Honolulu CC celebrates its alumni and outstanding community partner

Honolulu Community College
Contact:
Billie K T Lueder, (808) 845-9187
Communications & External Affairs, Chancellor's Office
Posted: Feb 25, 2014

Guests came out to Celebrate! 2014.
Guests came out to Celebrate! 2014.
Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters being honored.
Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters being honored.

Two hundred guests gathered to celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters and four distinguished alumni at an awards dinner on Thursday, February 20, 2014 at Harbor View Center above Nico’s at Pier 38.

"Honolulu Community College is a close knit institution with incredible faculty and staff, amazing students and alumni, and wonderful industry and community partners. The purpose of the evening was to celebrate the success of our alumni and create opportunities for current students to have the financial means to receive their education," shares Dr. Erika L. Lacro, Chancellor of Honolulu CC.

The evening was emceed by local radio personality Kathy with a K and included a silent auction with unique one-of-a-kind items.  Crimson Apple, a local all-female band in which two members are currently enrolled in the Music and Entertainment Learning Experience (MELE) program at the college, entertained guests.  All proceeds from the silent auction benefited the Honolulu CC General Scholarship Endowment Fund.  View photo gallery here.  

2014 Distinguished Alumni

Femar Lee (’92 AA Liberal Arts)
Femar Lee grew up in Kalihi Valley and currently teaches math at Honolulu Community College.  Following graduation from Farrington High School, she received her Associates Degree in Liberal Arts from Honolulu Community College in 1992.  She continued on to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where she earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Mathematic Teaching. In 2007, she received the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award.  Lee has served on the Board of Directors for the Hawaiʻi Council of Teachers of Mathematics for 10 years, and currently serves as the Division Chair for Math and Science at Honolulu CC. She is excited to serve the community she grew up in and share her experiences with her students.

Brock Little (’94 AA Liberal Arts)
While completing his Liberal Arts education at Honolulu Community College, Brock Little dreamed of becoming a professional surfer and working in the movie industry.  At age 20, he pulled into the barrel on a legitimate 20-foot wave and later dropped into what is still considered to be one of the biggest waves ever paddled into at Waimea Bay in the 1990 Quicksilver in memory of Eddie Aikau.  He has traveled around the world surfing and has worked as a surf coach to professional surfers and Hollywood actors.  An avid waterman he helped to initiate the notion of the big-wave jet towing, and is a certified lifeguard for numerous Association of Surfing Professional surf competitions.  He is a member of the North Shore Lifeguard Association, Waimea Bay Lifeguard Association and the Hawaiian Water Patrol.  Brock has been able to parley his love of surfing and the ocean into a professional career as a stunt coordinator on over 60 movies and television shows that include: Transformers 1 and 2, Pearl Harbor, Blue Crush, Lost, CSI Miami, and most recently, Hawaiʻi 5-0.   Today, he continues to mentor young surfers and shares his love of surfing and the ocean with everyone around the world. 

Denis Mactagone (’70 Apprenticeship)
Denis Mactagone is a 1962 graduate of Wallace Rider Farrington High School. After graduation from high school, Denis served one tour of duty on the USS Magoffin, which transported troops and supplies to the Southeast Asia campaign.  Following his discharge from the Navy, Denis entered the Carpenters Union drywall apprenticeship program, which he completed in 1970. After twenty-two years in the industry, Denis was asked by then Business Manager & Financial Secretary, Walter Kupau, to join his administrative team as a Field Representative with the Carpenter’s Local Union 745. Denis’s work ethic and dedication to his assignments gained the attention of the union leadership, and he was elevated to Senior Field Representative and Director for the apprenticeship program in the year 2000. Denis says that it was “not only me, it was a team” that improved the carpentry and drywall industry.  After forty-six years of service, Denis retired from the Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters and is enjoying his retirement life with his wife Susan.

Richard “Scotty” Rhode (’82 AS Fire Science)
Retired Chief Richard “Scotty” Rhode is a graduate of Radford High School.  He received his associate degree in Fire Science from Honolulu CC in 1982, and his undergraduate degree in Fire Administration from Suffolk University.  He is currently an Assistant Professor for Honolulu’s Fire & Environmental Emergency Response program. Rhode served 28 years in the Department of Defense Fire & Emergency Services at Federal Fire Department Hawaiʻi, and was the Command Fire Chief for Sasebo, Japan. He is a recipient of the Superior Service Medal  (2nd highest civilian award) for coordinating relief efforts in support of multiple fuel tank fires resulting from an earthquake in northern Japan.   He was the first Hawaiʻi State Coordinator for National Fire Academy Alumni Association and was nominated as U.S. Navy Civilian Firefighter of the Year in 1998.  In his spare time he serves as the President of Bluegrass Hawaiʻi, a non-profit association dedicated to acoustic, American roots music (blues, bluegrass, country-western, slack-key and folk).

2014 Outstanding Community Partner

Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters
The Hawaiʻi Regional Council of Carpenters currently represents 6,200 members and more than 300 signatory contractors throughout the state.  Over the past 50 years the Carpenter’s Union has made and continues to make a multitude of contributions to the development and welfare of the Honolulu CC campus.  Each year the Council provides materials and supplies for the Carpentry Technology program as well as the carpenter’s apprenticeship program.  After 60 years, the Hawaiʻi Carpenters Union, Local 745, split into two unions – Local 745 and Local 746 (West Oʻahu) – and the Regional Council structure was implemented to oversee both unions on January 1, 2012.