Students attending the BOSP Journal Release Party create artwork. (Photo by Taylor Okamura)

By Taylor Okamura and Shawna Takaki | Staff Writers

On Wednesday from 12 to 3 p.m. at the ʻŌhiʻa Cafeteria, the Board of Student Publications, also known as BOSP, held a public party to celebrate the publication of three student journals. Pueo ʻo Kū and Ka Hue Anahā publish research writing by students, with the former focusing on STEM works and the latter on research done in any non STEM-related subject. There’s also Lēʻahi, the Journal of Creative Arts, featuring artwork, poetry, and more.

“We want the public to be able to recognize people who work with journalism and communications,” said Kamalani Moufa, a member of the BOSP board, talking about the first completely public party to celebrate the journal. “There’s also a lot of art, people who contributed to the art and layout and covers of the journals. I think it’s about recognizing that our students have a lot of potential.”

Ellen Ercegovich’s published painting “Local Spot in the Shade” appeared in Lēʻahi, the Journal of Creative Arts. (Photo by Taylor Okamura)

Jade Bluestone and Shayna Jackson, both students at the college, served as editors on the journals, looking over the work done by students. They worked with Dawn Oshiro, who taught them in their ENG 100 and ENG 273 classes, to oversee the journal.

“We were looking for a wide variety of genres and styles,” Oshiro said. “… We were looking at different classes that are submitted. … Essays are selected based on all different disciplines. We can only pick so many.”

Bluestone also had her work published in the journal. She published “The Sunset of Floating Memory” on pages 26 and 27 of Lēʻahi. 

“The assignment was to pick a moment in our lives that was the most significant to us,” she said. “I chose a floating lantern festival that happened here in Hawai’i. And how this one experience with a random stranger helped me with the acceptance and grievance of my mom, who I was there celebrating that day. … I never met that stranger again. It was just that one moment he helped me get out into the water. When he brought me back, I just felt better. I wanted to share that with other people; that acceptance is just really random; you have to wait for it to come.”

The release party offered copies of Lēʻahi and Ka Hue Anahā, food, bracelet making, canvas bag drawing, and other crafting tables. It also provided an opportunity for students and faculty of KCC to gather, create, and converse over stories, art, and research.

Emma Belatti shows off with her canvas bag at the BOSP party. (Photo by Taylor Okamura) 

“It was really hard to choose which creative pieces to do (publish),” Jackson said. “Because all of them were very unique and different, all of them had very different personalities.”