A decade of undergraduate research and stewardship at Kapiʻolani Community College has earned top honors at the Â鶹´«Ã½ Conservation Alliance Conference. Students Charlotte Bender, James Lee, Keala Kaaloa and Xander Nakamura received the Outstanding Undergraduate Student Poster Presentation Award for their research: .
The project highlights 10 years of student-led monitoring of the campus¡¯s nesting population of Manu o K¨± (blue-billed tern).
“It¡¯s an amazing privilege to study a native bird on our home campus,” said Bender. “While the technical and data-driven aspects are important, it¡¯s also an opportunity to serve as ambassadors for a native species. When we¡¯re out surveying, we¡¯re visible to the public and have a chance to answer questions, share information, and raise awareness of the Manu o K¨±. It¡¯s easy to fall in love with these birds.”
Since 2016, 34 students have participated in the project, producing 25 research posters. Their work documents nesting changes, helps guide campus tree-trimming to protect active sites, and contributes critical data to local conservation databases, broadening students’ professional pathways.
Protecting Manu o K¨±
“The return and growth of the Manu o K¨± population on our campus is a powerful reflection of what is possible when dedicated faculty inspire curiosity, students embrace discovery, and our entire campus fulfills its kuleana (responsibility) to care for the ʻ¨¡ina (land),” said Chancellor Misaki Takabayashi. “This recognition celebrates not only our students¡¯ outstanding research, but also a decade of stewardship that has helped to protect Â鶹´«Ã½‘s native species.”
Biology Professor Wendy Kuntz has mentored dozens of students since the project¡¯s inception.
“Watching this project grow over the past decade has been one of the most rewarding parts of my work at Kapiʻolani CC,” Kuntz said. “I am incredibly proud of the four students who presented this research and of the many students who have built on one another¡¯s work, creating a valuable long-term record of Manu-o-K¨± nesting on our campus while developing the skills and sense of kuleana needed for conservation work in Â鶹´«Ã½.”
—By Lisa Yamamoto