Spring term’s Student Presentation Day gave us the opportunity to observe nine very different presentations. Jeffrey Mead’s Speech 151 students presented a series of “news” announcements about events that included the recent signing ceremony for a proclamation by Honolulu’s mayor declaring March 5, 2010, to be the official 150th Anniversary of the First Japanese Embassy arrival in Honolulu; the Moonlight Party for HTIC students, which featured dancing and games; information about the services available from Student Services, including introduction of our new staff members, Masami Konrai and Shannon Mark; an interview with Loraine Koenig about the new CP reading lab, which takes place in the library; and an introduction to Mongolia by Monsy, our new student from Mongolia.

The newscast was followed by the thirteen students enrolled in David Odhiambo’s Creative Writing course, who read original and highly evocative poems they had written for the class under his guidance. Toake Endoh’s thirteen Political Science students made presentations about “hard power” and “soft power” in international relations. Sonomi Imagawa told us about her experience as a volunteer at the Pacific and Asian Affairs Council while enrolled in the Service Learning course, IS 192, and Matthew Ogawa demonstrated his mastery of Japanese in a short presentation about his experience studying for one term in Japan as part of the Discover Japan Program.

Deanna Madden’s World Literature I students gave presentations about some of the literature covered in their class from Ancient Greece, China, India, and Europe in the Middle Ages. Orlando Garcia-Santiago’s Sociology students made two presentations, one on binge drinking among college students in the U.S. and another on Corporate Tourism and the Degradation of Hawaiian Culture. Robert Holliday’s Psychology of Adjustment class presented a combination of PowerPoint and short skits to explain eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol and substance abuse, and suicide. Freshman Experience students in Seleena Harkness’s Humanities 100 concluded the event with presentations on two literary works read for their class, Amy Tan’s Joy Luck Club and the Mideastern story of two star-crossed lovers, Layla and Majnun.