677 celebrate HPU graduation
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
It took nearly 15 minutes for all 677 Hawai'i Pacific University graduates to fill their seats at the Waikiki Shell last night.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
And despite an antsy crowd, who began sitting during the playing of "Pomp and Circumstance," Sandra Lacar stood the entire time the graduates marched in.
Participants in Hawai'i Pacific University's commencement braved a downpour last night at Waikiki Shell. Laura Dower, left, Elizabeth Kieffer and Diane Sandy all earned master's degrees in a family nurse practitioner program.
"I'm so proud," she said about her 21-year-old daughter, Rachel, who was graduating with a bachelor's degree in communication. "And I'm feeling very free now."
Having experienced a college graduation before — her oldest daughter, Sara, graduated from Chaminade five years ago — she was well prepared. Bottled water, extra Spam musubi and an umbrella.
"You really learn," she said with a laugh.
Last night's graduation ceremony marks the largest HPU class ever to walk the line, school officials said. It also marks a new optimism among Hawai'i's college graduates who head into a local economy that has added more than 11,000 jobs in the past year.
Arnie Tellez graduated with a bachelor's degree in social work and has a job with the state lined up. He starts in two weeks.
His classmate, Chris Rocchio, turned down a job offer to attend graduate school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa instead.
"I'm not worried at all," said Rocchio, 26, from Kailua, who graduated summa cum laude. "I'm just floored I graduated."
Tellez was unsure about landing a job at first, but finding one wasn't as difficult as he had thought.
"I wanted to go to work right away. I'm in debt," said Tellez, 30, from Kailua, who has a $37,000 student loan and a mortgage. "But it feels good to be done."
Lacar isn't concerned that her daughter hasn't found a job yet. "She's a great girl," said Lacar, an executive at Servco Pacific. "I'm not worried."
Stephane Castonguay isn't worried either.
He has served in the U.S. Marines for the past 23 years, assigned to numerous communications posts such as reporter, public affairs practitioner, even technical adviser to "Magnum P.I." He earned two Thomas Jefferson Awards for journalism and served as the Marine Corps liaison to the White House press corps and photographer. His resume is stacked.
Yet despite his extensive career in communications, the 41-year-old from Montreal opted to study political science instead, with plans to pursue a Ph.D. focusing on Asian studies.
"I thought about (majoring in communications)," said Castonguay, the valedictory speaker representing HPU's military campus program. "That (experience) played a large part in my ability to write papers."
In his speech, he told graduates that the real purpose of their diplomas shouldn't be to document past accomplishments, "but to serve as a road marker that ensures we remain on a journey of lifelong learning."
Of course, there were smaller goals along the way. Like beating his 18-year-old daughter to a college education.
"She's starting UH in the fall," he said. "That gave me incentive to finish first. The last thing I wanted was to share homework with her."
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
