By Kanani Wills
Ka La staff writer
If you’re like most college students, you’re hungry, bored, and broke, but still hoping to have a good college experience, look no further than Emily Kukulies and her Student Life and Development and Student Activities Board, teams for help. Whether you’re interested in sports, fun activities, or just looking for a snack, SLD & SAB have an event for you.
Intramural sports are just one of the many things that SLD handles throughout the school year. Honolulu Community College’s sports teams are the current championships in Basketball, Dodgeball, and Volleyball, and are looking for new players to keep the winning streak alive. For many of the students who participate, their teammates and coaches become their second family.
SLD staff stress the importance of keeping your grades up because you need to maintain a 2.0 gpa in order to play. Bryce, the former sports coordinator said that while people don’t know each other on the first day, it’s common to see teammates eating lunch together the very next week.
HCC is the only campus that allows their SLD team to hold off campus events for students. Past events include trips to The Honolulu Zoo, Sea Life Park, and the movies. New off campus activities to look forward to this semester are going to throw Axes, and going to the driving range.
SLD also holds many events on campus. At the start of every semester, Gerimi puts on the GET IT! resource fair. This fair takes place in the Cafeteria and is a one-stop shop for information on all resources and programs on campus. If by chance you don’t get all the info you need at the fair, feel free to stop by the SLD office. They know about everything that happens on campus, and if they don’t, they’ll help you find the answer.
Emily said, “Student Life is students. For students, by students.”, so the Student Activities Board, with input from students try to come up with activities that the students want to do. They try to find something both fun, and informative so it’s both an exciting activity and a learning experience.
Something special about Emily’s team is that many of the workers have been with her for many years. Janica said the reason she stays is because of the growth she gets to see in students, saying, “students will come to the first event like bowling and be scared to talk to others, and then I see them midway through the semester and they’re with friends they made that first night.”
A bonus tidbit that Emily shared was the reason behind why HCC is the only community college that charges for parking. She explained that we’re so close to downtown that has extremely high parking rates, and if the parking were free, those downtown workers would take up all the stalls, and there wouldn’t be any parking for students and staff.
The students in SLD and SAB, with the guidance of Emily are an excellent resource that students should take advantage of. Janica also added that you should definitely attend as many events as possible because, “you already paid for it, so take advantage!” Every HCC student pays a $5.00 activity fee, so making the choice to skip the free events is letting that money go to waste.
