Dartmouth Families
Interview with Thomas Amina
December 2007
Thomas and Pilsun Amina watched their son, Kawakahi K. Amina '09, pursue his many passions for years in Hawai'i, where Thomas's family has lived for more than 150 years (the maternal side of Thomas's family has called the Islands home since the 1700s). Now they are marveling at how Kawakahi, a premed biology major from Honolulu, has made a new home at Dartmouth and taken his passion for photography to new heights, shooting all the photos for the 2008 Dartmouth College Fund calendar. "We often learn about things Kawakahi is doing or awards he has won after the fact," said Thomas, who retired two years ago after a career in management and personal production with Prudential and Macy's. "But this time he said, 'Hey Dad, you know how they do a calendar at Dartmouth?' He said he was going to take some pictures for it. He didn't say he was going to do the whole calendar!" When we spoke to Thomas in late November, he and his wife, Pilsun, were training for the Honolulu Marathon on December 9. "It was my wife's idea," Thomas said of Pilsun, a native of South Korea and a translator for Hawai'i's Department of Transportation. Kawakahi returned home for winter break on December 10, his first extended visit home since last December. In early January, he heads to Mexico to participate in the winter term Dartmouth Language Study Abroad program in Cholula.
Early on Kawakahi was looking at Stanford because a lot of his good buddies were looking there. He did a fly-in and was very excited about it. But when he did the fly-in to Dartmouth, he came back and said, "That's where I'm going." He just fell in love with it. I could see why when we went up there for the orientation. It's a beautiful campus.
We came up for orientation and thought we would stay with him for two weeks. On that first day, Kawakahi went into Robinson Hall for his Dartmouth Outing Club trip. He went in one side with his bags and came out the other side and that was the last we saw him for four days. When he got back there were still a couple of days until classes started, but he said, "You know, I've got some things I need to do." And that was it. We only got to see him for one day. He met some really nice people on the outing. It's been like that ever since.
We thought Dartmouth was kind of a long way to go from Hawai'i. We wouldn't be able to visit easily and we worried about homesickness. But if he was ever homesick, he never showed it. When other kids were coming home for breaks because they were homesick, he would say, "Oh, I'm staying here. I've got some things I'd like to do." Even when he came home for a little bit over Christmas, he said, "Gosh, pretty soon I'll be going home." And we thought, "Wait a minute, this is your home!" So we knew that he was going to be all right.
We always stressed participation with Kawakahi. We had him join the Y at age five and later he did a lot of volunteer work there with children and taught aikido and kendo. He was involved in piano for about eight or nine years. And all of a sudden one day he would find another passion, as they all do. Tennis was one of those. He played on the team here and plays on the club team at Dartmouth. Then he got heavily into science. And then photography. We tried to expose him to a lot of different things. "You don't have to be good at it," we'd say. "Just get exposure to it. And when you go away you'll meet people with a lot of different interests and you'll be able to participate."
I'm very impressed with Dartmouth and if I ever get to the point where I'm not, there are so many people around me who keep reminding me how wonderful it is. I belong to the Y and play racquetball. A lot of the people who belong to the Y are doctors, attorneys, and judges. When they found out Kawakahi was going to Dartmouth, they were so impressed. And when I wear my T-shirt that says, "Dartmouth Dad," they all ask, "How's my Ivy boy?" They're not surprised he went there because they always knew he was a kid who would seek out new experiences and want to meet new people and do something a little different.
One time when I was out driving and wearing my D hat, I let a fellow cross the street in front of me and he waved thank you. After I parked, I saw that he was waiting for me. He asked me about my hat and I told him that my son is a student at Dartmouth. He said, "I'm a '70 grad." He started asking me about my son's interests and I mentioned photography. He said, "What's his name? He's got a long name, right?" I told him and he said, "I know him." I've met a lot of people thanks to the D hat.
I have a wall in the den where I hang a lot of Kawakahi's photographs. There's a beautiful shot of the bonfire, but my favorite shot is of Baker Library reflected through the dewdrop.
I know Dartmouth has been a wonderful experience for him. I'm one of seventeen in my family, so I understand what humble beginnings are. We tried to do whatever we could to show him a little bit of a different side of things so he'd have the opportunity to grow. And he's grown a lot more than we even expected at Dartmouth, just meeting nice, exceptional people and having great experiences. He got involved in crew, which he'd never done before. And he talks constantly about his professors, so we know he's really enjoying himself and getting a great education. We're so happy he's there.
Kawakahi recently mentioned being an '09, and we all realized that 2009 and graduation are right around the corner. I just remember coming there to drop him off!
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