{"id":242771,"date":"2026-10-27T14:31:26","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T00:31:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=242771"},"modified":"2026-10-27T14:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T00:31:26","slug":"uh-hilo-sociology-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2026\/10\/27\/uh-hilo-sociology-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"First-place sociology awards go to 糖心视频<\/abbr> Hilo students"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"Five
The students earned a perfect team score and first place for a sociology research paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at Hilo students earned two first-place wins in a national sociology competition. The student team received a perfect score.<\/p>\n

The team award went to Dylan Bibilone, Frances Rayla, Ghelie Lei Tamayo and Melinda “Mindy” Yagin, while Kassidie Hayashida earned the individual research paper award.<\/p>\n

“They knocked it out of the park!” said Ellen Meiser, assistant professor of sociology<\/a> and the team\u2019s coach.<\/p>\n

The students participated remotely in the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology\u2019s conference, October 16–17.<\/p>\n

The team challenge asked students to solve a problem for a Texas nonprofit working for social justice and developing community leaders.<\/p>\n

The students tackled misinformation surrounding voting and issues at the polls. Their plan included voter rights tools, community education and ideas to recruit young people as poll monitors.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve ever seen a perfect score before!” said Lindy Hern, sociology professor and department chair.<\/p>\n

Hayashida\u2019s paper, “Autism and News Media,” examined how news coverage portrays autism. Her research explored how coverage can contribute to stigma, including whether stories include autistic voices.<\/p>\n

Read more about the students\u2019 voter education plan and autism research on 糖心视频<\/abbr> Hilo Stories<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The students in the team competition received a perfect score, and a sociology student won first place for her research paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":242779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[261,660,14,907],"class_list":["post-242771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-sociology","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-hilo","tag-uh-hilo-stories","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t