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Spotlights First appeared in Silversword, a student publication from Chaminade University of Honolulu, February 22, 2008 Experience the Midwest at Dayton U By Lance Takenaka Hundreds of University of Dayton students have made the journey from their school in Ohio to experience their sister school in Hawai‘i, Chaminade. But only a handful of Chaminade students have experienced the Midwest in the UD-CUH exchange program. This past semester Chaminade’s Brendan Blume, Megan Kovalaske, Megan Leverage and I chose make the connection from Chaminade to Dayton a twoway road. We all left the beautiful weather and lovely beaches of Hawai‘i to experience a school with a different, flatter geography and colder climate, in an area known as the “Midwest.” For me, moving from Hawai‘i to Dayton for five months was a great experience. As a communications major going to Dayton, the Midwest was a great place to experience, and I especially loved it since I was able to go on road trips and play water polo again. The major benefits of UD is the size of the school. It is a bigger community of about 8,000 students, with a better recreational facility and more dining facilities. Something that surprised me is that compared to Chaminade, UD did not have as many clubs to join for the size of their school, but they did have something that Chaminade lacks. Greek life, a popular extra-curricular activity. There are a lot of sororities and fraternities to join, with some even dealing with your select major. On the exchange I had the opportunity to make new friends, as well as meet people from all over. I immersed myself in their culture. I even had the opportunity to enjoy three Thanksgiving dinners, watch a few Chicago Cubs games, as well as experience the nightlife in Chicago. I also enjoyed the family atmosphere and many family type meals courtesy of one of my close friends, Ben Beachler. He is a sophomore at UD and was on the water polo team with me. We got to hang out, swim, play water polo, skateboard, and travel all around the Midwest. The people were friendly and the food was good, but what I enjoyed the most was going on road trips. I got to travel to Athens, Ohio and play at Ohio University, Notre Dame, Chicago, Tennessee University and Miami University. I also traveled to Wisconsin to visit a Christmas tree farm. These are all things that a local boy from Hawai‘i can’t do back home on the islands. Going to Dayton has definitely been a great experience. I got to live a new lifestyle where the weather can be 70 degrees in the morning, and then 40 degrees in the evening. I got to travel to five different states while I was at Dayton, and participated in the running club and water polo club. Dayton is a great experience, and it is a great school. I am very glad that I took the opportunity to do the exchange at UD. I got to meet hundreds of people and now I have places to stay if I ever travel to the Midwest again. Overall, the Midwest was a great experience, and I would be glad to journey to UD to learn even more about the Midwest.

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