There is no perfect college campus in the world. But we all have wishes for the Chaminade campus that would make our experience here a whole lot better.
Here are my 10 wishlist items I wish we had here at Chaminade.
Stress Relief Room
We have a type of stress relief area here at Chaminade named the Vi and Paul Loo Student Center, aka The Loo. Even though The Loo has games, computers, seating areas, and video games, the type of stress relief room I’m adding to the wishlist would be that AND more. There would be therapy dog hours, massage chairs, and a napping room.
Imagine preparing for a stressful exam and spending the last 15 minutes before class cuddling and petting a puppy. According to the National Institute of Health, interacting with animals has decreased levels of cortisol (a stress-related hormone) and lower blood pressure. Other studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood. We’d all be a bit happier with less stress on campus, right?
We could have dogs coming in daily from the Hawaiian Human Society to help students relax and have some cuteness to relieve their stress.
For the times that the puppy love is not enough, I would add a few massage chairs in the stress relief room where students and even faculty can get a quick 5-minute relief massage between their busy schedules.
College students are massively sleep-deprived. The National Sleep Foundation says a 20-minute nap is the best length. A short nap like this allows your mind and body to rest without entering the deeper stages of sleep. With this in mind, adding a nap room would benefit every student.
In this room, there would be a few reclining chairs where students could take a power nap. This napping room would have specific hours throughout the day to keep students from accidentally spending the night.
Larger Parking Structure/Area
One of the more significant issues here at Chaminade is parking. If you want to make it to class on time and you’re commuting, sometimes you have to come to campus two to three hours before your class starts to find parking. If you come later, you are better off walking or getting dropped off at school.
We need a larger structure or parking area than we have now. We are limited to the amount of parking spaces, and finding parking can take up to 30 minutes to an hour. Depending on the pass type, parking can cost up to $270 a semester. We need guaranteed parking, especially with the prices we pay.
Our Own Campus
Although we love our neighbors from Saint Louis and the Regency Park Apartments, the growth of our school has made it challenging to be on a shared campus. Chaminade is growing, and our school needs space to grow. If we had our own campus, we could create more programs, improve our classrooms, increase faculty, and have more parking. Having a slightly larger campus would improve Chaminade as a whole.
Food Court
Fellow Chaminade Silversword staff writer Tyler Felipe went to Chaminade’s P.O.D. for a whopping 17 days in a row earlier this semester because “it was convenient.” It is “convenient,” and it is also quite pricey. We need to add a food court that offers various food types and places. Even though Chaminade is located near food eateries such as McDonald’s, Zippy’s, Subway, and St. Louis Drive-In, it’s inconvenient for students to walk up and down campus to get food and return. Or, if someone were to drive to these places, see the aforementioned parking headaches. If we had a food court, it would be easier for students and faculty to grab food before returning to their classes.
Discounted Convenience Store
As a college student, multiple places offer student discounts; what is contradictory is that our school store has quite some prices on the items they sell. The bookstore sells a composition book for $4.98; it’s $1 at Walmart. College itself is already expensive. Having a convenience store on campus that sells items for cheap is what every school needs.
Bigger and Better Gym
Chaminade’s Carlson Fitness Center, aka the gym, is only 4,500 square feet, while UH’s Warrior Recreation Center is 12.4 times bigger at 56,000 square feet. We need a bigger and better gym for a university with a current enrollment of 2,214 students with the expectation of a continued increase. An upgraded gym would allow more students to want to attend without feeling in the way of the student-athletes who frequently use the gym.
On-Campus Bar
OK, I know this is a big ask, but an on-campus bar is what every college needs. Students who are 21 and over would be able to come to the on-campus bar to have a drink or two. This bar will be treated as any other bar. There would be security checking for IDs at the entrance and security inside to maintain safety. This bar would have budget-friendly drinks to help students keep more money in their pockets.
Self-Driving Carts
Ever walked from the bookstore to Kieffer Hall at the top of campus in the middle of the day? No longer will you have to show up sweaty and disgusting to class because, in my dream world, there would be self-driving carts going around campus daily that will drive around campus, taking students and staff where they need to be. This would help students take heavy groceries to their dorm, allow students with disabilities to get around more independently, and even help with our guests’ sweat when going on campus tours.
Gambling Room
Despite the fact that gambling here in Hawai‘i is illegal, when the day comes that it finally is legal here, Chaminade should add a casino room. The reason anyone else would gamble, students would be able to come to the campus casino. The room would be set up like any other casino, with slots, tables, and a high-limit area. Within this high-limit area, students would have an opportunity to gamble their tuition away.
Campus Theater
We need a campus movie theater that will play all the same movies any other theater would play. Ours would have cheaper admissions and snack prices. This cheap movie theater on campus will allow students to watch movies if they need to do so for a class or to relax and have a break from school without going off campus.