Windward Community College plant biotech student receives vocational award

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Kymber-Lee Char, (808) 956-9437
Public Information Officer, External Affairs and University Relations
Posted: Sep 16, 2011

Leslie Baker
Leslie Baker
HONOLULU – Leslie Baker, a plant biotechnology student at Windward Community College, has been named recipient of the Masaki and Momoe Kunimoto Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to Career and Technical Education.
 
Established by Tadashi and Elizabeth Nakaeda Kunimoto in honor of their parents’ role in developing the Hawai‘i food industry, this award recognizes a faculty member or student from one of the UH community colleges for outstanding achievement and contribution to vocational and technical education.
 
Baker serves as the Botany Club secretary and actively participates in extra-curricular activities on campus such as Ho‘olaulea 2010 where she provided an orchid potting demonstration for children and at the Bioprocessing Medicinal Garden Complex doing weeding, mulching and planting.
 
She is a diligent and motivated student who is always willing to help others. Baker was a summer student tutor creating a one-day curriculum built around botany/math for students entering 7th grade from Waimānalo, Kahuku and Pālolo. She also volunteered to do research observations and data collection on non-class days and produced excellent, timely lab reports.
 
Baker’s leadership, enthusiasm and commitment are unwavering, and she will be recognized for her achievements along with other UH award recipients at the annual Convocation ceremony to be held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, at Kennedy Theatre on the UH Mānoa campus. The ceremony is open to the public at no charge, and no reservations are needed. For more information on the awards ceremony, visit http://www.hawaii.edu/about/awards.