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HPU student to lead national PR society

Brandi Boatner, a Hawaii Pacific University communications student, has been elected the 2008-09 national president of the Public Relations Student Society of America. There has never been a national president from a university in Hawaii in its 40 years.

Boatner, second-year graduate student, also is the first African-American female president of the society. She will assume the position June 1. Boatner is also the 2008 recipient of the graduate Robert E. Black Award of Excellence, the highest honor given to a student at HPU.

HPU has presented its Paul C.T. Loo Distinguished Alumni Awards to Marissa Sandblom, president of the Grove Farm Foundation and vice president for Grove Farm Co.; Andrew Tay, chairman and founder of Global Ariel Singapore Pte Ltd.; and Nash Subotic, top sales manager at John Hancock in 2006.

HPU student Eric J. Dela Rosa has won the Best Poster Presentation in Computer Science award at the national Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science Conference. His work was based on an internship at the Canada France Hawaii Telescope last year.

Kainalu Elementary School students received the "Power of Technology" award for logging more than 7,000 hours using the school's KidBiz3000 program to improve their language-arts skills. The awards were sponsored by Achieve3000, a Web-based instruction program.

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