Courtesy of Tom DiCamillo
QUEEN CREEK, AZ - Chaminade University of Honolulu has been selected the inaugural winner of the Pacific West Conference Community Engagement Award.
The honor, sponsored by New City Nissan of Honolulu, was presented on Friday, July 11, during a special athletic department function recognizing outgoing Athletic Director Kaia Hedlund.
“We appreciate New City Nissan for stepping up and sponsoring this important award,” Bob Hogue, the Commissioner of the PacWest, stated. “John Uekawa and the entire staff of New City Nissan are extremely involved in both athletics and community service. This award is a perfect partnership between the two and I know they join me in congratulating the community service-minded people at Chaminade University.
The award is presented to an athletic program for service to the community.
"Along with academic excellence and athletic achievement, the PacWest recognizes that outstanding community engagement is one our most important goals each year,” Hogue explained. “We are honored to extend this award to the hardworking student-athletes, coaches and administrators at Chaminade University. It is also a credit to Kaia Hedlund, who has done a terrific job leading the Silversword athletic department these past two years."
Chaminade University also earned distinction in the area of community engagement by receiving recognition from the NCAA Division II and National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) as an independent winner in the NCAA Community Engagement Award for Excellence competition.
Areas of community engagement by Silversword athletic teams included the men's and women's basketball program's support of the Susan B. Komen Foundation.
Chaminade participated in the national "Think Pink" promotion on February 20, 2008, with the men's basketball team donning pink uniforms for one of their most important games of the year and on their senior night.
The women's team wore pink t-shirts during warm-ups and pink wristbands and shoelaces during the contest. The referees wore pink shirts during warm ups and fans were given pink shirts to wear at the game. Several students painted their bodies pink.
The entire gate for both games was donated to support the
Susan Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer. “Think Pink” was a national promotion to raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
The Chaminade women's volleyball provided on-court instruction and interaction with the children last fall. The team also hosted 46 scholars and 16 chaperones from Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate school, honoring them during a pre-game ceremony for their academic accomplishments. The event was held in conjunction with Chaminade's criminal justice program that provides mentors throughout the week for children.
The men's and women's basketball teams, women's soccer student-athletes and members of the athletic administration participated in Swim With Mike Hawaii supporting the Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund. Swim With Mike raised $25,000 locally to help support physically challenged athletes in Hawaii, part of $1.2 million dollar raised overall during the 28th anniversary of the event. Hedlund organized the Swim with Mike Hawaii event.
The men's and women's soccer teams, as well as the softball squad, participated in sports clinics and camps to help the underprivileged in the Palolo Valley area of Honolulu. The clinics and camps were designed to help young people understand the importance of participation and teamwork.
The Community Engagement Award is the third in a series of conference awards initiated by the PacWest this season under Commissioner Bob Hogue.
University of Hawai'i at Hilo won the inaugural Commissioner's Cup recognizing the top athletic program in the conference, while Notre Dame de Namur won the Athletic Achievement Award for having the best grade point average among all of the PacWest athletic programs.
