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Issue date: 2/29/08 Section: Trinity Life

Media Credit: Sara Champlin ISLAND BEAUTY: Sophomore Jesselyn Dizon distributes leis at Lei Day on the Esplanade. Dizon founded the Hawaiian 'Ohana Club with Brandyn Dunn, junior, to bring island culture to campus.

People have asked questions about her home: Do you live in a grass hut on a beach? Do you ride dolphins to school? Do you wear clothes, or does everyone just wear coconuts? Do you guys have cars and buildings and stuff?

"It's just like everywhere else. We just have a beach," said Jesselyn "Jesse" Dizon, sophomore, of her home in Hawaii.
On Sunday afternoon, the newly-formed Hawaiian 'Ohana Club presented its first event, an off-campus Lu'au, which approximately 30 people attended. Food, hula dancers, live drum dancing and fire dancing entertained and involved Trinity students at Aloha Roses and Flowers, a restaurant and flower shop on Austin Highway.

On the last Sunday of every month, the business puts on its 'Sunday Jam Lu'au,' according to Tiffany Sunaomi Carlson, junior.

"We thought that it would be a great opportunity to expose students to a little taste of Hawaii right here in San Antonio," Carlson said.

Carlson's mother grew up in Hawaii, so she has family and friends that live on the islands. Every time she visited, she fell more and more in love with the local traditions, customs and, most of all, the people.

"For example, when you meet someone for the first time, you don't give them a stiff 'hello' and a handshake, like we do here on the mainland," Carlson said. "Instead, you give them a hug and a kiss on the cheek. The 'aloha-spirit' instantly makes you feel like family."
Dizon serves as treasurer of the new club and was born and raised on Oahu, the third largest island, which includes the state capital Honolulu on its southeast coast. She has danced hula since kindergarten, and she performed an Auwana (touristy flowing) dance while dressed in white at last year's Spotlight. She can chant in Hawaiian, a dying language, and uses some words common in everyday life there.

She enjoyed the moment the emcee called 15 Trinity students to the stage to do a hula.
"That was really funny. They made a few people put on the grass skirt and coconuts," Dizon said. "My engineering professor got up there. It was nice to see faculty up there."

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