Aloha all,

Today I have created the Student Congress Downloads page so that you can have the opportunity to download and read all the stuff that Student Congress is doing for all KCC students.

The download link maybe up before the weekend ends.

Mahalo for your support.

Aloha my friends,

I would like to apologize for not updating this site for over a month now. I will include pictures of Student Congress meetings, upload agendas of the General Meetings and Finance Committee meetings and upload minutes of the General Meetings since August.

I will also include our proposed Student Congress budget for the Academic Year 2008-2009.

These updates may come this weekend. These are part of the transparency we are advocating in your student government. Thank you.

Aloha my friends!

Please visit the photo gallery for new pictures from our activities of the KCC Spanish Club last Spring 2008 semester.

The pictures include Talk about Culture of the Incas and Peru, and Sevillana Dancing for the International Festival Week.

Enjoy!

Today, at least 50,000 Hawaii students are returning to their respective schools and campuses, as one of the student leaders of Kapi’olani Community College, I welcome all the students back, and a very warm welcome to the freshmen and transferees.

Your student government, will work hard for every one of you, to fight for your causes and great interests.

Aloha!

Aloha!

As we welcomed the new semester in our first congress meeting yesterday (August 22, 2008), we had elected a new set of officers for the Executive Board who will govern the student body.

Here are your new officers:

Chairperson: Liana Hofschneider

Vice Chairperson: Micasha De Silva

Secretary: Mya Simpier

Treasurer: John Cando

Public Relations Officer: Regina Torres

We, your new officers will work hard together for the students of our campus and the community for the next whole year. Thank you.

Last Friday, I partnered with Student Congress Outgoing Chair Liana Hofschneider for a petition to lobby in the University of Hawaii Board of Regents to pass a moratorium on tuition fee increases for all UH System campuses state-wide for the next 3 years.

For the past 3 years, the University of Hawaii System has initiated a three year tuition fee increase, and this petition aims for an emergency short-term solution on the current economic recession that our country is into, which the common students — working students and their families are currently experiencing. This will help our fellow students and parents to ease their financial burdens even in a small way.

The Cando-Hofschneider Initiative will be formally launched during the opening session of the Student Congress this coming August 2008. As of now, we are in the phases of better research and support gathering from fellow Student Representatives and other UH campuses state-wide.

We urge everyone to throw their support as we are taking this initiative to the next level of deliberations into the agenda table.

Mahalo and remember that we are always going to fight for every student’s interests.

While the rest of the student community is in their summer vacation mode, your KCC Student Congress are having series of sessions for planning for the incoming school year.

Among the topics your Student Congress will discuss are:

1. 2nd Ohana Day 2008

2. The Student Congress response to the UH Policy on Backtracking and other Strategic Planning developments

3. Updates on the new KCC Student Congress offices

4. Planning on Leadership Development Seminar/Retreat

5. 2008-2009 Student Planners

6. KCC Student Congress office staff

I will keep you in touch the latest developments on what your Student Congress is doing for you.

The April 26-May 2, 2008 KCC Student Congress Elections results are in but it is not yet official until ratified. A total of 67 ballots were casted and the following are the results:

Liana Hofschneider – 46 votes (39%)

Eric Barker – 22 votes (19%)

Michael Hewitt – 21 votes (18%)

John Cando – 17 votes (14%)

Paulo Nacionales – 6 votes (5%)

Micasha DeSilva – 6 votes (5%)

“I am humbled getting 14% of the votes running as the only neophyte in the Student Congress. I will not let you down, it is a great honor to serve you and I will be your voice and your action in every issues and every agenda that will affect the student community. I would like to thank you for your support and with this, we will start a new beginning. Mahalo.”

This coming school year will be a different one for me, because I now have a new mandate to serve, a mandate in which my fellow school mates had given to me.

As the incoming session of Student Congress will come, I will push forward my agendas and my vision for the entire student community. This coming August, I will ask the Student Congress to lobby as a whole my initiative to the UH Board of Regents to grant an at least 2-year moratorium on Tuition Fee Increases effective School Year 2009-2010. For the past 3 years, the UH System had systematized a 3-year plan to increase tuition fees on UH System schools effective School Year 2006-2007.

With the current slowdown of our nation’s economy, growing unemployment and rising prices of commodities and gas prices, I will personally lobby in the University of Hawaii Student Caucus for an action that will ease the students’ and parents’ financial capabilities in the next two years as the next administration, whether a Democrat or a Republican will be elected to devise a plan to fix our nation’s economy.

We must ease at least the economic pain of these simple working and non-working students that are struggling everyday to save their hard-earned money for their tuitions. There are at least 50,000 UH Students and they are the one who are affected in this crisis.

So come and join me in this movement to address this impending crisis and provide a clear solution. With your help, you and I, we can do this.

The next 24 hours are critical as we conclude the voting and announce formally the six winners for an automatic seat in the upcoming KCC Student Congress for the school year 2008-2009.

But let’s remember we still have a day to vote, so gather up our support and vote up to the last minute. Every vote counts.