Top 10 essentials Chaminade should have

Picking out a college to attend can be one of the hardest decisions we make. We want a school that offers programs we’re interested in and a campus we can see ourselves spending time on. At the time, we don’t realize that there are certain necessities we’ll be longing for. We’re a college that shares a campus with another school, but we lack a lot of necessities most colleges offer their students. I’ve compiled a list of 10 essentials Chaminade should have.

1. Student health services
For students who move to Hawaii for school, it is incredibly hard to find health services that will see you as a new patient or find someone who will accept your insurance. We may not see seasons here, but it’s not unheard of to get sick. The human body is a strange, and it’s inconvenient or unreasonable to have to wait till you go home to see a doctor or to even wait a few months.

2. New gym equipment
The Carlson Fitness Center is Chaminade’s on-campus gym that is open to students, staff/faculty, and alumni. As long as you have a school I.D., you can use the gym, but the fitness center has seen better days. There are different machines and weights at your disposal, but for the most part the machines all generally have duct tape on them. What Chaminade needs is new gym equipment, new machines, and more weights. And more space. There are so many of us that the gym at times can feel claustrophobic.

3. AC in the dorms
Living in Hawaii, the weather gets extremely hot and humid. At times it can feel almost unbearable and could make someone avoid going outside. The classrooms on campus are air conditioned, but the dorms lack air conditioning. As a place where someone lives, it should be comfortable and a place to feel relaxed and at home. To live in housing, it can run roughly $1,000 per month depending on what building you live in. This amount excludes the meal plan and any additional costs that could occur.

4. Kitchens or kitchenettes per floor
The dorms on campus don’t have kitchens or kitchenettes, so the students who live in on-campus dorms are required to have a meal plan. Living in Hawaii is incredibly expensive and living in housing can be cheaper and convenient, but being required to have a meal plan is inconvenient.  The options tend to be unhealthy and if you have food allergies, it can be even harder to find something to eat. Having your own kitchen allows you to make your own food and know what you’re eating. If you have food allergies such as gluten, dairy, tree nuts, soy, etc., it can be harder to find something to eat at the Silversword Cafe and P.O.D.

5. An actual grocery store
Alternatives. Chaminade may be just down the street from the grocery store, and we do have the P.O.D., but what we have is very limited. We have a small salad bar, some sandwiches, chips, etc., but the options could be better. We are offered the bare minimum and it would be more convenient to have options at hand. If we need to send a card or if there is a performance on campus and you want to give someone a lei, it is incredibly inconvenient to leave campus just to come back.

6. Starbucks or Subway on campus or cafe
Most college campuses have buildings dedicated to where their students can hang out and grab a bite to eat. Our only options on campus are the Silversword Cafe or the P.O.D., and it’s very limited. If Chaminade had options such as a Starbucks, Subway, Panda Express, Jamba Juice, etc., more students would want to stay on campus. Instead, you can see students rushing off campus to go get lunch, to rush back to campus to get to their next classes on time.

7. A more inviting/bigger LOO
The Loo is a great place to hang out and meet new people, but let’s face it, our student center is pretty small and usually always filled with people. It can be pretty intimidating so most people tend to avoid it. As a transfer student, I’ve been to at least a half dozen campuses, and our Loo Center is the smallest. If we expanded the space, added more comfortable seating and more activities or games for students, it could be a great place for more students to enjoy.

8. More advisors
Chaminade has three advisors for the entire school. We need more advisors to cater to all the students in the different majors; three just isn’t enough. At other schools, professors are also advisors to students in their departments. We need more advisors who understand each major to better help the students. Students often find themselves meeting with one of the three advisors but ultimately being sent to their head of department for help, which can often times be frustrating or annoying that we wasted that time.

9. Emergency Buttons
On most campuses, it is pretty standard to see emergency buttons. Those tall gray cylinder posts with the big blue button. The safety of students is important, and while our school is spread out since we have two off-campus dorms, students should still have access to an emergency button in case something were to happen. Our phones could die or we forget them at home, but the reassurance that we have this option near us in case of an emergency is important.

10. Street lights
Street lights would be incredibly important as our campus gets dark at night. A lot of students live on campus, and if they have to walk to the Silversword Cafe and back to their dorm, it can get pretty scary. Students who live in the off-campus dorms and have to leave campus late or go to campus late for dinner also have to walk through the dark and that can be dangerous. If we had street lights or any kind of lighting on campus, it would make it easier for students, staff, and faculty to see at night. Lighting gives us the reassurance that we know where we’re going, we aren’t going to trip and fall, and we know what is around us.