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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, October 24, 2009

Academy honors 5 for leadership

Advertiser Staff

On Nov. 6, Honolulu's Pacific Buddhist Academy will honor five individuals and organizations that exemplify leadership values taught at the college preparatory high school — compassion and awareness of the interdependence of all things.

The honorees:

• Alfred Bloom: University of Hawaii professor emeritus, Institute of Buddhist Studies dean emeritus, author, newspaper columnist, teacher, ordained Buddhist priest and recognized teacher of Shin Buddhism to a Western audience in the United States and Hawaii.

• Dr. William M. Bolman: who has dedicated his career in child psychiatry to children with severe emotional problems, advocating on their behalf with judges, policymakers, fellow physicians, and children and parents. He is a professor of child psychiatry at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at UH.

• Robert M. Witt: executive director of the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, who has worked to "blur the boundaries" between public and private schools, clarifying what he calls the "public purposes of private education."

• Aloha Medical Mission: A Honolulu-based secular, nonprofit volunteer organization that provides free health care to underserved people overseas and in Hawaii. This includes 116 overseas missions to 15 of the most impoverished countries worldwide, including Laos, East Timor, Vietnam and Bangladesh. In Hawaii, it runs a clinic at Palama Settlement, providing free interim medical and dental services to those without access to health care, including the homeless and newly arrived immigrants — most recently, those from Micronesia.

• Honolulu Diamond Sangha: a local lay Zen Buddhist organization, and its Palolo Zen Center, known for its members' commitment to socially engaged Buddhism, peace and social justice.

The awards banquet is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel. Individual seats are $125; table sponsorship is available. For information, call 532-2649.

SEMINAR DISCUSSES TEMPLE ENTRANCES

"First Impressions: What Temple Entrances Say About Chinese and Japanese Cultures" will be one of the topics discussed as part of Haleiwa Shingon Mission's 14th Thanksgiving and Gratitude Seminar, scheduled for 9 a.m. to noon tomorrow at the mission.

Speaking will be Jay Sakashita, assistant professor of Christianity and Japanese religion at Leeward Community College.

Candi Cann, also a teacher at LCC, will speak on "Religion in Contemporary China."

For information, call 637-4423.