Last semester she was making sure all the first years were safe. This semester she’s making sure you get your morning cup of coffee. This week’s Campus Celebrity is the sweet, always reliable Hana Kaneshige!
Many on campus know this sophomore from Bellingham (“Not Seattle!” she tells me fiercely). The ladies of Alpha Lamda Phi Alpha know her as an active, beloved sister. Her teammates on rugby love her as well. The tenants of Stewie know her, and miss her as their former RA. Now she has become the newest Product Purchasing and Inventory manager at the Green Bean making sure everything is stocked and pouring latte after latte to assure that the Occidental population remains happy and caffeinated.
Hana loves her new lower-campus position but doesn’t forget her upper-campus roots. “I’ve always thought it would be fun to work in a coffee shop, and it’s been fantastic…Being given the chance to manage the Green Bean was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, but leaving my position as an RA was rather bittersweet. I learned so much as an RA, and feel that I grew a lot as a person. The Stew-Crew was awesome, and I know that I’ll miss the community that I came to know so well this past semester!”
Her time with Occidental Women’s Rugby and Alpha have also been beneficial. “I’ve gained a great sense of community from both the Rugby team, and Alpha. It’s funny, because I had never really played a sport before, and I would never have seen myself joining a sorority. Coming to college, I wanted to try things out of my comfort zone and found them very rewarding.” Hana’s adventurousness reminds us of what we all try to do when we come to college and reflects the Oxy spirit.
And like most Oxy students, Hana is excited for her courses this semester. She’s taking Race in American Society, Painting, Stupidity and Intro to Media Studies. “They all seem rather interesting, and are all in fields in which I am considering majoring.”
In any case she likes to keep her future open, only knowing that at some point she’d like to go to grad school or spend some time in the Peace Corps. “Or who knows, maybe I’ll open a coffee shop,” she laughs.
If you haven’t met her yet, drop by the Green Bean and say hi to Hana!
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Oxy chapter.