During National Student Employment Week, Makana Tani was named WCC’s Student Employee of the Year.
The Kāne‘ohe resident, who works for WCC Student Affairs, is a junior at UH West Oʻahu studying education.
As a peer mentor, his primary duties include managing the Student Activity Center, planning and executing events and workshops, promoting intramurals and assisting with student affairs initiatives. He was chosen as the winner based on the following five criteria: quality of work, reliability, initiative, professionalism and exceptional service.
In his nomination essay, Tani’s supervisor and student life coordinator Kaʻahu Alo wrote:
“ … he has been a very great addition to the student life/student affairs family. He has conducted himself as a true ambassador of Windward Community College, his commitment to this campus is second to none as recognized by … many faculty …”
Chancellor Douglas Dykstra presented Tani with a prize of $250 at the WCC Student Employee Appreciation event on April 11 in the Hale ʻĀkoakoa cafeteria. Tani was also presented with a perpetual plaque with his name engraved, which resides in the WCC Library Learning Commons.
The event was co-sponsored by the Chancellor’s Office and ASUH-WCC and co-coordinated by Scott Sutherland, Title III student employee coordinator, and Mariko Kershaw, librarian/Student Employee of the Year Award manager. Sixty-four student employees and their supervisors were in attendance at the event, which also featured the musical stylings of WCC Garage Band Club members Kipp Luuloa, Kolby Matsushima, Feiruz Garrison and James Buenafe.
Besides Tani, three other student employees were nominated. They were Cherise Franco, Business Office, Clerk; Patrick Hascall, Ka ‘Ohana, Journalism/Website Student Assistant; and Kristi Leong, Language Arts, Speech Lab Assistant. Each nominee was recognized at the appreciation event with a certificate, copy of their nomination essay written by their supervisor and lei. In total, there are 146 student employees at WCC.
For more information about the Student Employee of the Year Award, visit https://windward.hawaii.edu/seoty/.
by Mariko Kershaw, Special to Ka ‘Ohana
