Academy for Creative Media at UH West Oʻahu receives $25,000 donation from Regal Cinemas

From left to right: August Harrington, Julian Silveria, Interim Chancellor Doris Ching, Mahealani Kahala, Kevin Bechayda and Melissa Garabiles

UH West Oʻahu creative media students and Interim Chancellor Doris Ching accept the $25,000 donation check from Regal Entertainment Group at the Regal Cinemas Kapolei Commons 12 preview event on April 20. From left to right: August Harrington, Julian Silveria, Interim Chancellor Doris Ching, Mahealani Kahala, Kevin Bechayda and Melissa Garabiles.

The Academy for Creative Media program at the University of Hawaiʻi – West Oʻahu received a $25,000 donation from Regal Cinemas to enhance the program through student scholarships, student workshops with industry experts, and new equipment and supplies for its creative media faculty and majors.

“On behalf of the Academy for Creative Media (ACM) System, this is a wonderful recognition of the talent and promise of the students and faculty at UH West Oʻahu,” UH West Oʻahu interim Chancellor Doris Ching said. “Mahalo for this extraordinary gift.”

As part of Regal Cinemas Kapolei Commons 12 preview events on April 17 – 19, it offered $3 movies, $3 popcorn and $3 soft drinks – with a portion of their proceeds going to UH West Oʻahu’s creative media program.

UH West Oʻahu’s creative media students recently developed a “community trailer,” for an internship course, which received a limited run at Regal Cinemas Kapolei Commons 12 through collaboration with the MacNaughton Group. UH West Oʻahu’s ACM students – Mahea Kahala, Julian Silveria, Melissa Garabiles, Kevin Bechayda, Kauluwehi Kato, and August Harrington – pitched, wrote, edited, produced, and starred in the trailer, titled “West is Best,” which captured the essence of the west side of Oʻahu by highlighting notable landmarks and activities. The trailer may be viewed on the UH West Oʻahu Creative Media YouTube page.

“Creating this new trailer for the MacNaughton Group was a terrific opportunity for our UH West Oʻahu creative media students to demonstrate their production skills and all of us could not be more proud to see their work on the big screen of its beautiful new luxury theater,” ACM Director Chris Lee said.

UH West Oʻahu’s creative media program is offered in partnership with the UH Academy for Creative Media System that supports and coordinates the creative media studies efforts among the UH campuses. Taking advantage of the system-wide approach, UH West Oʻahu’s program enables students to develop unique skill sets at the community colleges and transfer seamlessly to UH West Oʻahu for continued scholarship and professional development.

Image courtesy of Sharla Hanaoka