall, one each from any of nine areas known as "wellness dimensions": cultural, emotional, environmental, intellectual, physiological, service, social, spiritual, or vocational.

Roberts has run programs ranging from swing dancing lessons to snorkeling at Hanamau Bay to a Kailua Beach clean up. "I’ve had a really good turn out at all the programs and lots of positive feedback from the residents. I like helping to get them active, not only on campus but in the community as well."

May graduates are writing resumes and beginning job searches. In this spirit, Akamai Advertising hosted the annual Communication Career Day Feb. 8 in the First Hawaiian Tower. About 60 people attended.

The speakers, all communication professionals in different fields, shared their views on communication careers in general and their businesses in particular. They included: John Flanagan, publisher and editor of the Honolulu Star Bulletin; Buck Laird, president of Laird and Christiansen Advertising Agency; John Fink, general manager of KHNL; B.J. Whitman, director of public relations at Sheraton Waikiki; and Fernando Diaz, president of SixD, an interactive technological company that specializes in 3-D effects.

Anecdotes from their own lives indicated that students don’t need to be 100 percent sure today of what they want to do, but that they need to be ready when they do know. "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity," said Laird, explaining how he ended up in advertising via hotel school.

The speakers also shared their views on what goes and doesn’t go with employers today. The key to success, they all said, was experience. One student asked if working in a restaurant could be counted as experience when looking for a job in the communication field. Fink answered with a question: "Do you deal with consumers?" The panelist indicated that every job makes an individual unique. Whereever one works, one can learn something and can use that experience to beat the competition for a new job.

Members of the writing community are invited to attend the third annual Ko‘olau Writing Workshops March 4 from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at HPU’s windward campus, 45-045 Kamehameha Hwy. in Kaneohe.

Sponsored jointly by HPU and the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts through the Hawai‘i Literary Arts Council, the event will celebrate small and university- affiliated literary magazines in the islands through an exhibition of magazine display tables. Frank Stewart, award-winning poet and editor of Manoa, will be the featured speaker.

There will be two workshop sessions, one from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and one from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Workshop participants will receive hands-on experience in writing in two out of four different areas: non-fiction, editing, script writing, and poetry.

John Culliney and Gerhard Gast, published writers and HPU faculty members, will conduct the non-fiction workshops.

Catherine Sustana and Patrice Wilson, editors of Hawaii Pacific Review and HPU faculty members, will present the writing for editors workshops.

John Kearns, novelist and HPU faculty member, will conduct the scriptwriting workshops.

Carol Catanzariti, an award-winning poet, will facilitate the poetry workshops.

Participants should bring their own brown bag lunch, but they will receive free breakfast from 9 to 9:30 a.m., free drinks during lunch, and a choice of two workshops. A $10 donation is requested.