New Student Issue - 2017

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THE LEAD ER

BYUH President John S. Tanner explains his vision for the school.

PPage age 148

In this issue: Pages 10-11 Fun facts about Sister Susan Tanner • Pages 76-81 Annual two-day campus wide Culture Night extravaganza involves more than 1,000 students • Pages 84-87 Cambodian outcast and orphan works towards doctorate

NEW STUDENT ISSUE • FALL 2017

ADVISOR Le e A n n Lam ber t MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISTS Patrick Campbell Adam Case Gosuke Kawano

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Josh M ason COPY EDITORS Kev i n Brown Danna Osumo Alex Maldonado

Alyssa Odom

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Leslie Owusu

O l iv i a Tsan

Brooklyn Redd

Chant al Hopper

Malia Diaz

Al v i n Vi ncent Dy

Jaime Faoliu

ART & GRAPHICS

Antoniette Yee

Lex i e Kapel i el a

VIDEOGRAPHERS Kelsy Simmons Khoon An A rman d o Ja red Leon AD MANAGER

Dorot hy Chi u ART DIRECTOR Kyungj i Ki m SOCIAL MEDIA Ar m ando Jared Leon

Go su ke Kawano

PHOTO OF THE MONTH NEW S CE N T ER BOX 1920 BYUH LAIE, HI 96762 PUBLISHER P r int Ser vi ces Editorial, photo submissions & distribution inquiries: ke a l a k a i @ by u h . e d u .

To s u b s c r i b e t o t h e R S S F E E D

CONTACT

E-mail: keal akai @by u h. edu Ad Information: keal akai ads@gmai l . com

In May 2017 professors and students in the Political Science Department went to Washington, D.C, to meet with government and business leaders. They paused for a photo in front the Lincoln Memorial. Photo courtesy of the Political Science Department

Phone: (80 8 ) 6 7 5 -3 6 9 4 Fax: (8 0 8 ) 6 7 5 -3 4 9 1 Office: Campu s, Al oha Cent er 1 3 4 ON THE COVER: The flag circle flies

Share with us your photos and we may feature it in our next issue. E-mail us your high-resolution photos with caption at kealakai@byuh.edu

the colors of the nations of students.

Photo by Monique Saenz

o r t o v i e w a d d i t i o n a l a r t i c l e s , go t o ke a l a k a i . by u h . e d u .

ABOUT US The Ke Alaka‘i began publishing the first year the university was started and has continued printing for 60 years. The name in Hawaiian means “the leader.”

It began as a monthly newsletter, evolved into a weekly newspaper and is now a monthly news magazine along with a website,YouTube channel, Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.

Today a staff of more than 25 students works to provide information for the campus ohana and community.

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Pioneers in the Pacific First member in Marquesas Islands

NEW STUDENT ISSUE FALL 2017

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Embracing a prophetic vision Tanners seek to serve students

Counselor becomes professor Eric Orr joins Psych Department

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RELIGION

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Dean of Students Melba Latu loves spirit of Laie

A mighty change of heart RMs tell how missions affected them

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100th baby born in TVA Nurse helps new mothers on campus

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Returning from missions early RMs say any service is service to God

LIFESTYLE

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Cambodian success story Pattica San overcomes obstacles

Hikers guide to Oahu Trails rated from easy to hard

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The Armenian Genocide Student raises nation’s flag, shares story

Visa & immigration guidelines Keep papers up to date, avoid problems

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Volleyball moms Handling sports, family and school

CA M P U S L I F E

Building a lasting relationship The Inamori’s love story

Health Center’s new doctor Royden Christensen returns to Laie

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Top 5 snorkeling sites on Oahu Exploring the underwater world

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campus life

in this section President and Sister Tanner hope to service more students from the Pacific 20 facts about Sister Tanner: She starts her day with prayer, scriptures, running

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First Language of Peace class gets green light for Winter 2018

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Students, community & world leaders unite in conserving Hawaii heiau

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Nurse helps 100 mothers and their babies in married student housing

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School of Education helps empower parents of children with special needs

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$5 campus parking permits keep campus safe, says Security officials

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BYUH beekeepers work to combat decreasing bee population

Keeping immigration documents up to date reduces problems

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Student share tips for getting and maintaining high GPA

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Biology program and resources benefit students - Saipan trip

How to add information from courses into your long-term memory

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BYUH play sets Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in Samoa

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Student-directed mystery/comedy ‘The Real Inspector Hound”

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New dean of students came to BYUH because students her inspired her

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Tips on how to manage and save money while at BYU-Hawaii

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Taste cuisine from around the world at the annual campus Food Fest

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Sewing Center’s new Aloha Center location gives student easy access

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Increasing disability awareness on campus by explaining the terms

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Culture Night is a two-night International extravaganza

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Choosing a major, experts say, requires introspection and seeking counsel

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C ampus L i fe President Tanner says he sticks close to the history of BYU-Hawaii when planning its future. Photo by Stop Khemthorn

Embracing a prophetic vision President and Sister Tanner share their hopes for BYUH to serve students from the Pacific

BY A LEX MA LDONA DO

BYU-Hawaii’s President John S. Tanner said he is dedicated to preserving the history of the college by continuing to build upon it. To always keep the school’s heritage at the front of his mind, Tanner has decorated his office to be a panoramic display of what went into starting the university.

The first thing one would notice upon entering his office is the clear view of the statue of George Q. Cannon and Jonathan H. Napela by the Cannon Activities Center just outside his window. There are also mementos scattered around his office, including a statue of Joseph Smith and a statue of a young David O. McKay with a lei over his shoulders. Tanner said it is President McKay’s prophetic dream most of all that he is trying to fulfill on the BYUH campus.

Tanner explained, “[President McKay] had a founding vision for the university when he came to Laie as a young apostle. He saw this place as becoming a center for education where many cultures would come together, and they would be brought together as brothers and sisters, children of Heavenly Father.”

Tanner said, “Pivoting focus to the Pacific” is one of the ways he tries to preserve that vision. “Sometimes we call it our target area, so we really reach out to the students in that area who will return to help develop the church and develop the world.”

Tanner said BYUH has been sending representatives to countries all over Polynesia, northern Asia, and southeast Asia to visit and work with the leaders of the church and the official ministers of education. The main objective for their visits has been to work with the church leaders to identify potential students who are prepared to make the most of their time at BYUH, according to Tanner.

“We want to identify students who have that commitment and disposition, and will take advantage of this school to bless their communities, countries, and families. We want people to come here and feel the spirit of aloha, love, 8 12

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and charity. We will also prepare people to become leaders in the church internationally.

We want them to be ambassadors for peace, and that requires being deeply grounded in the gospel,” Tanner continued.

His wife, Susan W. Tanner, added, “[What we do] really does go back to the prophecies by President McKay. He said character is higher than intellect, and that’s been a big focus for President Tanner. We want everyone to have a first-rate education, but the character of our students is an absolutely critical part of their education. President McKay prophesied people from this institution would go and spread peace throughout the world through the means of the gospel, so those are our highest spiritual and education objectives.”

Tanner quoted Apostle Marion G. Romney in saying, “This place will be a living laboratory where people would come and learn tolerance, and learn to live together and love people from different countries. We want people to come and take advantage of this intercultural, international education opportunity in a gospel setting.”

Describing their daily lives, Sister Tanner said, “It’s a lot of meetings. He’s trying to coordinate with the various departments on campus. He’s coordinating academics, student life, facilities management, and the PCC.”

Her husband added, “I often laugh because people always say, ‘Oh, you’re in Hawaii. How fun!’ And I tell them, ‘I don’t just sit around on the beach and drink piña coladas, you know.’ I love to swim in the ocean, but unfortunately my life gets taken up with lots of work.”

Tanner said he often flies back and forth to the mainland for meetings with the presidents of the other church universities, along with the Board of Trustees. The Executive Committee is made up of Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Jeffery R. Holland, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, Sister Linda K. Burton, and Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson.

According to Tanner, the meetings are held bimonthly. One is presided over by Elder

Oaks, and the other by the First Presidency.

Sister Tanner said, “It’s a privilege to be with the First Presidency, and it’s a privilege you don’t take lightly.You always want to be prepared and not waste their time because you know what kind of responsibilities are on their shoulders.”

President Tanner said, “It’s remarkable to me how much care, attention, and time the brethren give to the church schools. Every faculty member who is hired is considered individually by name by the board. That means the First Presidency, two apostles, and other general authorities, read a little biography about every faculty member we recommend… [which] takes quite a long time.”

“The reason I bring this up,” Tanner added, “is just to indicate that the brethren really care about all the church schools and especially the students. They want your experience to be a terrific one.”

Norman Black, the vice president of Administration, said, “[President] and Sister Tanner dearly love the students and employees and care about each one of us. We are happy to have them continue a legacy of great presidents who have led this university.”

President and Sister Tanner were married while attending BYU, shortly after President Tanner returned home from his first mission in Brazil. Together they have raised five children and have 20 grandchildren. After graduating from BYU, the Tanners spent six years studying at UC Berkeley, then moved to Tallahassee to teach at Florida State University. They then moved back to Utah and spent 30 years teaching at BYU, and eight more as administrators.

Sister Tanner was called as the Young Women General President in 2002 and served until 2008. They then presided over the Brazil Sao Paulo South Mission from 2011-2014. Following that, President Tanner was called to serve in the General Sunday School Presidency. He was then asked by President Thomas S. Monson to be the president of BYUH starting July 27, 2015.

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C ampus L i fe Sister Tanner was the twelfth president of the General Young Women Organization for the LDS Church. Photo by Yukimi Kishi

20 Fun Facts about Sister Tanner Susan Winder Tanner, along with President John Tanner, has been at BYUH since July 2015 and shared this information about herself

BY DA NNA OSUMO

1. She graduated from BYU with a degree in Humanities (English emphasis).

11. She always starts her day with prayer, scripture study and running.

2. Growing up, she wanted to be a mom and teacher.

12. Her favorite Halloween costume she wore was of a 1920s flapper girl.

3. She is the author of “Daughters in My Kingdom” (2011), a book about the history of the Relief Society.

13. Her favorite church songs are “I Need Thee Every Hour” and “He Sent His Son.”

4. She plays the piano, organ and ukulele.

5. She was called to be the 12th president of the church’s General Young Women Organization.

14. Favorite non-church song is “Aloha ‘Oe” because her grandparents served a mission in Hawaii as a young couple and the song was sung at their funeral.

15. She loves mountains and hiking.

6. Although she did not serve a mission as a young woman, she was able to serve with President Tanner in the Brazil Sao Paulo South mission as mission presidents.

16. Her favorite hike on Oahu is the Ka‘ena Point Trail hike because she got to see the Albatross Sanctuary and Hawaiian monk seals.

7. She is claustrophobic.

17. Her guilty pleasure is chocolate.

8. She had an experience where she was stuck in an elevator and President Tanner physically yanked the door open to get her out.

18. She loves to bake cookies and brownies.

9. Her favorite movies are “Chariots of Fire” and “Anne of Green Gables.”

10. Besides her children, her most prized possessions are the pieces of silverware her grandma gave to her each birthday.

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19. The most interesting she has ever eaten was eel in China.

20. Her favorite quote is from Sister Eliza R. Snow, “When you are filled with the Spirit of God… that [Spirit] satisfies and fills up every longing of the human heart, and fills up every vacuum.”

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Khoon Han Photo by Olivia Tsan

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Seek advice selecting a major

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tudents said choosing a major is difficult because they are worried they will end up only having career opportunities in the field they study. Some students suggested researching potential interests through the Career Center or connecting with alumni in a specific field to help in the decision-making process. Others said they based their decisions on what to major in at BYU-Hawaii off interests they found they enjoyed before they started college.

Ben Bailey, a BYU doctoral graduate intern working in the BYUH Counseling Services office, said there are many factors or reasons for students being unsure about which major to choose. “They are really worried that what they end up studying is going to be what they end up having a career in,” he said, though he added students don’t always end up in a career related to their major.

Mion Tanaka, a freshman from Japan with an undeclared major, said, “I feel rushed because this is my second semester, and my friends have already started taking major classes,” she said. “I’m taking GE classes to find what I want to major in, but I still can’t figure it out.”

Best College USA says there are fours things to consider when choosing a major:

1. Seek out help

2. Explore

3. Be introspective

4. Be proactive

Riley Weston, a sophomore from Oregon studying computer science, said he chose his major because he loved all his technology classes in high school. “My biggest advice for newer students would be to really put yourself back into high school and look at what you saw yourself leaning more toward. There was always one class that you really enjoyed more than the rest,” he said.

Ben Papeo, an alumni from Italy who graduated this year in psychology, said he read the book “Major Decisions” by President Henry B. Eyring while he

attended LDS Business College. The book mentions the website mynextmove.org, so he said he visited the site and took an assessment test to find out what his interests were.

According to Papeo, students question how they can choose only one of several majors to pursue a specific career because it is more than likely that most students have various interests.

Carly Kortas, a senior from Michigan majoring in hospitality and tourism management and business management, encouraged students to seek answers from the Lord through prayer. “Just remember, he will only answer you if you’ve already done your research. I would suggest students look around and talk to people who are working with the degree they are interested in and talk to professors and ask what opportunities are out there.”

Kortas said what led her to BYUH was the HTM major, but as she took one HTM class that emphasized marketing, she began to like marketing more than her major. She said she talked with her advisor to see if she could do both majors.

Papeo said, “Some people advise to pick only one subject and stick on that and keep the best one as a future career and a second thing as a hobby, but I don’t think this is necessarily true because you might like two things exactly equally. What I would advise is not to give up but find ways to combine those things.”

Papeo recommended students to go to the Career Center and gather information about any industry they are interested in and ask alumni for their experiences.

Princetonreview.com acknowledges that choosing a college major can be overwhelming. However, the website says the major a student chooses will not guarantee his or her future. “Many graduates find jobs that have nothing to do with what they studied in college.” The site suggests students to talk to professors, advisors, department heads, and other students and even possibly find an internship off campus.

ACADEMIC ADVISOR LOCATION

BYU-HAWAII ACADEMIC ADVISORS

Akana, Joselyn

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cademic Advisement provides assistance in all areas of a student’s academic life. While college life can be overwhelming, academic advisors are available to provide support and guidance. Advisors can help students make appropriate short and long term academic decisions. However, the student is ultimately responsible for his or her own academic progress in completing graduation requirements.

For more information, please visit

advisors.byuh.edu

Students are encouraged to work closely with their academic advisor throughout their years at BYU-Hawaii, particularly to obtain assistance with the following: Understanding General Education and major requirements for graduation.

Creating a Major Academic Plan (Map) as a guide to taking the right classes at the right time. (Required once a student has 30 credits.)

Understanding and complying with university policies and procedures.

Transferring course credits from other institutions so that appropriate classes can be equivalent or substitute for major, minor, or certificate requirements.

Understanding registration requirements, procedures and deadlines.

Discussing questions about career goals, course scheduling and academic progress.

Qualifying and applying for graduation.

Buckingham, Paul

Campbell, Hi'i

808-675-3274 joselyn.akana@byuh.edu -Social Work -Elementary Education -English as an International Language

808-675-4713 paul.buckingham@byuh.edu -Hawaiian Studies -Pacific Island Studies -Psychology

808-675-3597 ph002@byuh.edu -Computer Science -Exercise Science -History -Information Systems -Information Technology -Math

Ching, Marilee

Fonoimoana, Charity

Hafoka, Losaline

808-675-3891 chingm@byuh.edu -Secondary Education -TESOL

Kaluhiokalani, Keola 808-675-3843 keolak@byuh.edu -Undeclared

-Business Management

808-675-3249 line.hafoka@byuh.edu -Art -English -Music

Kinikini, Danielle

Wesley, Susan

808-675-3827 charity.fonoimoana@byuh.edu

808-675-4706 danielle.kinikini@byuh.edu -Biochemistry -Biology -International Cultural Studies (ICS)

808-675-3596 wesleys@byuh.edu -Accounting -Hospitality & Tourism Management -Political Science

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Visa & immigration guidelines Keeping immigration papers up to date will prevent problems, says International Student Services staff

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nternational Student Services faculty said they want students to know being deported and having issues at the airport is not impossible. Advisors warn students to not ignore emails from the International Student Services office about your visa and passport, and if they have airport visa problems, they can call the school.

Ted M. Guildner, advisor at International Student Services, said he previously worked for the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) for 14 years. “Before students come to school here, they have to start with all the right forms. When they get here, they need to maintain those forms. Student visas are unique. They don’t have a specific end date, called a D/S, so it’s adjustable,” he said.

Guildner explains that BYUH I-WORK students typically come in on a J1 visa, which is technically called a “cultural exchange.” This visa puts restrictions on students depending on where they are from and what their major is.

Some restrictions are the inability to become a permanent resident, obtain a work visa, or change their status until they have returned home with their education for two years.

To travel outside the country, Guildner said, “You need a travel endorsement form from the school. It basically says the student is in good standing with the school and states everything has been recorded properly. They are eligible to return, there are no holds on their account, they are active in government system, and registered for classes.”

He said students should understand they need to make sure their papers are in order, and the ISS is here on campus to help. “We always remind them to do everything so they can come back. A lot of the emails about passport expirations and visas are automated through our system and students often ignore them.

Please don’t ignore them.”

Passports from around the world.

Photo by Kyungji Kim

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Ted Guilder said ISS will help students having visa issues. The number is 808-675-3517. Photo by Kelsy Simmons

According to Guildner, these emails are sent about six months before a student’s passport expires, and it is extremely important to renew the passport right away. He clarifies the airport is very unlikely to let students travel if their passport is even six months from expiring.

International Student Services Advisor Patrick Macy emphasized the steps students should take when they are in trouble at the airport. “Customs and borders are supposed to call us with any issues at the airport with our students,” he said.

Macy said when immigration calls, it will inform them of the reason why the student is detained. Macy will then jokingly ask, ‘Does he/she look like a BYU student?’ “The airport knows what to look for. Sometimes he asks if the student is good looking. If immigration says yes, I will say the student is from BYU-Hawaii.

“Sometimes the officer will ask over the phone, ‘What would you say if the student is ugly?’ Then I say we send the ugly ones to BYU Provo,” he chuckled. He speaks on the seriousness of the situation, but from his experience, he can help the student more easily if he is able to build trust with the airport officer.

Macy said in rare cases, immigration will interrogate the students. “This is the tricky part. Be careful of what you say and do. Don’t try to make up fibs. It will only backfire. Getting a government entity to admit they have made a mistake is very hard.You have to be so careful.

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“If you argue and fight back, you are guaranteed to fail.You have to remember who you’re talking to. They have control,” Macy said. “They take you literally.You wouldn’t joke about having a gun at an airport. Don’t say anything that could get you in trouble.”

He said if you are the least bit unsure of what they are asking, tell them you don’t understand or ask for an interpreter. The immigration department is required to call the school and inform us. “Definitely tell them to call us if they haven’t. They know the number.”

Another important point Guildner speaks about is not to panic. “They will interpret that as having something to hide. It’s part of their routine to clarify your intentions.”

Tevita Ka‘ili, department chair of Cultures and Languages from Tonga, said, “I am an immigrant myself, and I can empathize with students. There is a number you can call, so students have the ability to talk to an attorney if they are stuck in the airport. Immigrants should know that they have rights and there is due process.”

Another red flag for immigration and customs officers is over-staying relatives. “It’s very difficult to get in when you have family here who has overstayed or is overstaying. It makes it difficult or impossible to get in.” Ka‘ili said family records can be held against you.

“Now this presidential administration is really cracking down.You can tell they ask a lot more questions to those coming and going

from the U.S.. There is more tension, more scrutinizing. They want to know exactly how many days you will be gone, who, what, when, where, and why.”

Ka‘ili said when he was going through customs after coming back to Hawaii from New Zealand, and they asked why he left. “I told them it was for a conference. ‘A conference for what?’ A school conference. ‘What kind of school conference?’ A conference for indigenous studies. Then they said, ‘Oh, okay.’

But I have never been questioned like that until recently.”

Guildner said, “Part of the distrust we now have is because some of the terrorists in 9/11 were students on student visas and had extended their stay. Security has really gone up because of this. Students should not be offended by this.”

According to statistics discovered by Guildner, “Fewer and fewer international students are applying for school here. A lot of potential students are worried about the travel ban and that if they come, they will have trouble and be kicked out.”

He said yes it’s possible to say the government is scrutinizing students more. “I can feel the atmosphere at the airport is more tense.”

However he added, “It’s not something that anyone should fear to the point that they should not try to travel or go abroad for school.”

The International Student Services phone number is 808-675-3517.

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Student’s Guide to Learning

New Ideas to Learn

Experts say studying right after class and reviewing notes every 10 days improves retention Listen or Read Carefully

Short Term Memory (STM) Only a few seconds

Review STM with LTM tags

Medium Term Memory (MTM) 30 minutes to 24 hours Associating a new Idea with something

REM - Deep Sleep 10-20% retained

you’re familiar with New Long Term Memory (LTM) Permanent

Add to Existing LTM

Information provided by the Student Center for Academic Success

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Adding to long-term memory

Long Term Memory (LTM) Permanent

BY KELSY SIMMONS

Remembering all the new information students learn in class for more than a few minutes requires putting the information into long-term memory, according to workers at the Student Center for Academic Success.

The senior missionaries at the center said they are happy to teach students skills of scheduling, studying and remembering. The center is open Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and helps students organize their schedules so they can have time for committing their studies to long-term memory.

Communications Professor Chad Compton, who has been teaching at BYU-Hawaii for 24 years, said, “All of us are so smart, but we don’t understand it because we don’t go through the processes that reveal how bright we are.”

A student can learn that process at the center. Elder and Sister Wollenzien, who have been on their mission for three months, said they will teach students how to create a simple schedule using Excel. Then they teach students the process of converting the information they learn in class to long-term memory that can be used for the rest of their lives. The schedule helps, they said.

The first step in the process is to listen or read new information carefully.

Compton said the learning process is impossible if a student is daydreaming through class or simply looking at a textbook rather than searching. He said in order to understand and retain information, students must look for organization in what they are reading. They must practice putting together different ideas in a structure their minds can latch on to. Compton said he encourages his students to “start with the overview. Overviews are best done question to answer. The mind really moves well

when it moves question to answer, question to answer. That’s key to developing meaningfulness.”

Compton said, “Organization is seeing the structure of thought. If somebody is going to try to be a really good student, what they can’t do is read line-by-line. Stop reading and start searching. Then the mind has like six or seven pieces to work with: here’s the claim, here are the reasons, here’s the evidence, and [the mind] has some place to put all that information.”

When a student is listening attentively, the information is stored in short-term memory, which only lasts a few seconds, according to Compton.

What students must do to solidify this short-term information is “attribute” it or associate it with information the student is already familiar with, Compton explained. “We need to link what is new with what is old. Link new information with things we already know about and associate them together,” he said.

Elder Wollenzien gave the example of a student trying to remember the name Harrison. The student could attribute the name Harrison to “Harry Potter.” Connecting old information, Harry Potter, will help the student remember the new information, Harrison.

Reviewing the new information combined with old information over and over again soon after learning it, transfers the information from short-term memory into medium-term memory, said Wollenzien. He said that is why it is important for students to study the same day, preferably right after class.

Gary Bennett, a sophomore from North Carolina studying art, said he spends about an hour and a half after his Samoan class studying while the information is still fresh. “It seems to be working this time. I’m definitely able to pick

up the words quicker. Last time, I was so lost. It was like I had a big machete, and there were so many weeds around and I was cutting them and just couldn’t get it going. This time I can see the daylight.”

According to the missionaries at the center, medium-term memory lasts between 30 minutes and 24 hours.

Medium-term memory is processed and stored as long-term memory during the REM sleep cycle, which happens during deep sleep, according to center information. They also stated only 10 to 20 percent of the new information gathered in one day is kept and turned into long-term memory. It can then be used to attribute more new information.

All students have to do after the information becomes long-term, said Compton, is retain the information with an occasional refresher.

When Compton was a student at BYU, he said he discovered he wasn’t retaining all the information he had been learning. He said he would learn something and not think of it again for up to two months. Compton felt the information was withering and dying.

To combat this, every 10 days Compton said he would gather his notes and review them. “I didn’t spend a lot of time with it. It was just a refresher, 5 or 10 minutes looking over the previous 10 days of class. It liberated my emotional capacity to move forward with new ideas and new information and deposited them in my brain. It made midterms so much more enjoyable,” he said.

Elder and Sister Wollenzien said they understand being a student is difficult, and they want to see students succeed.

Elder Wollenzien said, “You have to do what you have to do when you are a student.”

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C ampus L i fe College students After visiting surf on the web Laie for the first while waiting in line. time, Melba Latu Photo by AP. observed how Laie had been blessed by the Lord.

Photo by Olivia

New dean follows dream Latu said she left an established Utah life to serve the students who inspired her

BY LESLIE OWUSU

Melba Latu joined the BYU-Hawaii ohana as the newly appointed Dean of Students in November 2016. She shared how her journey to Laie and her passion for students has helped her love her current job and appreciate BYUH. Latu said her job consists of ensuring the health, welfare, and wellbeing of students. “The general welfare of students is what I’m charged with safeguarding, and it’s something I take very seriously. It involves a lot of different departments and a lot of different parts.”

She said she feels her responsibility is big and she needs to be informed about all aspects of campus and student life. “The more I learn, the more I realize what an inspired institution this is; that we’re able to meet the regulations, and we’re able to meet the requirements for all these students so they can come and get an education, then go back to their countries and build a kingdom. It is amazing.”

Latu said education was something she has always been passionate about; especially education for underrepresented populations. “My Tongan culture is something I’m very proud of, and for it to be represented as it is at BYUH and the PCC, brings me such pride. Seeing more Polynesians, specifically, getting higher education is something that’s always been important, but I never knew how I would be involved in it.”

Before deciding to take the job offer, Latu said she visited Hawaii. “I had never been to Hawaii before, and

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when I came out here and met the students, I fell in love with them and their dedication. I thought if I could work with these students, that would be the opportunity of a lifetime...There is something about the setting of our campus. Laie was kissed by the Lord.”

Latu said the decision to move to Laie was hard because her whole family was in Provo, she had just bought her dream house, and loved her job at the BYU Honor Code Office. Despite her anchors planted in Utah, she said her dream-like experience at BYUH called to her. “This is an inspired organization. The people who work here, I think the Lord has hand picked them and has brought them here. For me, it was the students who sold this place for me.

“The students here at BYUH are the best because they’re good, passionate about learning, and they are culturally aware. I have no doubt that they are the future leaders of the church and in the world. I feel so humbled to play this role.”

Latu recalled her first night in Laie. “I was looking at the ocean. As I felt the trade winds blow through, I was captivated. This is an amazing place. I think Heavenly Father watches over our campus very carefully. He’s given us this beautiful land where we can learn.”

Latu was born and raised in Orem, Utah, and is the third of eight children. She obtained an English degree with a violin minor from BYU, and went on to law school at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.

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C ampus L i fe Sister missionaries guide students learning to sew.

Photo by David Preece

The Sewing Center moves to new location Preparations are being made for the open house, though it is already open

BY LESLIE OWUSU

The Sewing Center has moved from its location in the Cannon Activities Center to a more accessible and more spacious location in the Aloha Center, said the center’s staff.

They said this new location will help both male and female students to dress modestly.

Sister Linda Campbell, a senior missionary from Utah and a volunteer at the Sewing Center, said, “This new location is what is really unique about it. The students can see where it is. Before, a lot of the students had no idea where it was, or they could not find it.”

She said with the new location in the Aloha Center, students can drop in and see if they need anything to be fixed or if they can fix it themselves.

Sister Karla Robins, a senior missionary from Utah who volunteers at the Sewing Center, said, “First and foremost, we want the students to know that the Sewing Center is available. Also, it is not a sewing class. It is a helping service to aid the students with whatever they need and to help them do it themselves.”

Robins added, “The goal is to show the students how to do it themselves. Lots of times, it is not possible because it is too complicated for a beginner; but if it is, we just help the student. And actually, there are almost as many men as women that come in.”

The official mission statement of the Sewing Center, according to its website, is “to provide students and their spouses opportunities for learning by making available services and supplies to learn to become more self-reliant.”

Campbell said, “Our focus is really on modesty. Students can add fabric to make things longer, fix holes, add sleeves, and more.

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Many students will bring clothes they received from the Give and Take and bring it to the center to mend.”

There are 10 volunteers and one student worker available to assist people at the Sewing Center. Students can learn to mend their clothing to meet the standards of the dress code, as well as learn basic sewing skills.

Cambria Graves, a senior from Colorado studying international cultural studies, is the student worker for the Sewing Center. She said she used to be a teaching assistant for the sewing class, and prior to that she learned how to sew as a child from her mother.

“I love working here. It is so fun. For the most part all I do is mending, working on hems, and helping students with whatever they need,” said Graves.

She said the added space is good because “we now have a dressing room, and the windows bring in the bright sunlight.

People are always in the Aloha Center.”

“All of the people who work here are super friendly and they are really good at what they do. They are all senior sister missionaries, so they have experience.” Graves said the volunteers want students to feel comfortable and are always trying to make the center better for the students they serve.

“The students are so grateful and overjoyed after finishing a project, they cannot thank us enough,” said Campbell.

The Sewing Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It stays open three hours later on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 8 p.m. The open house for the Sewing Center will be held on Sept. 9, and all are invited to attend.

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C ampus L i fe Students from BYU-Hawaii hold signs they created during the Peace Linguistics class from TESOL International Association President Andy Curtis.

Photo by Andy Curtis

The language of peace Successful experimental class on peace linguistics leads to official new class in Winter 2018

BY LESLIE OWUSU

Peace Linguistics will officially be offered as a TESOL class at BYU-Hawaii starting in the Winter 2018 Semester after a successful trial version during the second block of the 20162017 Winter Semester.

Dr. Andy Curtis, professor of TESOL at Anaheim University and president of the TESOL International Association, taught the class and said he’s excited it will be part of the permanent curriculum at BYUH. “This has never been taught anywhere. Ever. There is a nice mix of students majoring in TESOL, peacebuilding, and English.”

The trial class went well overall, added Curtis. “We’re more excited to make it a solid part of the curriculum.”

Curtis said one of the themes they discussed was the notion that peace is the absence of conflict. “Well, where does the conflict come from? We think it comes from how people say things. A lot of conflict comes from language.

How does a 140-character tweet cause so much conflict?”

Students who complete the course will have a better understanding of how language and linguistics can be used to make the world a more peaceful place, said Curtis. “Think about how much conflict in the world comes from a misuse of language. The goal is to grow the class here at BYUH… and eventually it will go out to the world,” he said.

Eldon Brown, a senior international cultural studies major from Alaska, said the class focused on how the context of language promotes peace. Brown said peaceful language is important for students becoming teachers because “language teachers can be used to promote peace and not violence [by] using humanizing language that is going to help students collaborate and develop strong relationships.”

Brown said he learned how to create an environment where students can work together and use inclusive language to create a sustainable culture of peace.

Alysha Gurr, a sophomore from Canada majoring in social work and seeking certificates in TESOL and international peacebuilding, said the class was advertised as a TESOL class but had elements from several different majors.

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“Because it’s the first time this class has been taught, it was a learning process for all of us. Sometimes it felt like we were in a peacebuilding class, sometimes a linguistics class, and sometimes when we were analyzing text it felt like an English class.”

Mark James, associate professor of EIL, said Curtis was invited to come to campus by Professor Neil Anderson last year. “This course is a unique form of applied linguistics where we are taking linguistics and looking at the language of peace. If there was ever going to be a peace and linguistics class, this is the place it would happen. The timing is perfect.”

Curtis said BYUH is the most culturally and linguistically diverse place he’s been to. He said, “This is the first school that focuses so much on peacebuilding; it’s even in the university’s mission statement. The time and place seemed right. There is a lot of conflict in the world, maybe now is the time to be looking at the next stage of peace linguistics.”

James said getting students from different majors in the same room is a strength of the class. He said, “That crossfertilization is something I was hoping would happen. The way the class is structured, some days the TESOL students would shine and other days the peacebuilding students would shine.”

Kaelei Haws, a senior TESOL major from Arizona, said, “The classes were entertaining. Dr. Curtis was always changing up the medium. He used songs, poems, lectures, and discussions. It was an open-question environment. We always talked about different aspects of linguistics and peace, because peace can relate to everyone. Even if you’re not in this major, you can apply something.”

Gurr said she hopes there is more advertising for the class on campus, “as learning how to create peace on so many levels - inner, interpersonal, intergroup, intercultural, international, and ecological - can benefit anybody in any major, and it goes hand in hand with President McKay’s vision for this university.”

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ommu nL it CCampus i fey From left to right: Rylee Smullin, Angel Wong, Xin Liu, and Penelope Phimpika Stewart are among those who gather together to gain insight from professionals.

Photo by Olivia Tsan

Parents as Advocates for Change in Education Program aims to educate the community about disabilities

BY DA NNA OSUMO

BYU-Hawaii’s School of Education hosted its first annual PACE – Parents as Advocates for Change in Education symposium, to give the opportunity for community members to “gain knowledge about special education to benefit the school and home education of children with disabilities,” according to Dr. Barbara Hong, a program coordinator of SPED and PACE organizer.

The concept for this awareness was first brought up by Tuli Tevaga, a post-bachelor student of elementary special education at BYUH from Laie, because of her son, Legend. “I pursued this idea because of my child, who has autism,” said Tevaga.

She said after each school year ended for her son, she felt there needed to be more focus on students with special needs. “The purpose of this event was to empower people to know that there is more that can be done for these children, because they deserve more,” she added.

The theme of the event was “Knowledge is Power,” and Hong emphasized it was likely people knew someone with a challenge or disability in their workplaces, families and society. “We need to learn to accept that they have different challenges, talents and strengths.You will be surprised what you can gain from it and how creative, empathetic and sensitive they are,” said Hong.

The event involved nine seminars given by speakers who were professionals and specialists from the Hawaii Department of Education and organizations such as the Learning Disabilities Association of Hawaii (LDAH) and Hawaii International Dyslexia Association. Each seminar lasted 50 minutes and discussed topics involving Hawaii’s efforts in working with children with disabilities, the rights of their parents, and essential developmental milestones parents should know.

Rosie Rowe, an education and training coordinator from LDAH, said she helped sponsor the symposium

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because “events like this help bring knowledge and awareness to prevent people from being fearful.”

Rowe said she has been organizing conferences for nine years and travelled to different islands of Hawaii to spread this knowledge. “I’ve seen how this helps families. I like how BYUH set this up because it is available near the communities and they feel comfortable. They can become more involved and become more passionate about what they learn.”

Rowe expressed hope that the participants will return each year to refresh their knowledge. “If you’re not involved on a regular basis, you will be left out.”

Participants in the event included parents, students and professionals. Marissa Jones, a junior studying art education from Arizona, said she felt a close connection to the event because her sister is deaf and has an Individualized Education Program (IEP). “I was excited to help out and attend the program because I know a lot of people who don’t know a lot about special education and how it can help kids be successful,” said Jones.

Jackie Jackson, a parent who registered for the event, travelled from her home in Kaneohe and said, “For a long time, I did not know much about what my child may be going through, but I have been trying to learn more about the system and find the needs and resources for what a special child might need.”

Maureen Mccomas, a Honolulu resident and parent, had attended many different conferences but was impressed by the “informative, simple, and organized workshops in the event,” she said. Her favorite part was how time was allocated for parents and others to ask questions to the distinguished speakers.

The event occurred on Aug. 27 from 7.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Future P.A.C.E events will be updated on its Facebook page, PACE BYUH.

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C ampus L i fe College students To prevent the surf on web problem of the citations whileand waiting in line. the possible Photo

by AP. towing of vehicles, BYU-Hawaii campus Security officials encourage students to purchase $5 parking permits. Photo by Lexie Kapeliela

Purpose of $5 parking permits Director of Security says they are willing to work with students concerning their vehicles

BY KELSY SIMMONS

Students at BYU-Hawaii said they have noticed an increase in the amount of citations on their vehicles parked on campus resulting in the towing of their vehicles.

BYUH Director of Security Earl Morris (Torch), said there is more to the issue than students think. “The intent of the whole parking program is to protect the university from liability. Being protected from liability is important because the LDS Church is self-insured. If an accident happens [on campus], the church could be liable.”

Morris continued, “If you protect the campus from liability, you protect the church from liability.Your tithing money has to claim for any liabilities that happen on campus. That is a church risk management policy. That’s not even a BYU policy.”

Requiring a permit is the only way Security can know all cars on campus are properly registered, inspected and insured, said Morris.

“It’s not Security’s fault everyone is getting towed. It’s because there is not an up-todate registration or safety check,” said Campus Security guard, Max Brimhall, a freshman business management major from Honolulu.

“We are just doing our jobs. Don’t hate all of us. Permits aren’t that expensive.”

Morris wanted to assure students the university is not trying to use permits to make money. “There isn’t another university that I know of in the country that charges $5 to park.

My son, who goes to Utah State, pays $480 a year to park there. At [BYU in] Provo it is over $400 a year to park. So we are cheap.”

Over Winter break, some students said they arrived back on campus with numerous citations on their vehicles, including Kinsey 32

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Brown, a junior from California studying biomedical science. “I can understand one ticket, but four? It’s almost like they were taking advantage of the fact that we were gone.”

Brown said her car required $2,000 in repairs for it to pass the safety inspection. “The repairs cost more than the value of the vehicle.

When we finally got home, we noticed someone from Security writing a fifth ticket to the car, so we told them to just tow it. We are glad that campus Security just got rid of the car for us, for free.”

In response to student complaints about being ticketed and towed over the break, Morris referred to a message Security sent out in the Student Bulletin. He said, “If you are going to leave your car over the break, come in and let Security know so that we don’t tow your vehicle.”

Morris also said there is no limit to the amount of citations issued to a vehicle.

He said the system can be bad news to students purchasing vehicles from other students. Morris said if a student buys a car from another student who hasn’t paid off their tickets, the new owner would inherit all the citations. “When you give someone a ticket, you are giving the car a ticket.”

Even though Security is very willing to work with students, said Morris, students often don’t come into the Security office because then the new student’s name will be attached to the car.

“As soon as we know who you are, the game changes completely. Now, if you have 10 citations and you are not going to pay it, I know who the car belongs to. We can put a hold on your school account.”

However, Morris said a positive side to having a name attached to the car is the owner has the opportunity to settle the fines in order to not have the car towed. Also campus Security will call the owner before towing the car, he said, out of courtesy.

Morris said another issue is students parking in the Administration parking lot. “It’s a visitor parking lot.You can’t go there as a safe haven to escape getting a citation or getting your vehicle towed.You still have to have a permit.

“If you are a visitor and you get a citation, most of the visitors will come and see us. We will say, ‘No problem,’ and we will void the citation,” he said.

According to the campus Security website, all citation appeals must be appealed at the Security Office within 14 days of receiving the ticket. According to Morris, if students are not able to pay the fine, campus Security is willing to organize community service for the students.

Justin Park, a campus Security guard, said, obtaining parking permits is necessary for safety. “Our main focus or duty is to promote safety for anybody that enters campus and PCC.” Morris continued, “At the end of the day, I don’t want to give citations. I don’t want to tow vehicles. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

He also stressed the importance of legalizing vehicles to avoid worrying about situations like these. In order to obtain a $5 parking permit, students must have a valid driver’s license, insurance, and their vehicle needs a up-to-date state registration and safety sticker. Visitor passes can also be issued for family and friends.

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Field House

Commuting around BYU-Hawaii Campus Safety and Security gives information of the rules regarding transportation on campus B Y M I KAE L A GRAY

Castle House Tovey’s

Bridge House Compound House Bus Stop House

Light House Thugz Mansion

Polo House Alpha House

Red House

Casa De Chicas

Brewer Apartment

Gator House

Strain House

Jam House Fishbowl House

Fish House

Mango House Loft House

Nice House Pent House Pineapple House The Palms House

Dog House

B I CYC LES

CAR S

WAL K I N G

According to Rafael Ramos, the operations manager of Campus Safety and Security, the BYUH Security staff issue anywhere from 200-300 bicycle permits each semester. Riding bikes on sidewalks come along with the same $20 citation as skateboards, However, he said it happens with bikes less often than with skateboards and longboards, said Ramos.

If people lock their bikes to a railing or anything that’s not a designated bike rack, Security will issue a $20 citation, he said.

Hannah Kessler, a freshman, majoring in elementary education from Texas, and Rob Angerbauer, a freshman majoring in graphic design from Texas, said they ride a single bike at the same time. She sits in the basket and Rob pedals.

“It’s like my free ride,” she said.

On average, 500 car permits are issued a semester, said Ramos.

Ben Coffey, a sophomore living off-campus explained a car is the easiest way for him to get to and from campus. When it came to the cons, Coffey and Ramos brought up the cost of maintaining the car, insurance and gas. Coffey also mentioned that “at the beginning and end of semester people, expect you to give them rides to the airport.”

Ramos said the only circumstance where a car is worth the cost is when a student lives outside of Laie. Even then, he said, students can take a free shuttle offered by Security at midnight that will take students home to Kahuku or Hauula.

For students without cars, bicycles or longboards, walking is usually their primary mode of transportation.

Emma Jagganaikloo, a sophomore from Idaho majoring in international cultural studies, explained how she came to enjoy walking. She said she has a longboard but rarely uses it because she loves walking so much.

“Walking is fun.You get to think about life. It’s just you and the world, and it’s a good way to start the day with a nice brisk walk.” As much as she said she enjoyed her time to meditate while walking, Jagganaikloo lives offcampus. “It’s a 15-minute walk to school. It can be annoying to walk that if it’s hot outside or you just want to get to campus,” she said.

LO N GB OARDS A ND SKATE B OARDS

One can see the stacks of longboards and skateboards outside the Joseph F. Smith Library and the Cafeteria. According to Rafael Ramos, the Operations Manager at the Campus Safety and Security Office, the biggest problem he encountered with longboards and skateboards is theft. “Students just don’t lock up their boards very often, and they get stolen,” he said.

Riding on the sidewalks incurs a $20 citation, added Ramos.

London Little, a freshman psychology major from California, said, “I ride a longboard and a con about it is that I can’t ride on the sidewalk and it’s not a car. A pro about it is that it’s faster than walking.”

Monaco Manner

A-Frame

Country Club House

Goat House Boat House

Tongan House Trampoline House

Kung House

Paradise Place

Quiet House

Buddha House

Hasselhoff House

Goldfish House

Tiger House

Shave Ice House

Canal House

Piranha House

Kava House

Anae House

Smith House

Chef House Stake House

Mac House

Moana Girls House Bikini House

Gecko Den

Fish Farm House

Off-Campus Housing Map A map showing the locations of certain off-campus houses with their nicknames. All of the information was gathered from various students and landlords.

Illustration by Hailey Molina

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Secrets to a high GPA 4.0 students say goals, good attitudes and prioritizing make the difference

BY GOSUKE KAWA N O

BYU-Hawaii students who have accomplished obtaining a full scholarship said setting goals, having the right attitude, study routines and prioritizing are some of the techniques to not only maintain high GPA scores but also improve students’ essential knowledge and skills.

Jade Cheng, a junior TESOL major from Hong Kong, said her aspirations to be a speech therapist keeps her driven to maintain her 4.0 GPA. “To be honest, because of the scholarship, I feel good for getting A’s.”

From her experience, Cheng said one tip is to take interesting classes. “I don’t think I’ve taken any classes that I had no interest in. In biology, it was really hard for me, I barely got an A. But I love learning about the human body. I love the nutrition part of science.

What really helped me be motivated in those hard classes was to find something relevant to me and how I can apply that knowledge.”

Other advice she gave was to settle on a time and place to focus on studying. “The most efficient study time is that first hour. So give your best into that hour. The location of the study is important too. Some people work better at home, and some people do better at the library or some other places - or individually or with friends.”

To international students, Cheng said, “Don’t be afraid of seeking help from teachers and work with them.”

Ty Whitaker, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry from California, said having a good GPA should be motivated by learning - not by getting a good

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grade. “I think there are people who are in school because they want a job in the future, but they don’t actually care about what they’re learning about. Whereas me, I am interested in what I’m learning about, so it would be easy to remember and apply it.”

With this mentality, Whitaker said he is better able to set himself up for the future. “Actually, back in high school, I didn’t have really good GPA because I didn’t try really hard. But now in my classes, I like learning about that stuff. I want to be a chemical engineer. Since I was a little kid, I kind of wanted to invent stuff so I’m working on becoming an engineer.”

Antonio Cardona, a senior studying business management from Guatemala, said his dream career is to become an owner and CEO of his own fashion company. To achieve that goal, he said he strives to maintain a desirable educational transcript.

Cardona said prioritizing has been his strength in getting a better GPA. “If you want to maintain your GPA, just prioritize what needs to be done first and go from there. I set my time for when to go do my homework and when to have fun.”

“Also, mornings are the best to do homework because your brain isn’t tired. If you need a break, take a break, and you will be more efficient after.”

However, Cardona stressed that GPA is not the only reflection of knowledge of type of student a person is. “The GPA doesn’t really matter. My dad told me, ‘You can be the smartest kid, but if you aren’t responsible for what you need to do, you aren’t going

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Shakespeare in Samoa

BYUH theatre production gives ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a Samoan setting

BY G O S UKE KAWAN O AN D J O S H M AS ON

Juliet, Rachel Chambers, lies dead next to Romeo, Jacob Titus. Photos by Alvin Vincent Dy

The Nurse, played by Honey Salima, speaks Samoan to Romeo. Photo by Alvin Vincent Dy 38

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heatre Director Kristl Densley set Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” in Samoan culture and history to produce a BYU-Hawaii show audiences said provided comedy and a lesson on empathy between cultures. “‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a kind of story that allows any time or place to settle in just as long as you can justify it in the text,” said Densley, a professor of theater in the English Department. “My purpose doing this is to have plays that reach all of the cultures of campus… I’m not happy doing a Japanese play if there [aren’t] Japanese students in it. In this play, we could not do it without half of the cast being either Samoan or Polynesian.”

Held in the McKay Auditorium on April 20-22, the set design featured a turnable Samoan fale constructed by Kap Tafiti, dancer at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Cast mates helped build the set with Tafiti by climbing coconut trees for leaves, using machetes to cut branches, and sharing stories about growing up in Samoa, said the play’s program.

The actors were all dressed in island attire common in Samoa. With the Montague family and other Polynesian characters, males dressed in either cargo or sports shorts and either tank tops or button up shirts with Polynesian designs. The females wore traditional dresses and pants or lava lavas with plain shirts. With the Capulet family and other Caucasian characters, males wore cargo shorts with unbuttoned plaid shirts with a white shirt underneath, while the females wore pants and plain T-shirts.

Densley said she was inspired to integrate Samoan culture when she read “A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa,” by Robert Stevenson. “I knew before I started [directing] that I wanted to set up the play in Polynesia, and as I [read], I knew that would be a backdrop.

It worked perfectly on this campus because we have so many Samoan students here.”

Despite the Early Modern English dialogue, Densley said the context made the story relatable. “The Samoan people were very welcoming of the Germans and even the Americans who came in before they knew their country was [being] taken over. So native people were trying to get their land back.”

Referencing the history of Samoa, she said, “They are fighting because of misunderstandings over land. In the end, it’s about them coming together and respecting each other again. So, it really worked… to set this play in Samoa even though we set it in the modern time.”

Densley said the messages she wanted to portray from the performance was unity and respect between cultures in order to avoid “dangerous situations when there can be misunderstandings and hatred.”

Tupua Ainu‘u, a BYUH alumnus from American Samoa, said he felt very blessed and proud to be in the play as Friar Laurence. He said, “It went really well because people got the jokes and intentions of the scenes, even with Shakespearian and Samoan language. [It’s] really hard to understand both languages. If the audience reacts to them, it means as an actor you are doing a good job.”

As a Samoan actor, Ainu‘u said he felt like he had to be part of the play. “I would’ve regretted not being a part of it.”

During the closing show on Saturday night, the crowd packed the auditorium. Throughout the play, Polynesian actors spoke Samoan lines in addition to the original text, usually to make jokes. Samoan audience members howled with laughter whenever Honey So’oialo Salima, the Nurse, spoke in Samoan after conversing with the different characters.

When the Nurse scolded Romeo for wanting to see Juliet again, she said, “If you dare touch her, ia ga ole faalavalava ole seevae lea i lou guku.

Eke vaavaai iai pe a maua mai kala e fai sesi au keige, e vave ai ga puupuu lou ola ua e iloa,” which Ainu‘u said translates to: “I’m gonna beat you up with my slipper! If I hear another girl, your life will be shortened, you better know!”

After the Friar saves Romeo, the Nurse said, “E se, leikio foi a koakele fafige ma keigeiki o legei auloku, oga e fai ole magaia male suamalie o au upu ae ole kauga foi o Lou au lelei. Se maimau pe aga e leo oe ose pakele.” This means, “You are such a good pastor. No wonder why there are so many women in your congregation.You are so good looking and attractive. So sad you are a Father. Too bad…”

Rachel Chambers, a sophomore from Utah majoring in music, starred as Juliet. She said, “I’ve never really connected to Shakespeare in a way that I did in this production.” She said the Samoan jokes started to make her laugh even though she didn’t know the language before. She said she became more connected with the culture by performing in the play, which she attributed to interacting with the Samoan actors.

Joseph Loi-On, a sophomore business major from Wahiawa, starred as Romeo. “It was awesome to be a part of Professor Densley’s vision, which was to [have] the stage reflect what the hallway [on campus] looks like,” he said. Audience members said the Samoan setting was believable.

Malrita Fuiava, a freshman political science major from Samoa, said, “Having it in a Samoan setting is a new thing and different, but it was actually showing people how it is to be a Samoan at the same time...I like how everyone was active and they didn’t forget the script.”

Makela Conte, a freshman social work major from Mililani, said, “I thought [the play] was super hilarious.You can tell the passion for what the [actors and actresses] were doing, and [they] were very convincing in all the roles they had.”

Percy Sa’u, a junior graphic design major from Samoa, said, “I like how they involved the different cultures. It made it more interesting because I can relate to how Samoans treat their family and how another culture treats their’s.”

Cast members said there were applicable messages throughout the play. Ainu’u said the message to the audience from Friar Laurence was to “love your children. Really pay attention to them and be a good listener. If you won’t give your children the love and attention they need, they [will] seek it elsewhere. As we can see in the end of this story, the parents’ neglect turned into disaster.”

Chambers said the message of the play conveys a sense of cultural understanding. “I think the characters were very prideful to begin with.

They think they know everything. At some point, you understand the wrong you did, and you come to understand how you make it right.

“I think a little bit of change has to start with understanding. Obviously, they know they have been killing each other and their kids are dead, but they’ve come to understand that it’s because of them. [They understand] there is this beautiful culture that they’ve been neglecting and dominating.”

Loi-On said although the play connects to people in different ways, as an actor he learned the significance of “reciprocating love.”

Densley said she is hoping to host multicultural productions every semester. In the Fall, the department will be doing a Japanese play called “The Honorable Rush Mataru.”

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ways to save money while at BYU-Hawaii College isn’t cheap, especially when in Hawaii where the cost of living is high.

New students come and gape at the expensive prices of milk at Foodland ($5), dishing out their savings to pay for tuition, board, and the textbooks.

Yet there are small things you can do to keep some of your money and not be completely broke. Here are tips to save your spare change

6

Make and keep a budget

Make a budget and keep to it. Don’t just map it out and forget about it; know how much you earn and how much you spend. The more you lose track, the more you lose that precious change that makes all the difference. “Whenever I have to get food, I have to write it down and make a list to go buy. If I want to buy anything else, I don’t buy it,” said Saebom Park, a junior studying business finance from South Korea.

B Y RACH E L RE E D

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Student ID

Give ‘N’ Take

LibFlix, not Netflix

Carrying it around can help you get things a little cheaper:You can go to Hanauma Bay for free, get a discount at Laie Palms Cinema, discounts on skydiving, etc. Turns out it’s handier for a lot more than getting into the Testing Center.

Volunteer for half an hour and get 10 items for free. If you look closely, you could find books for school, laundry detergent, new clothes, sheets, kitchenware, movies, and more. It’s a gold mine of reusable items, all for free! Sunny Jin, a sophomore studying music from South Korea, said, “I go to Give ‘N’ Take often so I get good stuff and I don’t have to buy it.” To get to Give ‘N’ Take, turn right off of the Big Circle by the Stake Center and it’s at the end

Stop paying money on Netflix or Hulu. There is our own LibFlix in the library with a lot of movies you can rent out for two nights for FREE. “You don’t have to pay to watch a movie, like Redbox,” said Pate Latu, the circulation supervisor at the library.

Carpool

There are a lot of beautiful beaches, breathtaking hikes, and places to see on this island. If you have a car, take people with you to make the ride cheaper, and if you are getting a ride from somebody, chip in on gas money. Gas is expensive, and it’s always nice to show a little gratitude.

The Bus

If you don’t want to get a car, you can always spend $2.50 to board the city bus and receive a transfer slip for one more bus ride. There is also a semester-long pass available at the Aloha Center Front Desk for $120. That is only worth buying if you ride the bus more than 48 times a semester, which would be more than twice a week.

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Cook Smart

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Work to Eat

Don’t always buy prepared food. Buy in bulk and freeze the food you don’t use immediately to save for later. If you live off campus, share the cost of food with a friend. Carpool to Costco or Sam’s Club with someone who has a card. Look for coupons in the newspaper and online.

Work at a place that feeds you. The Seasider, the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pounders, and the Caf will feed you once per shift, and that is one less meal to pay for!

School Events

Attend school events such as FHE, activities held by clubs, and other activities for students. They will mostly likely have food, as well as new people to meet and new things to experience. There are also a lot of free, fun things to do like movie nights, and bowling.

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Keep your grades up

Do well in school. There are scholarships for those who get high grades. A GPA of 3.25 will earn you a 1/4 tuition scholarship. A GPA of 2.45 gets you 1/2 tuition. A 3.75 GPA will pay for 3/4 of your tuition, and if you manage to get a 3.95, you don’t have to pay for tuition at all. Isaiah Gillenwater, a senior studying biochemistry from Indiana, said, “I keep my grades up because I automatically qualify for the academic scholarship and it can save up to all your tuition.”

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Textbook options

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Use social media

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Textbooks are expensive and heavy. Cheaper ways of getting that knowledge are renting them from the Bookstore, buying them from Amazon or half.com, or not buying them at all and checking them out from the library for two hours to get your homework done. E-book versions are also often cheaper than their printed counterparts.

If you want to save and get other cheap stuff, look on the Facebook page Sell your stuff @ BYU-Hawaii.You can find textbooks, bikes, clothing, electric fans and all sorts of other things for less than the retail price.

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C ampus L i fe st yLlei fe Shane Stewart taught a full house of staff and students in the Aloha Center about personal finance. Photo by Kelsie Carlson

Simple money management Deseret Mutual administrator urges BYUH ohana to avoid debt and save money

BY STEPHA NIE SOTO

Both staff and students were taught how to better manage their money during a lecture on simple money management on Oct. 5.

Shane Stewart, a benefits administrator from Deseret Mutual, gave out workbooks and showed a PowerPoint teaching principles of finance in an understandable way.

He said people should avoid debt, live within their means, and save money on a regular basis.

Stewart said people should “live simply and try to get a habit of saving something.” Stewart continued, “If you are a single person, it’s extremely helpful to be doing those things and practicing them as you come into a marriage. If you are doing that, it’s going to make the marriage more financially successful as well.”

Tai Vuniwai, Hawaii Operations Manager for Deseret Mutual, said the DMBA (Deseret Mutual Benefit Administration) is there to help faculty financially plan for their personal budgets. This time, the workshop usually reserved for staff, was opened to students as well. Vuniwai said it was opened to everyone because he believed these were important financial principals, especially in regards to married life.

Stewart, a certified financial planner for Deseret Mutual, gave the lecture and said, “We want to get the message out to everyone that we believe we have found tasks that you need to do to be successful financially.”

Vuniwai said, “If you can control the nature on how you manage your finances, you can go into better planning and a better future for you and your spouse.”

He continued, “For a student, you have no idea what is out in the world. Coming to something like this will broaden your horizon of some important tools you can use later in life.” Vuniwai also said he would be in discussion with BYUH President John Tanner to see if

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they will have another event similar to this exclusively for students.

Lavinia Lawrence, a sophomore from Tonga studying peacebuilding and communications, said she is the financial planner in her family. Lawrence said she was familiar with many of the things they were talking about and liked the financial websites they recommended that gave her new ideas on how to budget better. Her favorite principle of the night she said was the first principle: Having a better budget through giving.

Lawrence said there should be more events like this on campus. “I look at those who have stress right now in TVA and I am surprised the school does not have this kind of teaching.”

Lawrence said she thinks advertising through social media would help attract more students to an event like this. However, she said the event’s venue was not big enough for the actual attendance. “By the time it started, they already needed more seats,” said Lawrence.

Stewart said he comes out to Hawaii to do workshops to help people with financial planning at least twice a year. In April, Stewart said he would be back to do the workshop again. He said people don’t do much about their financial situation because it is unfamiliar to them or requires a lot of work.

“Things they think are difficult or scary are no longer difficult or scary when it comes to doing the right thing when managing your finances,” said Stewart. According to Stewart, avoiding fear of financial issues is not complicated when knowledge of financial language is acquired.

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Increasing disability awareness Disability is a general term encompassing physical, emotional, and learning impairments B Y KATE PE ARSO N

DE FIN ING DIS A BIL I TY

[It] can be exhibited through reading, writing, D I SAB I L I TY SE RVI CE S spelling, and calculation.”

A recent survey on BYU-Hawaii’s faculty’s Leilani Auna, director of Counseling and Hong said the goal of her research was perceptions of disability conducted by BYUH Disability Services at BYUH and a licensed not to shame anyone but to discover “how we Special Education professor and program coclinical social worker, said the two departcan make it a better campus.” ordinator Dr. Barbara Hong exposed a lack of ments she oversees are not the same. Auna To reassure teachers who are concerned understanding and ability to appropriately deal stressed the importance of understanding the they may give too much attention to one with students with disabilities. difference between these two separate services student at the expense of the rest of the class, Out of the 123 BYUH faculty who and said Counseling Services, staffed by four she said increasing disability awareness for responded to the survey, including full-time, full-time licensed clinicians and one senior everyone will benefit the whole group, includpart-time, and adjunct members, 43.5 percent missionary, who is also a licensed clinician, ofing that one person. “It’s not just about that one fers individuals confidential therapy and does gave a legally acceptable definition of a disstudent,” she said. “The 99 working together ability “and I was being lenient in my grading,” not involve students’ professors. and understanding is going to make 100 – a added Hong with a smile.

However, Disability Services focuses whole.”

However, according to Hong, the most on providing necessary accommodations for Hong also said if a teacher makes concerning result from the survey was that 17 students with life-altering physical or mental improvements in their teaching, it benefits percent of those who took the survey did not impairment. According to the Disability Serthe whole class. “At the end of the day, quality give a definition at all. vices Mission Statement, “Disability Services teaching is quality teaching.”

Results from a question on understandexist to assist students in functioning in and In her more than 10 years of research, ing campus resources for students’ academic graduating from Brigham Young Universityincluding a study of more than 6,000 students assistance showed no difference between old Hawaii in spite of physical, learning, or other at Penn State University, Hong has found the and new faculty members, and 20 percent of challenges.” Auna also said she hopes increas“single greatest predictor of success for students respondents could not identify three resources ing disability awareness will debunk the myths with disabilities is faculty’s understanding.” to refer students to on campus. surrounding disabilities and help people She said it tends to be college students Despite these bleak results, Hong said, become more open and treat each other with with disabilities who fall through the cracks, “Overall, BYUH faculty are very caring.” The respect. which may mean dropping out of college or silver lining is almost a third of faculty responDuring the 2015 academic year, Disabildents said they want to learn more. Hong said taking longer to graduate. However, quoting ity Services recorded a total of 207 services that singer Leonard Cohen, Hong added, “There is a were done for 146 disability clients, 78.1 pershe invites faculty to approach her with quescrack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” cent of whom were Caucasian and “other,” while tions about instruction and is happy to provide Since BYUH is so diverse in terms of one-on-one advice.

13 percent identified as Asian, and 8.9 percent In a follow-up survey for tutors and advi- learning differences, she said it is important to as Pacific Islander. Auna suggested such cultural raise awareness of challenges and be proactive. sors on campus, one person out of 75 respondifferences may be because students from the “Don’t wait until you have a case to learn about dents got the correct definition of a learning United States are typically more familiar with it,” warned Hong, who stressed the need for disability. Hong explained a learning disability the disability accommodations process they have as having a “processing difficulty that affects faculty to know their own rights and the legali- usually experienced in high school. ties that protect them and help students. the way you perceive and process information.

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Dr. Barbara Hong said she hopes to better the campus community by raising awareness on individuals’ rights and legalities concerning disability. Photo by Stop Khemthorn

AUGUST FALL 2016 2017

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Definitions of the most common disabilities B Y B ARB ARA H O N G

An individual with a disability is defined by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities, a person who has a history or record of such an impairment, or a person who is perceived by others as having such an impairment. ADA does not specifically list each disability but here is a general understanding about some common conditions. Visit BYUH Disability Services for more details at https://disability.byuh.edu.

AU TI SM

thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

A disorder characterized in varying degrees by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors.

SPECIFIC LEA R NING DISA BILITY

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in the ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; of intellectual disability; of emotional disturbance; or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

OF S ELF- DIAG N O S I S

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I N TE L L E CTUAL D ISA BILITY

D E AF N E SS

A hearing impairment so severe that an individual is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification.

T R AU M ATI C B RAI N I N JU RY

An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract

A significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently [at the same time] with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.

(In February 2011: “Intellectual Disability” replaced the term “Mental Retardation” as a result of Rosa’s Law.)

O RTH O PE D I C I M PAIR MENT

A severe orthopedic impairment that includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

IMPA IR MENT

A communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment.

ATTENTION DEFICIT/ HYPER ACTIVITY DISOR DER

A persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that interferes with functioning or development, has symptoms presenting in two or more settings (e.g. at home, school, or work; with friends or relatives; in other activities), and negatively impacts directly on social, academic or occupational functioning.

T HE DA NGE R S

Given the ease of accessing information online these days, it is tempting to diagnose your own symptoms and avoid seeking professional assistance. The following definitions are not intended for self-diagnosis nor are they an exhaustive list of all the symptoms in each category. Self-diagnosis can be remarkably dangerous because you may miss symptoms and early signs of warning that are not always apparent.

It is therefore important to discuss any mental, physical, or emotional concerns you may have with a healthcare professional rather than a friend. Even if your friend has all the right intentions and is genuinely interested in helping you, he or she may not be able to provide you with the timely treatment you need. The BYUH Counseling and Disability Services office have trained clinicians who are ready to listen to you and direct you accordingly.

If you assume any of the following symptoms may be affecting you or if you know someone who may need assistance, please visit the Counseling and Disability Office website for further information at https://counseling.byuh.edu.

SPEECH OR LA NGUAGE

EMOTIONA L/ BEHAVIOR A L DISOR DER

A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree: (a) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. (b) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships. (c) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances. (d) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. (e) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears.

The term includes schizophrenia but does not apply to people who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

OTHER HEA LTH IMPA IR MENT

A condition whereby the person has limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness: (a) Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette’s syndrome.

M A JOR DE PRE S S I V E DI S ORDE R

• Depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities for more than two weeks.

• Mood represents a change from the person’s baseline.

• Impaired function: social, occupational, educational.

• Specific symptoms, at least 5 of these 9, present nearly every day: 1. Depressed mood or irritable most of the day, nearly everyday, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful).

2. Decreased interest or pleasure in most activities, most of each day 3. Significant weight change (5%) or change in appetite 4. Change in sleep: Insomnia or hypersomnia 5. Change in activity: Psychomotor agitation or retardation 6. Fatigue or loss of energy 7. Guilt/worthlessness: Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt 8. Concentration: Diminished ability to think or concentrate, or more indecisiveness 9. Suicidality: Thoughts of death or suicide, or has suicide plan Anxiety symptoms that may indicate depression: Irrational worry, preoccupation with unpleasant worries, trouble relaxing, feeling tense, fear that something awful might happen.

If you have any questions, contact BYUH Disability Services at: McKay 181 (808) 675-3518 leilani.auna@byuh.edu

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Caring for the past

Community members and those who attended the International Union for Conservation of Nature join hands in a circle. BYUH Professor Tevita Ka‘ili is in the brown shirt. Photos by Michael Ogasawara

Students, community and inter national leaders u n i t e i n c o n s e r va t i o n o f H aw a i i a n h e i a u

BY KELSY SIMMONS

A

Oahu residents and visiting representatives from more than 30 nations help preserve the Maunawila Heiau.

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fter worldwide conservationists came to Honolulu on Sept. 1, BYU-Hawaii students and professors reflected how regardless of individual differences in culture, people can unite in preserving each other’s sacred places.

Tevita Ka‘ili, chair of the BYUH Department of Cultures and Languages and anthropology professor, said, “We are human beings. We are part of the human race and we should care about each other’s culture and what is meaningful and important to them.”

One recent event that exemplified this was the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) conference held in Honolulu. “It has us feel like we are one race,” said Ka‘ili. More than 10,000 leaders of conservation efforts from 192 countries came to Honolulu for the conference, which made it “the largest such event ever,” according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser.

As part of the conference, delegates from about 30 different countries visited the Maunawila Heiau and Kahana fishponds to learn of Hawaii’s modern community’s success in conserving ancient Hawaiian sacred sites.

According to Ka‘ili, the Maunawila Heiau is an ancient Hawaiian temple, which was used for healing. It’s one of the last remaining heiau in the Ko‘olauloa District, which stretches from Ka‘a‘awa down to Waimea. There is one other that has been recently restored in Waimea, and those two are the sole survivors of the many that dotted Oahu anciently.

At the IUCN event, Ka‘ili said, “We showed them what we are doing [as a conservation group] and what kind of partnership we have in the community.”

BYUH students have visited the Maunawila Heiau and worked with community members to maintain it, Ka‘ili said. They worked hard cleaning vegetation, pulling weeds and allowing naturally occurring medicinal herbs to grow.

Ka‘ili said, “It has been four years since we have been doing this work in partnership with the community. And it’s giving really good public relations for BYUH because here are Mormon kids going over to take care of a religious site that doesn’t belong to them.”

He continued, “It would make sense to do service at your own chapel or temple, but when you go outside of your own community, people think that is really cool.”

One of the students who served at the heiau is Lainy Barrick, a junior from Kentucky studying social work. She said about her experience: “I think learning about [ancient Hawaiian culture] enriches our experience. The Aloha spirit started a long time ago. To trace it back means to go back into the history. Part of that is the heiau because they were really important to the people.”

The Maunawila Heiau is now maintained with collaborated efforts from the community, BYUH students, and organizations like the Hau‘ula Community Association, Hawaiian Civic Club, and Hawaiian Island land trust.

Because the ceremony with the IUCN was a closed event, no current BYUH students were present, just alumni and BYUH staff members. However, the international leaders still saw students’ efforts in preserving the sacred site.

Ka‘ili said the foreign representatives of the IUCN were all fighting battles in their own countries similar to the Hawaiian conservationist struggle. One example is the Native American’s struggle over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Ka‘ili said, “The leaders who came are also trying to preserve from developers… They are trying to preserve sacred religious sites from old religions.”

Preserving the temples of old or dying religions is important to Ka‘ili. He said besides historical and anthropology benefits, “we [Mormons] have sacred sites that we would like to be respected. Even though we have different religious beliefs, we should still respect those sites.”

He said he feels it is good to understand what other people were doing hundreds of years ago on the island.

That view is shared by Sione Masima, a freshman from Tonga studying applied mathematics. He said, “It’s good to be aware of the people who are around so there is unity with everyone. So no one will do stuff that will upset anyone. We can all be on the same page.”

Ka‘ili said, “It’s much better than fighting … It’s good to see humans come together and share resources and share knowledge about what we do to maintain this diversity in the world. Even though we are different, we also are similar. It’s important to see the commonalities in humans.”

Students of BYUH have seized hold to that value of respect and reverence of commonalities. Barrick said, “I feel like [learning at the heiau] has expanded my knowledge on ways to live and about other religions. To us, the church is everything; to the Hawaiians, their religion was everything.”

Ka‘ili encouraged students to practice understanding people while they are attending BYUH. He said, “BYUH is about this [unity]. David O. McKay’s vision is of this place, where you bring in people. Then those people go out and create peace internationally. But in order to do that we have to first create peace here at BYUH. Students have to really work and figure out how to relate to other cultures, learn to be understanding and [to be] forgiving, because we don’t always get along and we always have different views about things…Working and reconciling will help you outside of BYUH.”

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Campus Life

100th TVA Baby Senior missionary visits pregnant TVA residents to teach healthy pre-natal and post-natal practices

BY MA LIA D I AZ

S

enior missionary and volunteer nurse Kathy Black celebrated the 100th baby born under her program where she visits and helps expectant mothers. Black brought a cake to celebrate with the family on March 17.

“I started my program on Oct. 1, 2015 exactly,” said Black. “I kept statistical records since I knew all about charting. I wanted to know how many babies were under my program, and I can’t believe it was 100.”

Yi Gyung Ran, BYU-Hawaii alumni from South Korea is married to Kisuk Jeong, a computer science junior also from South Korea.

The couple became parents five days before the interview. “Before I had my son Inho, Sister Black came to visit me and told me everything I needed to bring to the hospital,” said Ran. “She made me feel more comfortable about the birthing process.”

Ran said she and her husband were watching a movie when she began to feel contractions. “I remembered that Sister Black had told me to wait until they were 5 minutes apart to go to the hospital. I timed them, and they were exactly 5 minutes apart!”

The couple said they called their friend for a ride and drove to Castle Hospital in Kailua.

Yi Gyung Ran and Kisuk Jeong hold their first baby. Photo by Alvin Vincent Dy

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1st Visit

Top: Sister Black visits the Jeong family.

Middle: Jeong holds Inho. Bottom: Sister Black checks Ran’s blood pressure.

Photos by Alvin Vincent Dy

Prenatal: 1-2 weeks before due date • Go over fears and worries of labor • Understanding symptoms of labor • Know what to pack for the hospital

2nd Visit Postpartum: 5-6 days after birth • Takes mom’s vital signs • Checks incision if mom had a C-section • Assist/ answer questions about breastfeeding

3rd Visit Post natal: 9-14 days after birth

“It was really painful. I didn’t want to cry or scream in front of our friend, so I squeezed Kisuk’s hand really tight,” Ran said as she reenacted holding her husband’s hand.

Black was originally called on a mission to help her husband in the Human Resources Department but said it didn’t feel like it was what she wanted to do. The staff at the Health Center heard she held a current license in nursing and invited her to one of their meetings.

“After the meeting, I walked out with a box full of medical equipment and well wishes from the staff,” said Black.

The staff discussed a strong need in the campus community for a nurse to check on all the new mothers after their babies were born. Black was chosen to begin the new program.

“Before leaving on our mission, I had a premonition to bring my scrubs and lab coat and I’m so glad I did.

“I was a nurse practitioner teaching medical terminology when we got our mission call. I never could stop working.

I just love it. So of course, I knew my charting, and I charted all the new babies at BYUH who I was able to serve,” Black said with a smile.

“Originally, I was asked to visit the new mothers after they had their babies, but I soon realized that seeing them for a prenatal appointment (before the baby was born) was the most needed visit,” said Black. “Since I was already a licensed nurse in Indiana and Utah, BYUH helped me get my license for Hawaii.”

Black said she did some research and found that about half of the new moms were able to have their own mothers come out here to help them, but the other half did not. “I 52

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kept track of where all the new mothers were from and wrote down the statistics. American women had the most babies, second was China, and third was the Philippines. The clinic had previously thought future mothers on campus wouldn’t be able to have their own mothers visit them, but through my studies, I found that it was about half.”

Since some of the TVA residents’ mothers were unable to fly to Hawaii to help with their grandchild, Black said she felt like a surrogate mother. “When you are about to have your very first baby, there are always lots of questions. It’s a very big event, and it’s their very first time.

“Doctors often set their next appointment to see their patient one-and-a-half to two months after birth. There are a lot of concerns that arise during this time, and their doctor’s visit is so far away. I’m here to help them in between those times,” said Sister Black.

Nikki Soloa’i, a BYUH alumni from the Philippines and patient of Black, said, “Sister Black was so helpful for me. I definitely think this program should continue forever.” Soloa’i said it was nice to have someone she could call and have come over if she was worried about her baby.

Black said, “I usually have appointments made for me, but when mothers call me, I know it is high priority. The most serious incident was when I received a phone call from a new mother saying that her infant was having seizures with a fever of 103. At that point, I called up the head nurse and let them know the baby needs to be seen immediately.”

Sister Black and her husband finished their mission on Tuesday, March 28. They now reside in Utah.

• Teaches mom about baby’s skin conditions and how to treat them • Instructions on clipping baby’s nails • Checks baby’s reflexes • Teach parents how to bathe the baby • Talk about nutrition and storing breast milk

4th Visit Baby is 1 month old • • • •

Talk about immunizations and side effects Learn about teething What to do if the baby catches a cold When to call a doctor if mom is worried

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C oa m pmuusnLi ti yf e

Hawaiian yellow-faced bees are on the Endangered Species List B u y i n g h o n ey f r o m l o c a l b e e ke e p e r s i s a w ay t o p r eve n t s p e c i e s f r o m g o i n g e x t i n c t

BY S AVA NNA NN A B AC H E L D E R

According to Green Peace, every one in three bites of food people eat is somehow affected by bee pollination. Photo by Olivia Tsan

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NOV E MBE R 2016 FALL 2017

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Members of theofSustainability Student Association use ause smoker on one of Members the Sustainability Student Association a smoker several they care located westlocated of the west campus softball field. on onehives of several hivesfor, they care for, of the campus Olivia Tsan Tsan softballPhoto field. by Photo

by Olivia

S

even species of the native Hawaiian yellow-faced bees have been added to the endangered species list on Oct. 3 2016, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

This the time first time a species beebeen has This is theisfirst a species of beeofhas been classified as endangered in the United classified as endangered in the United States, States, according to Hawaii Public Radio. according to Hawaii Public Radio.

“The “Thebiggest biggestcause causeinindecline declineofofbee beepopupoplation isisbee ulation beeenvironment,” environment,”said saidLes LesHarper, Harper,the sustainability director and and beekeeper at BYUthe sustainability director beekeeper at Hawaii.

BYU-Hawaii.

“We “Wehave haveaaproblem problemwith withchronic chroniccolony colony disorder in North America. The bees will leave the hives and not come back. I think what is happening with the yellow -aced bees is a microcosm of that. They have a specific environment that they work in, and certain needs as bees.”

Harper Harpersaid saidbecause becausethere thereare arealmost almostaa million people on the island, farmers who use pesticides, cars that emit exhaust, and homes everywhere, it has becomes difficult for bees to navigate their environment and improve their numbers.

Local Localbeekeeper, beekeeper,Titus TitusNapoleon Napoleonhas hashives at Kahuku Farms, Keana Farms, and Hauula. hives at Kahuku Farms, Keana Farms, and “There is“There an oldissaying AlbertbyEinstein Hauula. an oldbysaying Albert that if

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bees go extinct, we would only we havewould aboutonly four Einstein that if bees go extinct, more years to live as a human race.

Without have about four more years to live as a human bees,Without we wouldbees, losewe 75 would percentlose of the food we race.

75 percent eat.the The bestwething to reverse of food eat. we Thecan bestdothing we canthis do isto by raising Weawareness. need to learn reverse thisawareness. is by raising We about need to and understand learn about and bees.” understand bees.”

Harper Harpersaid, said,“It’s “It’simportant importantthat thatwe wepromote the the repopulation of bees.

WeWe won’t die promote repopulation of bees. won’t immediately, but but all the good stuffstuff willwill be gone. die immediately, all the good be Anything that is wonderful to eat will be gone, gone. Anything that is wonderful to eat will be and weand endweupend with things that don’t gone, upjust withthe just the things that need to be pollinated like the grains and root don’t need to be pollinated like the grains and crops.crops.

We would lose our and our root We would losechocolate our chocolate and mainmain fruits.” our fruits.”

The Themost mostimportant importantway waytotoreduce reducethe the speed of the population decline, is to support beekeeping, according to Harper. “If you can find local beekeepers who will sell you honey, buy it.You can buy honey at Foodland, but a lot of it is imported and stripped of its pollens, so support your local beekeepers,” said Harper.

He Heexpanded expandedon onhow howtotoprotect protectbees. bees.

“The most important thing about this isn’t that we’re trying to save the yellow-faced bee, it’s the idea that we recognize that bees are endangered. Overall, there aren’t nearly as many hives as there were 20 years ago. Some

beekeepers on the mainland lose as much as 40 percent of their hives every year. Millions of hives have been reduced.”

Marcus MarcusJin, Jin,aafreshman freshmanfrom fromChina Chinastudying accounting, said, “Bees are vital ourtoecostudying accounting, said, “Bees are to vital our system, without them there will be no flowers ecosystem, without them there will be no flowor fruits.

We We needneed to maintain an environment ers or fruits. to maintain an environthat can the bees.” ment thatsupport can support the bees.”

Hawaii HawaiiPublic PublicRadio Radioalso alsoreported reportedaaloss loss of native Hawaiian wildlife across the board.

Thirty-nine species of Hawaiian plants have also been added to the endangered species list. The decline in native flora is responsible for the at risk bee populations.

“On “Onthe thereverse reverseside sideofofwhat whatisishappenhappening,” said Harper, “these are the toughest bees that have survived in this condition. Nature has succeeded in making them strong enough to deal with adverse health factors.”

For Formore moreinformation informationabout aboutwhat whatthe the campus beekeepers are doing, watch the video on Harper’s SWATT SWATT.crew crew answering answering aa call call about a beehive near the Lorenzo Snow Building. It’s called ‘Beekeeping at BYU-Hawaii’ by Hachenburger and can be found on the Ke Eric Hachenberger Alaka‘i News YouTube channel.

“We won’t die immediately, but all the good good stuff stuff will will be be gone...We gone...we would lose our chocolate and our main fruits. We will be left eating the things that don’t need to be pollinated like grains and roots.”

-Les Harper

Bees Bees building builidng their their hive hive on on aa BYU-Hawaii BYU-Hawaii hive hive frame. frame.

Photo Photo by

by Olivia Olivia Tsan Tsan

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C ampus L i fe College students surf on the web while waiting in line.

Photo by AP.

Great resources build great biology experiences BYU-Hawaii Biology program ranked No. 1 in value

BY SAVA NNA BACHELDER

Lab Instructor Santhi Lavanya works with students in the lab.

Photo by Lexie Kapeliela

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BYU-Hawaii’s Biology program was ranked first in value by Best Value Schools, according to its website. Best Value Schools justified its ranking by saying: “Brigham Young UniversityHawaii provides its biology students with an unprecedented educational value.

“General Biology, Marine Biology, and Biochemistry students alike have access to abundant resources at BYU, including a comprehensive research and thesis course. This challenging class... covers everything from scientific literature analysis and hypothesis development to oral and written communications skills for scientific presentations.”

Professors agreed the research aspect of the program is a major strength. Dr. Georgi Lukov, the chair of the Natural Science Department, said faculty members are heavily invested in the research program. “We take a lot of pride, in the good sense of the word, in providing students with valuable, practical research experience.

“Specifically in the biology and marine conservation side, we have been able to provide good opportunities for students to go and participate. We constantly take students to Alaska or Tahiti to do research with some of our faculty and collaborators.”

Students have good opportunities to do field work on the island as well, according to Lukov. “We have a marine team here, and they are working on taking the department boat and going to collect samples for their research.”

Dr. Roger Goodwill, a biology professor and the facilitator of many research-based trips, said the equipment BYUH has access to is a big factor in the program’s success. “The board of church education has been very supportive in buying us equipment for labs, both in chemistry and biology. The equipment we have is top-notch. It’s the kind of equipment only graduate students use. And yet, our undergraduates are using it.”

ccording to Goodwill, the experience in the field and A in labs gives BYUH students an advantage in a professional setting. “I had one student who left [BYUH], and she went into biotech. She emailed me and said, ‘We have all these people with bachelor’s degrees who know theory, but they can’t do anything. We have all kinds of Ph.D.’s for theory, but we need people who know how to do it.’ It’s easy for our students to go out and sell themselves as a biotechnician, because they know how to do it.”

Lukov gave appreciation for the students in the Biology program. “I give credit to a lot of our students. They are very proactive... Living here, they are just on fire.

“A lot of them look for places they can use [their biology experience]. We had two or three students who interned with One Ocean, which is a service up in the North Shore. They basically provide [help for] the tourist attraction by taking people out and having them swim with the sharks.” He also said, “Our students go and help them with their research stuff, like data collection and processing.”

Santhi Lavanya Vakapalli, adjunct professor for General Chemistry, said, “It’s a great environment. We have great equipment, engaging labs, and nice faculty. Through our research at this university, the Biochemistry Department is making soap from waste vegetable oil and supplying it to the cafeteria.” Santhi has degrees in mathematics, physics and chemistry, and holds a master’s of analytical chemistry, knowledge she said she shares one-on-one with the students.

Students in the Biology program said they benefit greatly from that personal interaction, including Camron Sharp, a sophomore biomedical science major from California. “I think the Biology Department here at BYUH has a range of instructors who care about their particular field. It makes it a better environment to learn what we will later be using.”

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C ampus L i fe Tavailau Lueli, a senior from Samoa studying marine biology, swims directly into the “spotlight” of Spotlight Cave, a blue hole where light shines through from 10 a.m. to

Saipan

2 p.m. everyday. Photo by Tey Wilson

T h e M a r i n e Te a m c o l l e c t s s p e c i m e n s to help professionals fur ther their research

BY J OS H MA S O N

Student holds a photo of Bird Island, a sanctuary for animal life. Photo by Tey Wilson

BYU-Hawaii students from the Marine Team traveled to Saipan on June 14 to survey marine invertebrate biodiversity in the area.

Michelle Bennett, a recent graduate from Arizona who studied marine biology, said marine invertebrate biodiversity refers to “marine life but specifically things like snails, jellyfish, crabs, shrimp, anything without a backbone kind of thing.”

Bennett, who also went on last year’s trip in 2015, said researching marine inver-

tebrate biodiversity is important “because the ocean provides one in three breaths you take.

Invertebrates are the sources of food for top predators, including humans. The ocean is a complex ecosystem that can usually manage itself, but with human influence, things get out of whack easily.” Without marine invertebrates, the entire ecosystem could collapse and damage even the humans’ environment, said Bennett.

Dr. Roger Goodwill, professor of marine biology who specializes in marine invertebrate

biodiversity, organizes the trips to Saipan each year to help students gain “real world experience.”

He summarized what the group does on the trip: “We walk the reef, snorkel, dive, photograph, relax, stuff gets brought back here, we try to identify it, and we send stuff out to experts to get it identified.”

Benjamin Ho, a senior from Hong Kong studying general biology, went for the first time and said the workload was heavy. He said,

“Sometimes you go in the morning at 7 a.m. and you will be doing lab work until about 4 p.m. Sometimes you have to stay up to catch up on the things you didn’t finish the day before.”

Goodwill said, “They work about 60 hours a week. They sometimes work from 7 in the morning to midnight.”

He said members of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration once gave a presentation to students and said, “We work long hours. We work from 7:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night.”

Goodwill pointed out, “These are paid professionals doing exactly what we’re doing… that’s very impressive to other people who are going to take them on as interns or jobs down the line because somebody had enough confi-

dence in them to put out a block of money for them to work.”

In addition to gaining real life experience, “I’m required to do some research and publish it, so the trip helps me with that,” said Goodwill. “For some students, it works as well if the project is narrowly defined because some of them will go back in Saipan with me in November to present in a conference. I have two or three right now who might go in November.”

According to Goodwill, the team often receives special requests. “Because we’ve been doing it for a long time, people have started recognizing us at experts. Both the local government and the Fed will come to me and say, ‘Gosh, we want to know about invasive species, but in order to do that we need to know what

was here before.’ The data we collect helps other professionals solve the problems they have.” Goodwill said their research “tells fish and wildlife people what is there. Additionally, if you’re looking at the science of it, it’s kind of hard to manage if you don’t know what’s there.

Do you know if the reef is getting better or getting worse? Are the populations going down or going up?” He said some fish and wildlife establishments have requested photos from the group for slideshows in their lobbies.

There are real-world applications to their work.“About two or three years ago, the local fishery guy there said, ‘Something’s stinging our tourists. Do you know what it is?’”

Goodwill said they discovered it was the box jelly.

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The team collected samples from the coral reefs, but Dr. Roger Goodwill says the reefs aren’t damaged because they take only a few samples of each species. Over the years, he says their work in Saipan has been used by researchers and even government agencies. Photo by Tey Wilson Continued from page 61

“It’s not just a ‘make do’ thing that they’re doing just to sign up for credit. These are professional requests,” said Goodwill.

“Not uncommonly do I get e-mails from students who said they got a job because they went to Saipan,” said Goodwill. “It helps with experience for their resume. A lot of them go in with minimal diving experience and they come out very experienced. They get day, night, shore, boat, shallow, sandy, rocky…

They come out with experience in underwater photography. They come out with experience in the laboratory.”

During this year’s trip, the group collected almost 3,000 specimens. Goodwill said their work does not damage the reef. “You’re only getting one or two of any one species. In terms of damaging the reef or declining the population, you’re not even coming close to it,” he said. “Collectively it’s a big number but we only have [one to three of each species]. It’s not like we have 3,000 of one species.”

Samantha Malinconico, a senior from Oregon studying marine biology, said, “Dr. Goodwill really prepared us well to go. The collecting and photographing was very similar to 62

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things we do with the marine team. Everyone pitched in to help each other when they could.

I think everyone learned about teamwork.” She said she felt she gained more experience as a diver and saw a shark in the wild for the first time.

Their efforts have proven useful. Goodwill said, “We always collect stuff we haven’t seen before. We always see new stuff. We got a salp, which works like a jet engine. Jet engines suck air in the front and shoves it out the back.

A salp sucks water in their front and shoves it out their back, and that’s the way it moves around. It’s transparent.You can’t even photograph it.”

In order for students to see the salp, the team put green food coloring on it to make it visible. Goodwill also said the students took between 20,000 and 30,000 photos for their research. Some of the photos are sent to taxonomic experts so the species they’ve discovered can be identified. Goodwill said they have found some undiscovered species in prior years.

In addition to their research, students said they enjoyed experiencing the culture. Malinconico said she was most impressed by the

members of the LDS Church there. “We were there for stake conference that first Sunday and there were technical difficulties, but no one left, and no one complained. The next week we met an investigator who was there with the missionaries. There was so much faith in that little branch.”

Ho said, “I loved it there. It was really simple, like the lifestyle and stuff...You don’t have to worry about how you look.You just have to focus more on yourself and your family.”

Goodwill said planning the trip is always difficult because of a lack of funds. “You can imagine flying a whole team to Saipan, a hotel, ground transportation.You have to hire a dive guide that keeps you out of trouble, knows where and when you can get in and not. It’d be nice if we had an endowment because I can never tell students early on if we’re going.”

He said the program lost funding from an external organization that funded them in previous years, but luckily “the dean of the college came up with $12,000. And we get funding through student associateships. We were wellfunded this last year. We had $20,000 total, $2,000 per student.”

The Marine Team surveyed thousands of specimens and Michelle Bennett explains some information about them. Clockwise from top left: The flatworm, a common species with two flaps of flesh that can unfold down the middle of its body; the blue sea star, a very common invertebrate in the shallows; the bubble shell; and the red pencil urchin. Photos by Tey Wilson

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‘The Real Inspector Hound’ Student-directed comedy/mystery play sells out

BY MIKA ELA GR AY

Left to right: Carys Bott, Colton Roney , Rikki Brady, Leftand to right: CarysCoffey Bott, Colton Roney , Rikki Brady, and Benjamin reacted after witty banter Benjamin Coffey reacted after banter that paralleled that paralleled their play ofwitty hands in the card game. their play of hands in the card game. Photo by Rocky Woo Photo by Rocky Woo

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YU-Hawaii’s Fall Play “The Real Inspector Hound,” was a success as it incorporated the “black box theater technique,” an interesting plot about murder mystery, and great actors, according to the cast and audience members.

Vya Sutton, a freshman from Virginia majoring in psychology, said she went to the play twice.

“That’s how good it was,” she said. “The humor was funny, the farce was great, and it’s good for people who want to get into the plot. It is good for multiple levels of audiences.”

Student directors of the play, JennyLynn Jessop, a senior from Oregon studying elementary education, and Chris Cornelison, a sophomore from Hauula majoring in English, said they were surprised at how fast the tickets sold out. According to Jessop, the first four shows sold out in under three hours.

Jessop reported they got a lot of complaints and decided to include an encore performance.

“People were disappointed they couldn’t come see the show, so we just messaged all the cast asking how they would feel about doing an extra performance, and they were all super enthusiastic about it.”

What made the play different was the use of the “black box theater technique,” said Jessop and Cornelison. This technique puts both the audience and actors on stage together, said Jessop.

“This is like black box theater on steroids because some of the actors aren’t even on the stage for the first half of the production,” said Dannia Tan, an actress in the play and a senior majoring in biology from Utah.

Tan thought the black box theater technique would “throw people off, but also make them focus a lot more. I think they’ll be more interested in the play just because they’ve never had that experience before.”

Derek Clarke, a freshman from California majoring in biomedicine, said the black box technique was intuitive. “I’ve been to many a plays before and many musicals, but I’ve never been up this close and personal with the cast. I enjoyed that.”

According to Michelle Blimes, the advising director, the play was written and based on a production by John Stafford. She said the story was complicated and had various layers of underlying meaning. “The cast had to delve into it to understand their parts. It was a dissecting process,” she said.

The play focused on two theater critics watching a play involving a murder mystery in the traditional audience seating. The twist of the play was when the film critics became a part of the play and unknowingly, become a part of the act.

An usher for the event, Karlmaine Revillo, a social work senior from the Philippines, said she could see the effort from the cast. “As an usher, we get to watch it multiple times and the story is interesting each time,” said Revillo. She added her favorite part was seeing the film critics become part of the play. “It was confusing and that made me excited to know the explanation.”

Carolyn Gibby, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry from Michigan who did make up for the play, said, “It was a lot of fun. I feel like we got really close as a cast and that just made it more fun.

I think the whole production has gone very well and it was just such a great opportunity.”

Jessop and Cornelison agreed, “It was a better than we ever could’ve imagined… and the cast was amazing. They made our jobs easy,” said Cornelison.

Cornelison said the cast took the John Stafford play and made it their own through their own creativity and improvisation. “A lot of the ideas the cast came up with were fairly recent. They adopted things the last couple of weeks that really added a unique flavor to the production.”

Usher Benny Penuve, a senior from the Marshall Islands majoring in hospitality and tourism, said the stage was packed on the stairs. “People even tried to come buy tickets late at the actual show, but there wasn’t enough room for those who did have tickets much less more tickets to sell,” said Penuve.

Additional cast members not pictured on the right were Valorie Lafaele and Kirkham Dooley.

Top Benjamin left: Benjamin Coffey, real InspectorHound, Hound, draws draws his TanTan at the climax of theofplay.

Top left: Coffey, thethe real Inspector hispistol pistolatatDannia Dannia at the climax the play.

Top right: Brady’s characterembraces embraces the Colten Roney portrays.

Top right: RikkiRikki Brady’s character the flirtatious flirtatiouscharacter character Colten Roney portrays.

Bottom Carys Bott’s characterthreatens threatens to kill character.

Bottom left: left: Carys Bott’s character kill Sullivan SullivanQuin’s Quinn’s character.

Bottom Plicka standswith withaafoot foot on on Spencer Spencer Grubbe thethe firstfirst death in the Bottom right:right: Joe Joe Plicka stands Grubbeafter after death in mystery. the mystery.

Photos by

by Rocky Rocky Woo Photos Woo OCTOBE R 2016

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Food Fest unites the peoples of Laie Left to right: Members of the Japanese Association serve mochi ice cream and beef bowls to customers at Food Fest. The Hawaiian Association offers hungry people lau lau plates. The Hong Kong Association sells sticky puffs at this year’s event. Photos by Yukimi Kishi and Dorothy Chiu B Y B R O OK LY N RED D, G O S U K E KAWAN O AN D K E L SY SI M O N S

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here were spices and smells in the air as different meats were being barbecued and prepared by students in 17 associations and making 22 dishes along with several drinks offered at Food Fest in the Little Circle on Feb. 4.

The event brought together the community, students and faculty to experience different cultures and foods from all around the world. The event takes place once a year and approximately 2,000 people attended.

Lurline Nunu, BYUH travel manager and Laie resident, said she has attended Food Fest since 1973. She said Food Fest offers a great evening for all in Laie to come and mingle together.

She said, “Look around us at the different cultures. There is no place you can find all this culture. We are just all people who love each other.”

As Nunu was hugging her grandchildren and laughing with them, she said, “We feel safe with each other in the community. We are all together. Lots of family and kids want to come to enjoy the entertainment.”

Last year due to a hepatitis scare in Hawaii, the school had to postpone Food Fest.

Nunu said, “We were sad we could not come last year.”

Corporal L. Miller, from California and a Laie police officer working as security at the BYUH Food Fest, said the environment is very safe on campus, so safe that it would most likely be fine without security. He said, “This has a special feeling here that you don’t feel at other places.”

Miller went on to describe how the food brought so many people together, allowing everyone to have fun, and share their talents. “It

is a heaven on earth. The students should recognize how lucky they are to get an education in this type of environment.”

There was a lot of preparation involved while planning for Food Fest. Allison Whiting from Arizona and the director of Student Leadership Activities and Service, said that as an association, they wanted an activity to bring the community and students together in establishing an “ohana.” She said it is a fundraiser and the only way the student associations can raise money.

Whiting said, “We love it as a tradition and look forward to it every year.” She said it takes a lot of delegation, teamwork, and planning that it allows students to engage and create leaders. She said, “Everyone just loves the food representing several countries. We feel honored to be a part of the traditions of the

university in bringing the students, staff, community, and faculty together making BYUH a gathering place.”

Students who participated in Food Fest talked about the time and preparation it takes.

Lasarusa Tokona, a freshman from Fiji majoring in computer science and one of the students who helped prepare the food, said, “It was tough preparing things in time and cooking. I feel I haven’t slept for a week. To be honest, I never am going to help with Food Fest again.”

Mariana Goulding, a junior from California majoring in business management, working as a runner for the event in case members need more supplies, said, “Fiji and Malaysia seem to always has a long line. I hope that [the food] is not all gone by the time I get off.” She also said how the Hawaiian Association seemed to be on top of it with its assembly line and pre-prepped

food. She said out of all the associations she saw, the Hawaiian group was really organized.

A sister missionary in the Honolulu Mission, Tracy Lor from California, said, “I love how this event is family centered. They even have the jumper for little kids. It’s a good way to not only invite the single students but also married students and families who are attending here.”

Another sister missionary from the same mission, Michelle Woo from Toronto, Canada, said, “I love how students are able to learn the different cultures and appreciate their food so they have a better understanding of how great each culture is. I think it’s a great way to get the community and the students together as well, so they really feel like this is their home.”

People interviewed said they enjoyed the diversity of tastes and differences in the

cultural dishes.

Some attendees suggested how Food Fest can improve in the future. Rebecca Vigoren, a senior from Washington majoring in peacebuilding/anthropology, said, “We need more vegetarian options and more drinks.” She said she would also like see an Ethiopian or Middle Eastern Association.

A senior missionary, William Garff from Salt Lake City, Utah, said, “I like the food.

There are lot of choices, which makes this event interesting and fun.” He added Food Fest would be better if there were “more variety of desserts.”

Arthur Chiona, an intercultural studies graduate from Zimbabwe, said the Malaysian shish kabobs were his favorite. He also loved the ASL drinks. He said, “I feel like this is a really good thing for the students to show off Continued on Page 70

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Left to right: Korean Association members cook meet for their Food Fest dish, which is pictured in the middle. Career Center employee Kenneth Kalama and his family eat dinner during Food Fest. Photos by Dorothy Chiu and Yukimi Kishi Continued from Page 71

gether as well so they really feel like this is their with all but one of the other students dressed home. It’s one of those once-a-year things. He up. He said, “I wore a costume so people can said he wishes he could do an African tent and see the culture and diversity of this campus.” he would serve Boerewors, a sausage that they Other students from different associations, eat in Africa. such as the China Association, wore traditional Kern O’Reilly, a senior from Ireland, Chinese outfits. Students from the Hong Kong majoring in biology, said the Fiji curry was Association said that one of their members his favorite dish. He said, “It’s a good, healthy was dressed as a character representing the plate and you get your money’s worth.” He sticky puffs they were selling. suggested that next time each associations gives Bill Liva, bishop of the YSA 5th Ward, said, out free samples for everyone to try and get a “We love coming to this event and supporting taste of all the different cultures. all the students and the clubs.” He said it was Josh Jung, a senior from Korea majoring cool that there are so many students from difin TESOL education dressed in a military uniferent cultures here. He talked about how exform and carried a giant sign that said, “I love pensive it is to go to school here so he wanted Korean food.” If people shouted, “I love Korean to support the school in any way he could. food,” then they were able to receive a $2 off Earl Chung, from Pearl City and an island coupon on a bowl of bulkalbi dupbop. Jung tour guide, said he heard about the event from previously served in the Korean military along a cousin. He said, “There’s an excellent atmo-

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sphere here. All I see is people hugging each other and laughing. This is awesome.”

Roger Zavala, a senior from Honduras majoring in business and the president of Latin Association, said, “[Food Fest] takes a lot of preparation. The more prepared [you are], the more able you are in helping people to have a better experience. I feel grateful my team is willing to help. The best part is that they are my friends and we are able to work together.”

He said, “My favorite part was being able to share food from our own cultures and what we grew up with.”

Zavala said the people in his booth worked together well and they were able to sell out their food fast. He suggested they have more volunteers who can help next time.

Riley Weston, a freshman from Oregon majoring in computer science, said, “I was very

excited for the Malaysian food because I served my mission in Malaysia.”

There were also a lot of talents and performances offered at the event. From singing to dancing, performers were able to share a variety of their talents. Weston said he was given the opportunity to perform for Hip Hop Association. He said, “It was fun performing for everyone. I have never performed in my life.”

Nelson Loveridge, a junior from California majoring in exercise science, said, “Being able to sit at picnic tables and watch the performances while eating was very relaxing.” He added, “It’s awesome and people love this.”

Students, faculty, and community members who were interviewed said they were looking forward to next year’s Food Fest and trying new dishes.

HAWA II R ECIPE - LAU LAU

Recipe given by: Dylan Wilcox Ingredients: • Pork meat • Kalo leaves • Tea leaves • Salt Directions: “Step one: Go into the forest and slay a pig.

Slit its throat and let it bleed out.

“Step two: Drag said pig out of the forest, and bring it to your friends house. Skin it. Gut it. Then prepare it to become lau lau.

“After you do that, take the meat and you roll it up in Luau leaf. That is the leaf of the kalo, taro, or gapi for Philippines.

“You put a pinch of Hawaiian salt in there, then you wrap it with the luau leaf and then the tea leaf. Then you wrap it again and stick it in the steamer.

You repeat that process about 250-to-300 times because you’ve got to feed a village.”

For more recipes from Food Fest, check out Kelsy Simmons story on the Ke Alaka‘i website at kealakai.byuh.edu.

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Spirit felt by both listeners & singers during Japan tour C o n c e r t C h o i r m a ke s l i f e - c h a n g i n g i n s p i r a t i o n a l f r i e n d s h i p s a n d m e m o r i e s B Y J OS HUA MA S O N

Left: The choir, lead by Michael Belnap, center, sings in a concert hall in Tokyo. Right: Natahli Fetner teaches Ritsumeikan High School choir students the chorus of “Aloha ‘Oe.” Photos by Katrina Johanson

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he BYU-Hawaii Concert Choir traveled all around Japan using song to teach that people may be from many nations, but they are one family. The choir visited the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, and many cities in between from June 15-24.

Michael Johanson, managing director of Communications and Advancement at BYUH, said the performance tour had three purposes.

“First, to increase the spiritual well-being of Latter-day Saints in the areas visited; second, to change lives through music, service, and proclaiming the gospel; and third, to be ambassadors for the university and share the benefits of attending the university.”

CONCERT S TOU CH H E ART S

The Concert Choir performed in the following cities in order: Naha, Hiroshima, Osaka, Sapporo, Sendai, and Tokyo. It performed in a single musical fireside in Sendai.

Erik Winegar, a senior from Utah studying business management and a Tenor II in the choir, served his mission in the Japan Sapporo Mission from 2010 to 2012. He said there is a 72

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prophecy made by President Henry B. Eyring concerning Japan. “[President Eyring] said a great work will happen in Japan that will astonish not only the people in Japan but also people in the entire world,” said Winegar. “He talked all about the amazing work that members will do in Japan.

Whether it was about conversions or baptisms I’m not sure, but basically the world will be surprised at how good the Japanese members are.” Winegar said he believes the tour was part of fulfilling that prophecy.

People cried during the fireside in Sendai, according to Winegar. “There’s an old member, Sawa, who was the second member in the Sendai area baptized after the war in 1945. He had tears pouring down his face during the fireside and said he wished we could come back every single week.”

The choir members said they focused on helping the people feel the Spirit wherever they went. Michael Belnap, the choir conductor, said this year’s choir was one of his favorite because they were filled with the Spirit. He told the choir, “If you work with the Spirit to create great music, great things will happen.”

Ai Domon, a senior vocal music major

from Japan and a Soprano I, said the concerts helped members, less-active members, and non-members. She said, “My parents, who are members, seemed overjoyed from the music and were more determined to do the work.”

Domon’s parents helped organize the concert in Sapporo, her hometown. She said her parents were so empowered by the music, they decided to go all the way to Tokyo for the final concert.

“In Sendai,” said Domon, “I saw one friend who is less-active, and I didn’t expect her to be at the fireside. She told me that she felt the Spirit, which was great because she hasn’t been to church in a long time.”

Sai Balenacagi, a senior from Fiji studying biology education and an Alto I, said her favorite moments of the tour were “looking into the crowd and seeing tears fill up in the eyes of the listeners as they felt the spirit of the music we sung. Moments like these confirmed that we were doing what we were called here to do.”

Chris Cornelison, a senior from Hau’ula studying English and a Tenor I, said he loved being able to interact with the people after the concerts. He also said despite mistakes made while performing, the Spirit touched every-

one’s heart because of the receptiveness of the Japanese people. “They’re so grateful, welcoming, and open to the Spirit, which made it easier for the Spirit to be there. It wasn’t even us performing, but their willingness to create that exchange and feel the Spirit.”

Cornelison said his favorite song was “Hana Wa Saku,” which translates to “the flowers will bloom.” The song was written after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to give hope to the Japanese people.

“It was my favorite because of how significant it was for them… It’s a song about flowers being able to bloom even out of adversity,” he said. “I think the Spirit was able to come across more clearly because we were singing in their language.”

Domon said she believed the tour was a great way to teach the people of Japan about Jesus Christ. “Because we are Christian school students, we sang about Jesus Christ, but most Japanese don’t know about Jesus Christ. It was so great to be able to share our faith through music.” Domon said Shintoism and Buddhism are the most popular religions in Japan, both of which do not include worshipping Jesus Christ.

However, Shinto elders requested the choir to perform at the Meiji Shrine. This was very significant, said Jarek Buss, a recent graduate in political science from Wyoming, a Bass II, and the tour planner, since the only people allowed inside of the inner precinct are important world leaders or political figures.

According to Belnap, elders of the shrine attended a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert in Salt Lake City in the early 1900s and loved the song “Come, Come Ye Saints.” By the elders’ request, the choir sang it at the shrine in 2004, making them the first Christian group to ever perform in the inner precinct of the shrine.

This year’s choir was the second group to perform there. Buss said, “It’s all possible because of the contacts the church has. Really it’s just a part of building a relationship that the church has had with them for years.”

VISITING SCHOOLS

In addition to the concerts, the choir also visited two schools: the Kozaki Elementary School in Hiroshima and Ritsumeikan High School in Sapporo. At Kozaki, the choir

performed a few of the songs from its selection. Buss also gave a presentation to teach the students about Hawaii and BYUH. After the choir performed, the elementary school students sang a Japanese song that left many choir members in tears.

Afterwards, the choir members were assigned to specific 5th and 6th grade classes to help the elementary students practice their English.

The choir members gave the elementary students leis made by children from the Mililani Hawaii Stake specifically for students in Japan, explained Belnap. The leis contained notes saying things like “You are a child of God” and “Aloha from Hawaii.”

At Ritsumeikan High School, the BYUH choir visited with students in the school’s choir.

Both choirs exchanged musical numbers. The BYUH Concert Choir taught the students the chorus to “Aloha ‘Oe.” During the Sapporo concert that night, the high school students were invited to come on stage and sing the song with the choir at the end of the concert.

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Left: Choir students make paper cranes with members of the Hiroshima YSA branch to hang up at the Children’s Peace Monument. Right: Male choir members perform a Samoan slap dance. Photos by Katrina Johanson

Continued from page 73 TOURI NG HISTORIC S I T E S

When the choir members weren’t performing or traveling from city to city, they visited famous places, such as the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Okinawa, which Buss said he had always wanted to visit.

In Hiroshima, they visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum, the site dedicated to the World War II bombing of Hiroshima. The choir sang “Holding Hands Around the World” at the Children’s Peace Monument, where they also hung up 1,000 paper cranes they made with the local YSA ward. Connor Cline, an undecided sophomore from Ohio and a Tenor I, said the memorial had a profound effect on him.

While in Hiroshima, the choir also visited the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima Island, which has a floating gate in the water and deer that walked around among the people.

In Osaka, the choir visited Osaka Castle, the site of an important siege in Japanese history.

After its final concert in Tokyo, the choir had two days to go sight-seeing in Kyoto. The choir members visited the Toei Kyoto Studio 74

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Park, the Kinkaku-ji “Golden Pavilion,” Monkey Mountain, and the Fushimi Inari Shrine that is famous for its 1,000 gates.

P L AN N I N G AN D LO GI STI CS

This choir tour was different than previous tours, said Buss, who went on the previous two tours, to Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2010 and to New Zealand and Australia in 2013.

The main difference was the choir used public transportation instead of a private tour bus.

“Because of the public transportation,” explained Buss, “we had more downtime so people were able to stay healthy and do some of their own exploring.”

Buss said he has been planning the Japan tour since April 2015. “The train passes were probably the same price as renting a tour bus, but we wouldn’t have been able to get everywhere as fast as we did. Because we were relying on public transportation, we had all these crazy transfers,” said Buss.

When the choir traveled from Okinawa to Hiroshima, it flew by plane, rode the bullet train, took a local train, dropped off the bags at the hotel, took another train to a different

station, and then took a taxi to the community center for the performance. Buss smiled, “What we did had never been done before. The choir was really responsible.”

Johanson explained the work behind preparing for a tour. “There is a committee that coordinates the tours for the Church Educational System, and we meet each year to plan where to go around the world. We plan three-to-four years in advance and work with the Area Presidencies of the church to determine where the most good can be done by the performing groups from BYU, BYU– Hawaii and BYU–Idaho. Once an area has been approved by the committee and the Area Presidency, organizers at the university are connected with organizers in the area where the tour will take place and the tour begins to take shape.”

Buss, who works for University Communications as a public relations specialist, said after a suggestion from the Asia North Area office, “eventually we settled on not going to Korea so we could visit parts of Japan that had never been visited before, like Okinawa and Sapporo. We’re the first CES group to visit Okinawa. Usually the groups go in to

the major cities and then head to Korea. Even Hiroshima and Sendai are places that don’t normally get visited.”

“It’s been 12 years since we’ve been to Japan and Korea, and both countries are a major part of BYU-Hawaii,” said Buss. “The BYU Wind Symphony toured Japan and Korea last summer and they spent an extensive amount of time in Korea.” Buss said he believes this is why the Asia North office had the choir focus on Japan.

“On this specific tour,” Johanson said, “meetings with young adults were intentionally planned to connect BYU–Hawaii students with those who either have attended or might want to in the future.”

The Concert Choir attended a YSA branches both Sundays it was in Japan, first in Hiroshima and then in Tokyo.

“At the very minimum, all the young people came away with a larger perspective of the church and how the Lord runs his work through his children in every land,” said Johanson.

INFLUENCE ON CHOIR MEMBERS

Samo Workman, a Kahuku High School graduate and a Bass II who took the choir class BYUH President John Tanner and Sister Susan at BYUH while in high school, said he would Tanner met up with the choir in Sapporo. The never forget the experiences he had on the tour.

Tanners attended the Sapporo concert, the Sen- “The tour was one of those things that is just dai fireside, and then left the morning after the going to make the highlight reel of my life a lot final Tokyo concert. Both said they were “blown cooler and more meaningful. The experiences I away” by the Concert Choir’s music. had were so new to me culturally, and yet they

Sister Tanner told the choir, “John and I reinforced for me the universality of the spirit cannot praise you enough, and we want you to that we were trying to spread, and that was life accept that humbly.You have talents and gifts changing,” he said. that you have given in service to others and as Balenacagi said the tour also changed her representatives of not only our university but life. “I have truly gained a testimony of how the of Jesus Christ.” song of the righteous is a prayer unto God,” she

President Tanner told the choir he besaid. “I realize how music can affect the soul, lieved the tour would influence the members and so I’m more cautious about the music I of the choir even more than the people of listen to now. I don’t act naïve and ignore the Japan. “I was thinking, ‘What is the purpose? lyrics anymore just because it’s got a good beat.

Why do we do this?’ Probably the long-term “I also realized that no matter where we impact will be less on the people who hear are from in the world, we all feel the same you and more on you,” he said. “I suspect on struggle, feel the same pain, hurt the same way. your dying day you’ll remember this tour, Being born in a different country or brought and it will have a positive influence. The up by certain cultures do not make us different ripple effects in your life will go on and on. or make us superior…it just means we were Sometime when you’re having trials, you’ll uniquely chosen to face challenges in life that look back and remember this shining mowe alone are best suited for.” ment in your life.”

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Two nights of celebrating BYU-Hawaii’s diversity Some of the performances from Friday night. From left to right: New Zealand, Kiribati, China, Taiwan, and Tonga. Photos by Olivia Tsan and Chantal Hopper

FRIDAY NIG HT

The 2017 Culture Night started with the emcees Dylan-Sage Wilcox and Lehi Faleoapalangi welcoming everyone to the show. They made a special note reminding everyone to stay off the stage and refrain from throwing money and/or dancing with the dancers on stage.

Beginning the show was the Hawaii Student Association. Wearing black pants with white shirts adorned with purple and leaves and accompanied by a live band, the members danced tribute to Queen Lili’uokalani, the last reigning monarch of Hawaii. The performance started with only the men with the woman entering after through the aisles through the crowd. There was a part of the performance that was a solo dance representing the queen.

It was a more peaceful, relaxing dance that showcased Queen Lili’uokalani and the Hawaiian spirit.

Next up was Taiwan. Running in with faces painted and fighting sticks, they attacked the crowd with each dancer one by one swinging their sticks at people seated on the front row. They then performed individual fights accompanied by rock music and moved on to 76

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perform different tricks with a Taiwanese yoyotype prop. They then finished with a hip-hop dance with people dressed in all black.

For intermission, the emcees called down six groups of three people each to play a game called photo-mime in which the contestants had to act out pictures and have their teammates guess what the picture was. The winning team received $20 gift cards to Seven Brothers.

Intermission was followed by New Zealand, also known as Aotearoa. They featured nearly twice the number of performers than some of the other chapters during the night. All of the music was live; most of it was acapella singing from the whole group. They opened the performance with chanting and then sang “Taga Tagalo” from “Moana” in Maori. They then created a diagonal line design composed of four individual lines, with women on the outside and men in the middle. They closed with the men performing the “haka.”

The emcees introduced another break and highlighted the sponsors for the event, which included So’Da Bomb, Guadalajara Grill, the BYUH Bookstore, Wet ‘n’ Wild Hawaii, and

Ono Yo. They then showed three videos. The first was an ad for Brooklyn’s Quiz Time, a new quiz show to test students knowledge on international trivia. The next was a video about the Hawaii Blood Bank, promoting their need for people to donate. The final was a trailer for “The Mormon Connection,” a documentary of three LDS young single adults who travel Europe relying on members of the LDS Church.

Hip-Hip Club followed the videos with participants wearing red flannel shirts and black. They performed to different hip-hop songs including “Michael Jackson” by Cash Cash, “I’m Better” by Missy Elliot, “Outta Your Mind” by Lil Jon, and “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran. The group also performed the iCarlton challenge, a viral dance challenge with the iconic move from the character Carlton in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Indonesia then took the stage with student Fiona Sprout’s singing and chanting. She was accompanied by student Ninoy Kusuma on the tambourine. The group came on wearing red, blue, and gold shimming wraps and headbands.

The majority of their performance was group

members forming a straight line on their knees.

They finished by performing the traditional Indonesian dance called saman, a culmination of movements with three different lines of people within the one line holding hands and weaving while staying in the same linear kneeing position. The crowd shouted and cheered for the synchronized performance.

Kiribati performed next. Their costumes were vibrant, sporting woven wraps for the men and black grass skirts for the woman. Their performance started out calmly but progressively got more intense.

South Korea started off its performance with a slideshow featuring different Korean influences including K-pop stars. Khoon An acted as a deejay for the performance, stationed in the back with a deejay controller. The group started a hip-hop style dance to K-pop wearing black and white with long-sleeved shirts tied around their waists. Six members performed to a hip-hop couple’s song, featuring two of the leads from the Hip-Hop Association performance. After, performers in all black danced to another K-pop song, the group slowed down

into a robotic dance move,put on sunglasses and performed to the song “Gangnam Style.”

Next came Hong Kong, beginning with a traditional dragon dance with two men on the inside of a dragon costume. They then showed a short video clip of a fight scene from a movie reenacting it live on stage. They used a black background and performers dressed in all black to hold the fighter in the air in order to appear as if he was flying across the stage or jumping very high. The villain in the fight scene played an instrument that shot knifes across the stage, carried by the performers in all black. The dragon costume then came back on stage, followed by association members performing to another more upbeat song.

Latin America entered the floor starting its performance with a traditional folk dance from Mexico called “La Bamba.” The women wore white dresses and the men were dressed in white shirts and pants with hats. The dance ended with three couples making a bow out of a large ribbon only using their feet. Then performers entered in all black and danced to more upbeat music. The dance ended with

everyone dancing with flags and soccer jerseys from different Latin American countries.

Next up was China. The men wore all white and the women wore red with sleeves longer than their arms, which they twisted around like ribbons. They performed to upbeat music that had traditional Chinese wind instruments. The performance ended with a back flip by one of the male performers as the crowd cheered.

To finish Friday night, Tonga performed.

The crowd was ecstatic when the emcees announced the associations. The emcees reminded the crowd to not get on stage or throw money.

An entire ensemble of guitarists, vocalists, and drummers accompanied the performance. It began with all the men performing to the live and vibrant music. The women later entered and performed a slower dance, and then the men entered again and performed a warlike dance with sticks, including chanting “We will, we will rock you!” The performance lasted for 15 minutes, longer than any other performance.

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Some of the performances from Saturday Night. Left to right: Ballroom, Mongolia, Tahiti, Philippines, and Samoa. Photos by Olivia Tsan, Chantal Hopper SATURDAY NIG HT

Saturday started off with a recap video of last year’s Culture Night featuring audio from the university’s groundbreaking by President David O. McKay. Faleoapalangi told the crowd the video reminded him that the whole event is about emulating love for culture.

The opening performance of the night was given by a rugby team who was visiting from the Cook Islands for the High School Pacific Rugby Cup. The members performed the haka, to which the audience shouted and applauded.

Following that performance, the Ballroom Dance Association graced the stage with women in sparkled skirts and the men in white shirts and wearing bow ties. The performance was Disney themed, and began with Alpha Harper acting as the Fairy Godmother. She tapped the different couples with her wand, and the dancers began to move. The music included Disney hits like “Under the Sea,” “Hakuna Matata,” and “Beauty and the Beast.”

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The performance ended with all the dancers performing to the theme music from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

For the first time in eight years, the Cambodian Association entered and performed two traditional dances. The first dance, the coconut dance, is a traditional couples dance and was performed in pairs. The next dance used the traditional Cambodian krama scarf as a prop. Only eight of the association members performed, making it the smallest group. The CAC roared with applause as the dancers held the Cambodian flag high to finish off their performance.

The Mongolian Association followed and started off its performance with the Shaman dance. The dancers wore traditional robes and accessories and held colorful sheepskin drums.

The screen above them contained descriptions of the dance, such as: “Shaman dance represents our relationship with the sky.” The women then performed a traditional bowl dance holding

bowls of milk on their heads that symbolize their generosity and warmth. The audience cheered and applauded as the dancers poured milk from one bowl to another; none of them had spilled any milk. The rest of the association members then joined the stage and performed a modern, hip-hop dance to a compilation of songs including “Uptown Funk” and “Gangnam Style.”

Japan introduced its performance with a video showcasing popular anime shows.

Students entered the stage dressed as famous Japanese characters from “Pokémon,” “Naruto,” and “Dragonball Z,”and Fukutaro Sagayama performed Kosaka Daimaou’s “Pen-PineappleApple-Pen.” Then the rest of the dancers came out on the Cannon Activities Center floor dressed in traditional kimonos. A choreographed samurai sword fight followed. They finished off their performance with three human pyramid formations and waving a giant Japanese flag.

During a break, Faleoapalangi played guitar and sang a parody of Enrique Iglesias’ “Hero,” singing the second verse in Tongan and referencing the different women from the Pacific in the chorus.

The Cook Islands then performed dancing to live music complete with performers who played traditional drums throughout their presentation. The dancers wore bright green skirts and headpieces made of leaves. At the end, members of the rugby team from the Cook Islands ran on stage to dance with them.

The Singapore/Malaysia performers started off their act with a solo spotlight dance

by Jackson Saga from Malaysia. More dancers then joined the stage and performed a couple’s dance. Following that, the rest of the dancers flooded the stage and performed a dance in unison to “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Each costume was unique in color and apparel.

Prior to the next act coming on, Andrea Scalese introduced her new fashion line “Mod-

est Sam.” Students modeled several dresses from her business on stage. The audience was then offered a special coupon code exclusive to Culture Night.

The Philippines entered the stage as a promotional video of the country played on the screen. They began with the Ingorot tribal dance, dressed in traditional black and brown clothing. Another group then came on dressed in bright colors and performed a couples tinikling dance. They finished off with another group of dancers performing a hip-hop dance.

Tahiti then took the floor in traditional costumes and headpieces. All the women were dressed in white and the men shirtless in red.

The dancers were accompanied by live percussion and guitarists. The dancers took on the formation of the boat and raised a sail to make their formation come to life.

Fiji began its performance with the sound of a conch shell and the women slowly approached the stage as “We Know the Way”

from “Moana” played. Shortly after, sounds of a thunderstorm raged and the men stormed onto the stage. Front and center, the dance was led by a little Fijian boy; the audience laughed and several females said, “Awwww,” as the boy danced in sync with the men.

Samoa took on the grand finale. Before its performance was even announced, the crowd was ecstatic and the loudest they had been all night. The stage began to fill with the dancers of Samoa coming from all different angles of the CAC. The performers were all unified in a bright green costume and flawlessly fell into an intricate formation on the stage.

Live percussionists and vocalists accompanied the dancers and added to the energy of the performance. The performance was well received by the audience and people said they finished feeling excited and proud.

Audience members and performers added they left Culture Night 2017 feeling uplifted and fulfilled.

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feature

in this section

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Cambodian outcast overcomes abandonment and poverty and works towards a doctorate

84

Health Center doctor returns to Laie to care for students, faculty and staff

Two BYUH alumnae go to France to volunteer at refugee camp

114

Graduating English major says reading books and discussing them has changed her life

88

PCC employee goes the extra mile finding guest’s phone in lagoon and fixing it

100

Armenian student remembers people’s genocide, raises nation’s flag on campus

116

Twice adopted Ethiopian student says prayer and goals got him to BYUH

90

Volleyball moms talk about balancing sports, school work and family

102

Four couples recall their engagement stories for Valentine’s Day

120

Japanese married couple shares their three-year love story

92

Psychology Professor Eric Orr moves from Counseling Services

106

BYUH alumni and big wave surf photographer’s life captured in film

124

First LDS Church member in Marquesas tells her story of faith

94

Freshman spends two weeks building homes in Cape Verde

108

Lexi Breen says she shares her adoption story to help others

128

Two Hawaiian sisters leave legacy of faith in Laie serving students, community and church

96

Tongan art professor creates work in Honolulu and in his native Tonga

110

EXS major and husband teach Crossfit in the Middle East

130

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C a Fe m pa ut us rLe i f e

Cambodian outcast becomes positive student Pattica San has overcome abandonment, racism, and poverty to pursue doctorate

BY HA IL E Y R AS M U S S E N

A

s an infant, his grandmother found him crying with ants crawling in his nose and mouth after his mother left him for dead.

Eight years later, his mother abandoned him and his 3-year-old sister in the major Cambodian city, Phnom Penh, where they survived by picking food from the trash. He would later be admitted to an orphanage through help from his grandmother, join the LDS Church, and serve a mission. However, two and a half weeks into his service, his grandmother passed away.

Pattica San, a freshman political science major, said his life challenges have not prevented him from pushing forward in his life and pursuing a doctorate. According to Admissions Director James Faustino, San is the first student from Cambodia at BYUH in several years, which Faustino said was because of San’s hard work.

HI S FATH E R

San said his story begins with his father, a highranking U.N. Peacekeeping soldier from Cameroon. He was living in Cambodia when he met San’s mother, who grew up in Cambodia. San said his grandfather told him his father knew he had to leave Cambodia because the United Nations had to pull the peacekeepers out. “My father left his address and everything with my mom, and then he left. My mom apparently got a new husband so she didn’t care about my father anymore. I have never seen him before. I don’t know his face.”

HI S M OTH E R

Pattica San said his challenges won’t stop him from remaining positive and pursuing further education.

Photo by Chantal Hopper

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“My mom would have kids, abandon them, or she would sell them away. That was her business I guess,” San said, but he added his past with his mother doesn’t bother him anymore. “She’s not mentally ill… I guess she didn’t think she could sell me. No one would want a dark skin [child] in Cambodia.” San said he is half-African and half-Cambodian, and his own family ridiculed, persecuted, and discriminated against him.

“When I was 3 months old, she pretty much abandoned me underneath a tree and left me to die.” He said his grandmother found him four or five hours later. “I was crying according to my grandmother. My body was full of ants crawling in my nose and mouth. My grandmother said, ‘I’m dying… I’m dying,’” he

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Fe ature

Left: San’s family, along with a photo of his grandmother. Right: San performs the Robam Brean Khmer, a Cambodian dance. He said dancing is one of his passions. Photos by

repeated as his voice trailed off. He said he was on the verge of dying because he had been left crying for so long. This event led to stomach complications that affect him even today.

“She took me to the hospital and the doctor said it was going to be a miracle for me to survive.”

Eight years later, San said his mom deceived him and his sister. “She pretended that she loved us, and she wanted to take us away from my grandmother so she could adopt me and take care of me and my sister. She took us to [Phnom Pehn] and she rented us a house for a week for us to live. She said she was going to find a job so she could provide food and housing for us. She left and never came back. I was 8 and my sister was 3. We were lost in the middle of the city and eventually we became beggars.”

They looked for food and slept in a trash heap. “Sometimes in the rubbish place, there wasn’t a roof, so when the rains came we were wet. So we decided to go someplace else so we could at least find a roof over our heads at nighttime. We found a stairwell to use for shelter.”

San’s sister got really sick. “We didn’t have any hygiene supplies, we couldn’t take showers, and we ate things we found from the rubbish. I didn’t know how to help her. I started begging to everyone to please help my sister. We found a very generous man—a very, very generous man. I cannot forget what he did

for my sister. He took my sister to the hospital, and eventually my sister got healed. He said he would love both of us to come and stay with him, but he has no money to do that so just only one of us could stay with him.” San told the man to take his sister; San would live on the street. “I needed my sister to be cleansed. I didn’t trust him though. He was just a random guy who came to us. I followed him, and I knew his house and where it was so I could go check on my sister. He helped a lot.

“I was wandering for about two more weeks in the city begging for money. When you have no money, no family, nothing, the only thing going on in your mind is food. I don’t care what I’m going to do but I need food right now. My hungry stomach demands food. I did not steal, but I would do a lot of crazy things to get money. Luckily, I found my great-grandmother in the city. She took me and my sister to my grandmother.”

San said he started to hate his mother because of these experiences. Even though he was a Buddhist, the hatred, anger, and grudges overwhelmed him and changed him into a completely different person. “Me and my sister swore that we would not ever, never ever, want to see her face again.”

G O I N G TO TH E O RPH AN AGE

San said his grandma told him she spoke with a person from a non-governmental organization

about his future. “She decided that I should go to the orphanage to find my future there. She believed the orphanage will provide a good environment for me.”

His focus of finding food to survive, he said, was replaced with a goal to earn a doctorate. San said this shift began when he started spending three hours a day listening to international politics on the news while in the orphanage. He was impressed with the stories of Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. “I thought, ‘If they can do it, why can’t I?’… They have dark skin but their work and their speeches still make an impact on the world.”

When he was 18, he knew he wanted to become like his role models but didn’t know how. “One day this thought came to my mind, ‘How about I learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?’” The woman running the orphanage, who San refers to as his godmother, is LDS. She encouraged him to “give it a chance to learn more about her faith and beliefs.”

Had his grandmother met the person from the orphanage three months later then she did, San said he would have already left to become a Buddhist monk. Becoming a monk was in his plan but being taken to the orphanage changed things. He said he didn’t want to give up his religious beliefs, but he felt drawn to learn about different faiths. “It was a difficult thing because I didn’t know how to pray. But

somehow the missionaries they were patient and persistent. They never gave up on me. They kept calling, visiting, and praying about me - so eventually I got converted in 2011.”

HIS MISSION

A few years after San was baptized, he decided to serve a mission. “I was called to the Brisbane Australia Mission. Around two weeks [into my mission], I found out my grandmother passed away. It was completely devastating... Unspeakable… The only one I wanted to take care of, the only one I wanted to spend my whole life with, passed away while I was gone.”

This experience led San to question God’s existence. He said there were moments he felt like he was being brainwashed as a missionary, and he didn’t trust anyone. San said his mission president’s love and his mission companion’s patience helped him through this immense challenge, but it was ultimately the Spirit that changed his heart. He stayed and completed his two-year mission.

As he recalled his mission experience, his voice grew quiet but direct as he said, “If my mission president could know me as well as he did, imagine how well Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know us. I know that this gospel is true.

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is the motivation for me to get out from laziness and my bad behavior to achieve the noble goal of my life.”

HIS DESIR E FOR EDUCATION

San said he did well in classes in grade school, but he had to deal with corruption in high school. Students in his class paid money to teachers to improve their ranking, but San had no money to pay them.

“I actually heard about BYUH when I was in the orphanage in 2005 because there were students who came to visit us. They gave chairs and study materials. I didn’t know who they were until 2010. A few of them came again and told me there was a university in America.” He said they described BYUH as an amazing and fantastic place.

San explained he had to prove to Faustino he really did want to come to BYUH by doing two semesters of college in Phnom Penh.

Faustino said BYUH has not recruited out of Cambodia for the past few years due to I-WORK students not returning to their home country after they complete their degree. He said it made it harder to work with the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia to get additional students into BYUH. San himself almost was unable to come to BYUH, he said, because he couldn’t get a visa, even though he met all the qualifications to come to the school. Faustino said San had worked extremely hard to get to this point, and it seemed as if that was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” After San notified Faustino of

his situation, BYUH wrote to the U.S. Embassy in Cambodia and explained the returnability of students in the I-WORK program. Faustino said getting San’s visa was “nothing short of a miracle.”

Faustino originally met San through a nationwide LDS young single adult conference with several hundred individuals in attendance.

Faustino interviewed students to see if they were qualified to attend. “It took a little less than a year to get San qualified. He tried really hard. I could tell this was something he really wanted to work for.” Faustino said it was costly attending the university in Phnom Pehn for San. San said it is a surreal experience to finally be at BYU-Hawaii. “It feels like a dream I’m going to wake up from,” he said as he pinched his chin and cheeks. “I couldn’t believe it when I stepped on the plane to come here.”

San said his time at BYUH is a stepping stone to lead him to get a doctorate. None of San’s ancestors have graduated from high school, and he said he thinks it is important for him to reach for this goal to blaze a path for his descendants to follow. He said he continues to hold on to the examples of Obama and Mandela to encourage him to reach higher. “If they could change their lives given their circumstances, so can I. Education is the key.”

Fe ature College students Graduation speaker surf on the web Mariah Walsh says while waiting in line. graduates should take Photo by AP. the tools they have learned here and apply them to help others wherever they go.

Photo by Lexie Kape-

Finding the humanity in others Graduation speaker shares lessons learned and life-changing books

BY HA ILEY R A SMUS S E N

English major Mariah Walsh, BYU-Hawaii’s student Winter 2017 graduation speaker, said reading books and discussing them in class has helped her see unfair biases she may have towards people and it has helped her eliminate them.

Walsh is also graduating with a minor in linguistics with a TESOL certificate and gave a coy smile when said she is from the arctic tundra of Minnesota.

Walsh said she was extended an invitation to speak at graduation by the BYUH President’s Council. “They get a list of top students from the deans in the different departments. The President’s Council picks from the pool of top students to participate in the graduation program whether it’s speaking or giving a prayer.”

She said having her efforts recognized feels good. “It’s an honor to speak to faculty, staff and parents in behalf of the graduating class.”

Graduation is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 25 in the Cannon Activities Center, and during the interview, Walsh talked about the advice she is thinking of sharing at commencement: “This is the time where students have to make the next step after graduation. If you had asked me two semesters ago, I would have told you that it was going to be a glorious, wonderful moment....Now I realize it is more of a gateway to something better.”

She continued, “Now is the time for graduates to take the tools they learned in school and use them in productive and helpful ways. Now is the time for students to build the kingdom wherever they serve.”

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HER EXPER IENCE AT BYUH

Walsh said during her time at BYUH, she has learned how to act on her a deep desire to understand and accept people from different cultures. “I think it’s important to learn how to relate to someone beyond thinking, ‘Oh this is this person’s name, and this is where they’re from.’ It’s more about finding the humanity in others and connecting over that.”

Learning about the world through literature, Walsh said, was one thing she loves about her major. Often times, they covered controversial topics in her literature classes. “It exposed me to class distinctions between the wealthy and poor. I have learned about racial and cultural conflicts.” She also said she learned how some people respond to colonization, the differences in religions, and slavery.

She said there have been lots of small things that pushed her forward throughout her college experience. “Sometimes it has been my friends, teachers, or even my callings. Planes can only take off against the wind.” She said she knows people who have huge trials. Walsh said she feels like the weight of the challenges she has faced thus far have not matched those of some of her peers. “However” she said, “there’s no life that isn’t riddled with challenges.”

Walsh said participating in BYUHSA association activities helped her deal with the challenges of school. “The chapter activities captured the essence of BYUH the most,” she said.

For example, Walsh said the TESOL Society has a Karaoke night once a semester, and she said her Asian friends love it. “I was never

into Karaoke before but that changed.” She said the group would get a room in the GCB, bring speakers, and roughly 20-to-30 people would come. “It was especially great when they picked a good song everyone knew. Everyone would join in and sing along with the chorus. It was nice having this kind of fun together instead of only associating with each other when we struggled through our classes.”

HER FAVORI TE B OOKS

Walsh said her top five books are “The Great Gatsby,” “The Sound and the Fury,” “Great Expectations,” “Macbeth,” and lastly, she said excitedly as her eyes lit up, “1984 by George Orwell. I think everyone should read that one.”

She said “1984” is a post-apocalyptic story placed in an extreme setting, and it was eye opening to see why people should not conform to the dictates of society. Walsh said by studying “1984,” she realized the importance of preventing the things that are important from being degraded or diminished.

Expounding on William Faulkner’s writing in “The Sound and the Fury,” Walsh said it is “genius, complex, revolutionary and distinct,” and the book is an example of the power of language and communication.

Talking about the “The Great Gatsby,” she said the book “offers us a very realistic view of how the ideals of society can be corrupt.

What may seem fun and engaging might not be the moral option to take.”

After graduation, Walsh will stay for the next semester to teach English 101 as an internship and also EIL 320 for a regular job.

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Fe ature Ephrem Smith said joining the LDS Church helped improve his life. Meeting the missionaries inspired him to want to become like them. Photo by Chantal Hopper

A tough road to Laie Twice-adopted Ethiopian student says prayer and goals helped him through trials

BY A DA M CA SE

Born in Ethiopia, orphaned, adopted in the United States, orphaned and adopted again, new freshmen Ephrem Smith said his journey to BYU-Hawaii was full of challenges. His story, which he wrote about in an article titled “Seven Tender Miracles along the Way” in the July 2016 Ensign, started in “the humblest of circumstances,” he said.

“I was born on the dirt floor of my mother’s hut in Dessie, Ethiopia... Sometimes we didn’t have food, but she did her best. When I was 4, my mother became deathly ill.

With her last bit of effort, we trudged to a hospital where my beloved, weary mom died.” Smith was then taken in by the nurses at the hospital, and they arranged for him to go to an orphanage in Adis Adaba, the capital of Ethiopia.

“I was there with 400-to-500 kids and all of us just loved to serve each other.” In the Ensign article, he wrote, “Other orphans had also experienced the loss of a loved one, and they taught me how to deal with the loss of my mother.

In the evenings, we gathered to sing songs in English and pray in Amharic, our mother tongue. We prayed for each other and asked God to bless us to be adopted into ‘nice, kind, loving homes.’”

At the age of 8, an LDS family from Reno, Nevada adopted him. Life in the United States was hard, he said, because he faced abuse and bullying because of his lack of English.

“Then my home life fell apart,” writes Smith. “Prayers to the Lord, high personal goals, and a deep desire to succeed carried me through that extremely tough time. Finally, with a social worker’s help, my father and I agreed to terminate the adoption.”

After living in foster care from ages 15 to 18, he said, “Two of my friends from the orphanage in Ethiopia who now had their own families called me and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing on Saturday? Do you want to go sledding?’” He

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wrote that after sleigh riding, “I met an LDS family with two nice daughters. During the ride home, one of the daughters spoke up, saying, ‘I think the Lord wants us to adopt Ephrem Smith.’ Remarkably, the other three members of the family had also received the same inspiration.”

His experience with this new family was very positive.

He said. “The next week they invited me over and said, ‘This is your new dad. This is your new sister.You are welcome to eat all the food you can.’ I felt at home, I felt welcome, and I felt loved by this family.”

Immediately after the adoption was finalized, Smith said he was able to serve a mission.

Around the same time he was first adopted, he was introduced to the missionaries in Ethiopia. They invited him to the dedication of Ethiopia’s first LDS Church building on Sunday, Nov. 30, 2003. He writes, “At the dedication, I felt the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit, and the missionaries in attendance radiated joy, happiness, and that same powerful spirit. I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like them.”

Smith was called to the Texas Fort Worth Mission. “I was down. I was set to go Ethiopia. I knew the language really well, but it is what the Lord wanted. In Texas, I was able to teach my people and create an African branch.”

A week after returning from his mission, Smith was sealed to his family in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. He then set a goal to attend BYU-Hawaii. He said his path wasn’t easy, first having to study at Utah Valley University before transferring. He said, “Coming here isn’t easy. This is a special school and special people come here.”

Smith’s family now lives in Draper, Utah, and his sister is currently serving a mission in Chile. He plans to go back to Africa on a humanitarian trip. Smith is studying business management and works for BYUH Security.

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Fe ature College students Naoto and Ruisa Inamori have been surffor onathe web married year but dated before while waiting in mutually line. his mission.

They decided AP. to breakPhoto up butbyemailed each week while he was a missionary.

Photo by Olivia Tsan

Building a lasting relationship Naoto and Ruisa Inamori share their three-year love story

BY GOSUKE KAWA NO

Naoto Inamori, a sophomore studying information systems, said his diligent efforts and inspiration allowed him to tie the knot with his wife, Ruisa, who just finished high school in Japan and is now working in Kualoa Ranch.

Naoto said he saw her for the first time at a Tokyo single adult conference. He said he admired her from a distance and waited for a chance to approach her. “What attracted me the most was how pure and clean she was,” said Naoto. “She was more beautiful than just cute.”

Naoto said he managed to get her contact information through Ruisa’s friend and asked her to go on a date.

The two lived in cities almost 300 miles apart, so for their first date Naoto gave Ruisa a tour of his hometown of Osaka. After the tour, Inamori said they kept in touch through email, then eventually started Skyping.

Ruisa said the more time they spent getting to know each other, the stronger they fell for each other.

She said she was interested in having a relationship with him, but he said he didn’t have any intention to get serious with anyone before his mission.

Ruisa said, “He is very sensible in things he does such as managing money, and planning to name a few. So I thought if I got married to this person, he would work hard and be trustworthy.”

Naoto said he thought about the time he spent with her and decided it would be worthwhile to take their relationship more seriously. “I felt she might be someone I can keep having a thing going with after my mission.”

Naoto then went to BYU-Hawaii for a semester before leaving for the Sendai Mission in Japan. Before he left, the couple mutually decided to break up. Naoto said they emailed each other every week without any serious

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romantic context. Naoto said, “I wanted to keep her by my side, so I wrote to her every week.”

Before retuning from his mission, Naoto wrote to Ruisa the day and time he would like to meet at the temple. He met up with her with his name tag still on and the two attended a session together with both sets of parents.

Naoto said he told Ruisa a week later he wanted to take her the Disneyland in Tokyo, where he would later express his desire to get back together and work towards a temple marriage. Naoto recalled, “When I went out with her the first time after my mission, I felt that I would marry this person, and I have been planning for the marriage budget since then.”

A friend, Kodai Otahara, a sophomore human resources major from Japan, said, “They are a very lovely couple who celebrate their wedding anniversary every month!” His wife Aoi, a Japanese tour guide, said, “It is so obvious to see how much Naoto loves Ruisa.”

Naoto returned to BYUH and maintained a seven-month long-distance relationship before they got engaged.

Ruisa said she already knew he was going to ask her to marry him, but she “was happy to hear his decision of taking the next step with me. I also got embarrassed to see how hard he was trying to choose the right words to say to me.”

The Inamoris were married in the Japan Tokyo Temple on March 5, 2016 and now live at TVA. The couple said they plan to move to Tokyo, Japan where Naoto hopes to get a job at an IT company after graduating.

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Fe ature

Pioneer in the Pacific LDS Church was established in the Marquesas Islands through one mother’s faith B Y B RO O K LYN RE D D

From top left clockwise: Sheeba O’Connor, Shirley O’Connor Tovey, Robert O’Connor and Ziella O’Connor. The matriarch of the family said she was the only member of the LDS Church in Marquesas Islands moving there with her then non-member husband.

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Ziella Kahiti Vivish O’Connor, born and raised in the LDS Church in Tahiti, said the journey of being the first and only member when she moved to the French Polynesian island of Marquesas was not always easy.

She said she moved away from Tahiti when she met her husband, Robert Pierre Haaiiau O’Connor. She then had to move into his house in the Marquesas. Because he was not a member of the church at the time, Ziella O’Connor became the only member in the entire country, a situation she said made her feel alone.

Even though there weren’t any other members around, she said she kept her principles and continued to carry her scriptures and a hymn book with her. She said she stayed faithful to the Lord. “I prayed all the time to overcome [my trials] and stay active,” she said.

Ziella O’Connor said throughout the years she always talked to her husband, who was Catholic at the time, about the gospel and how it was not right for their children to be baptized at such a young age.

He told her if the church came to their island one day, then he would join. Holding him to his commitment, Ziella O’Connor kept her hopes high and dreamed someday she would be able to attend church again, but this time with her family.

According to her, it took 10 years until her husband accepted the gospel and allowed their children to be baptized. After their baptisms, they became the first LDS family of the Marquesas.

About his conversion story, Robert O’Connor said, “Seeing the kids growing up, I asked Heavenly Father, ‘How am I going to teach those kids?’ He said seven years later a missionary couple came to the island and answered his question.

Acting on his promise, he said he began investigating the church with the senior couple in 1989 and then decided to get baptized. He said when missionaries from other churches visited him before, he did not have a good feeling. “But something was different about the LDS senior couple,” he said.

Ziella O’Connor said, “We first started a little group as a family and little by little people began to join the church.” She said they started with their family of 10 and today there are now 124 members in the Marquesas Islands. She said it’s a blessing being the first member and being able to witness the growth of the church.

Her daughter, Shirley Tekura O’Connor Tovey, a coordinator of Student Leadership Activities and Service and an instructor of French and EIL, said her father was the bishop for over 20 years and is now the district president while his son is his first counselor.

Tovey said because her mother did not give up and kept her faith, there is now a branch, members, and a church building on the island.

“Because of my mother’s faith, endurance, and since bringing my dad into the church, it is a testimony to me and to my family that the church is true.”

Sheeba O’ Connor, a freshman majoring in TESOL, gave another example of her mother’s character. She said one day when she was 12 years old, her mother brought home a homeless person to stay with them. “She went to the store to buy some clothes, soap, and food for him. My parents paid for his ticket to go back to France and a ticket to France is so expensive. He stayed with us for about six months.

“Every morning at 5:30 we would read the scriptures and he saw how our family is, which seemed to impress him. After 10 years, he returned to visit our family again and was baptized into the church. He said, ‘I remember what you told me and I wanted to learn more.’”

Sheeba O’Connor continued, “My mom is my hero. She loves Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much. She does everything to help, love, and serve people around her. I love her so much and it is a blessing and a privilege to be her daughter.”

Robert O’Connor said his wife’s faith is like metal. It’s strong and cannot be broken. He said he hopes all six islands will eventually have a chapel since there is only one chapel in the entire country.

Fe ature Two local sisters, Theresa Ducret, left, and Napua Baker, right, talk about BYU-Hawaii and serving others.

Photo by Chantal Hopper

Napua Baker Award Sisters Napua Baker and Theresa Ducret leave legacies of service in the community

BY A LYSSA ODOM

A new management award was created and named in honor of retired BYU-Hawaii Vice President of University Advancement V. Napua Baker at the annual employee appreciation dinner on Thursday, March 16 in the Cannon Activities Center with the first recipient being Campus Distribution Manager Kaliki Unga.

Baker was introduced by her sister Theresa Ducret, who said Baker has had a rich and meaningful impact on BYUH and the community of Laie.

In 1993, Baker was appointed as the first-ever woman vice president of any LDS Church university. She worked at the university for 27 years before retiring in 2008. Ducret followed in her sister’s footsteps becoming a manager at the university and also a leader in the community. Baker said she and her sister are more than just family—they are truly each other’s best friend.

“We have both overcome many trials in our lives—coincidentally many of the same trials. We both have become single moms raising a family, sought out similar educations, and have followed similar career paths as well. These trials were endured because of the knowledge we have of the gospel, and we were able to receive an education because of this church,” Baker said.

Throughout the course of their lives, both Baker and Ducret have had to lead their families on their own because their husbands’ died. Both sisters said they have maintained a positive outlook on life that has allowed them to overcome their trials and serve as leaders and counselors to those in need.

Ducret said, “We have been through many challenges, both together and alone, but ultimately those challenges have become profound blessings in our lives. The gospel is the ultimate foundation of our lives. Thanks to the power of the Atonement, goodly parents, and great examples to follow, it has provided 96

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a chance for us each to find our own desire to gain a testimony.”

The sisters both said their parents did not receive a formal education and always counseled their children to do all they could to gain an education of their own. “Our parents both had to work to support our family and were never able to gain an education because of this. We both knew that we wanted to go to college,” said Ducret.

The sisters were born and raised on the island of Molokai, and both attended Church College of Hawaii when it was a two-year college. They earned their bachelor’s degrees from BYU at Provo, and both received internships that paid for them to earn their master’s degrees in education administration there.

“One by one, we were able to come give back to the community that gave us so much.

At this point in our lives, we were prepared with both the work experience as well as the education that was necessary,” said Ducret.

Baker said they were always inspired by their grandmother, Emma. “Grandma Emma was raised in Laie and taught school in Kahuku.

She taught [back] when the classes were all grades combined, and she had to ride horseback to school every day. We learned so much from our grandma. She inspired us to be better mothers and teachers.

“Most importantly, however, she was an example of unwavering faith as she always made scripture study a priority. One of our fondest memories is listening to her pray in fluent Hawaiian. It was during those moments when we could most strongly feel her special spirit,” she said.

Baker eventually came back to the North Shore and purchased her great-grandparents, the Makahanohanos, home in Laie.

Baker was known among her colleagues as a mother figure to all students, according to her sister. Ducret said, “So many students

have been within the walls of Napua’s home, whether it be for a meal, for guidance, or for a place to live. She was an excellent role model they could relate to, and she gave them the courage to face their trials.”

In 1956, Ducret said she had the opportunity to serve as the Student Association secretary at Church College of Hawaii. Through this position, she said she had the opportunity to present a lei to President David O. McKay during a devotional held in the old chapel.

Baker said, “It is such an incredible feeling to be in the presence of a prophet of the Lord. It is a blessing beyond anything we could have ever planned for.”

Baker stressed the importance of recognizing all blessings come from God. “It is through His enabling power that we are able to learn, grow, and accomplish things beyond our natural capacities.”

FIRST RE C I PI E N T I S KA L I KI UN G A

Called a “servant leader” who expresses his appreciation daily for the hard work of his employees and inspires them to learn and grow individually, says information about why he should receive the employee award, Kaliki Unga was the first to receive the V. Napua Baker Management Award from BYUH. The nomination information says Unga’s has the ability to work hard alongside his employees, is patient, has a good sense of humor, and emphasizes working in a safe environment.

Unga’s example in the workplace and community, it continues, shows he truly supports the mission of the university, which the BYUH website says is “to integrate both spiritual and secular learning, and to prepare students with character and integrity who can provide leadership in their families, their communities, their chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God.”

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Fe ature College Royden “Roy”students Christensen the Nielsen’s web takessurf Dr. on Doug while waiting in place as directorline. of Health Services.Photo PhotobybyAP. Olivia Tsan

New doctor in the house The new director of Health Services makes a long-anticipated comeback to Laie

BY LESLIE OWUSU

Royden Christensen, the new director of Health Services, said he is happy to be back in Laie and is devoted to taking care of the patients and staff at BYU-Hawaii. He said, “As the new director of Health Services, first and foremost my responsibility is to take care of the patient.

“No. 2 is taking really good care of the staff. Without No. 2, No. 1 can’t happen. I’m a believer that the customer is always right, but I want to make sure the staff isn’t ignored.”

The youngest of five boys, Dr. Christensen was born in Tonga while his father was serving as a mission president, but he grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Dr. Christensen said, “For the last 15 years, we have lived in Prosser, Washington, with our three kids working at a small town practice. We loved it there, but we always felt Laie calling to us. Every couple of years, I’d call Dr. Nielson and ask, ‘Hey are there any openings?’ to which he would reply, ‘No, not right now,’” said Christensen.

In preparation for Dr. Doug Nielson’s retirement, the job position was posted and Christensen’s sister-in-law, Perry Christensen’s wife, Martha, informed them about it.

Roy said, “I applied, and for my cover letter, I wrote about both my wife and I. After reviewing my application, they even asked me, ‘So are you or your wife applying?’ So I wrote a new cover letter. They asked me for an interview, and I recently found out that they liked everything in the interview, but they didn’t like my hair.” At the time, he said he had longer hair and was out of Honor Code standards.

“After the interview, I didn’t hear back for two weeks. I thought that I didn’t get it, but my 98

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wife remained faithful and knew. She would tell me, ‘You got the job. Don’t worry about it.’ She always knew. I’m like doubting Thomas.

“They overlooked the hair and hired me,” he added.

Dr. Christensen said he officially became the new director on Jan. 9, and his favorite thing so far is having good conversations with people here. “In my previous job, most people weren’t LDS, but you could still feel the Spirit [talking with them about personal things].

Often times, symptoms were related to mental health and a lot of mental health issues are related to the Savior.”

He said no matter how many scriptures you read, depression and anxiety can still endure. “I loved talking to them about it. I often asked, ‘Do you believe in God?...What are you doing about it?’ I found that a lot of people weren’t doing anything about it. They believed, but they didn’t take action.”

Coming to work here is not the first time Dr. Christensen has lived in Laie. His family moved to Hawaii after he graduated from high school for his father, James P. Christensen’s, new job as the president of the Polynesian Cultural Center in 1988, according to lds.org.

Christensen then studied at BYUH as a premed student.

When asked how the transition to an island has been, he said, “Small town medicine is kind of what we do already. In Washington, it was as if we were on an island already.

“After I got the job, I wanted to talk with Dr. Nielson. I came here in October. He gave me a complete history of the clinic. He was here for 33 years. We’re totally missing him. He was such an incredible and giving man.”

Christensen said, “I want people to know that they are very welcome to come to the clinic. Our mission is to take great care of the students, staff, and anyone who walks through the door. That’s our pledge to give great care.”

Perry Christensen, an associate professor who teaches EIL, TESOL, and religion, is one of Christensen’s older brothers. He said, “He was the student body vice president while he was a student here. I claim that I rigged the election. I had him and his running mate attend an EIL lecture series and talk about the importance of voting. They didn’t tell the audience to vote for them. They just talked about voting in general, but I think when the students who attended went to vote, they didn’t know anyone else on the ballot so they voted for Roy. I got him elected.”

Dave Kader, a medical assistant at the Health Center, said, “Having Dr. Christensen here has been great. He is really kind and takes his time with patients. It’s nice to work with someone who has that much care and passion.

You can tell he loves his job.”

Marie Yagin, a registered nurse at the Health Center, said Dr. Christensen has a good sense of humor and likes to teach. “He is always smiling and he has a lot of compassion. I feel like I’ve known him forever.”

Dr. Christensen said, “My favorite thing about BYUH is eating at the cafeteria with my brother every Tuesday and Thursday.”

While he is not working, Christensen said he loves to sleep and has an impeccable talent for snoring. He also likes to exercise and eat.

His son, Nathan, is a freshman at BYUH and his wife and two younger children will be joining them here in June.

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C ampus L i fe College students College students Takuya Ogasawara surf onsurf the on web web said he stood the in chestwhile waiting in line.line. whilewater waiting high in thein PCC Photo by AP. Photo lagoon and usedbyhisAP. feet to find a customer’s cellphone she had dropped into the water.

Miraculously he found it and was able to fix the water-logged phone.

Photo by Olivia Tsan

PCC Japanese tour guide’s ser vice inspires co-workers Takuya Ogasawara shares his motivation to serve and a miraculous experience from serving

BY GOSUKE KAWA NO

Takuya Ogasawara, a multi-purpose tour guide at the Polynesian Cultural Center, shared what he considered to be a workplace miracle after saving a visitor’s phone from the depths of the lagoon.

Ogasawara, a junior from Japan studying international cultural studies, said he was helping push canoes when one of his guests dropped her cellphone in the water while taking pictures.

“When the cell fell,” Ogasawara said, “she was crying since she was a high school student, and I bet it had many precious memories in it.” Although he was not sure if he could find the phone, Ogasawara said he was going to search for it.

According to Ogasawara, the phone fell in the deepest part of the lagoon where the water came up over his chest. He was able to find it by feeling around the lagoon floor with his feet, but sustained several bruises from submerged debris in the process.

“The cell was dead, and I wasn’t sure if I could fix it. The submergence of a cell is one of the most difficult problems to be dealt with,” he said, “To be honest, I thought I couldn’t fix it.”

Knowing alcohol displaces water, Ogasawara said he immersed the phone in liquid alcohol and the phone turned back on.

“Everything, including speakers, were all dead, but I fixed them all and was able to give it back to her,” he said.

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When he reflected on this experience, he said he simply did what any other person would do. “I just did it and was fortunate to have been able to fix it. I feel that by small things, big things could be brought to pass as the scripture says. We can see miracles by doing small things.”

Jimmy Mapu, a PCC guest service manager from Laie, said Ogasawara is a dedicated employee.

“He is always looking for ways to improve the way he serves both customers and his co-workers. He holds himself to a very high standard and does his best to help others reach those same standards,” said Mapu.

Karlie Ellingson, a Japanese tour guide and a sophomore from Alaska studying graphic design, said, “He always goes above and beyond, always to help out. Not just to tour guides, but he always goes above and beyond to make sure everyone is having fun.”

Another Japanese tour guide, Ibuki Kishi, a senior from Japan studying accounting, added, “Takuya is really thinking about others even outside of work and seeking to take actions to help others; not focusing on his own gains.”

Ogasawara said he is motivated to serve and improve by a scripture found in Alma 1:3. He said, “We do things to gain fame or recognition from time to time in our life, but we ought to do things to glorify God, not to seek our own profits.”

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Fe a t u r e

Volleyball Moms

BY PATR ICK CA MPBELL

Two a t h l e t e s t a l k

Profile: Lacy Lange

about balancing

Lacy Lange, a senior from Las Vegas majoring in elementary education, is married to Casey Lange. Their daughter, Braelyn, is 10 months old.

Lange began honing her volleyball skills at a young age. Her father played volleyball at the collegiate level and his skills were not lost on Lange.

“My dad coached volleyball all while I was growing up so I practiced with his teams, but I didn’t officially start playing with a team until I was 12.”

As a standout high school volleyball player, making first team all-conference and being voted team MVP, Lange knew she would receive an offer to play volleyball in college but wasn’t sure where to go.

“I was a senior in high school and I had already ruled out BYU-Hawaii because of the dorms. But one morning I woke up late in my senior year and said, ‘I want to go to BYUH.’ So my dad sent my film to a coach here he knew, and the next day they offered me a scholarship.”

After a year in the program, Lange started to settle in and began dating her future husband.

“Corey and I met my sophomore year here. We met through the Athletic Department since he was playing basketball. We talked for the first time in the training room, but we didn’t really officially start talking until the library and we hit it off. You know what they say: The rest is history.”

relationships, school & spor ts Profile: Leilani Adolpho

Leilani Adolpho, a junior in exercise science elementary education who attended Kahuku High School, is married to Kaena Adolpho. They live in Hauula with their three children: two daughters, Aleija (6) and Bria (3), and son Keoni (5).

“I started playing volleyball for the first time when I was 8,” Adolpho said. “I learned on the beach and on grass courts because back then we couldn’t afford to get gym time, and then for the tournaments we would play on actual courts.”

Adolpho carried on the proud tradition of elite volleyball talent at Kahuku High when she was named to the Oahu Interscholastic Association Second Team Eastern Division I during her senior year. She received and accepted a scholarship offer from NCAA Division I Wright State University in Ohio.

“I played there for one year and then I came back home to Laie,” Adolpho said. “My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We dated long distance when I left to play volleyball in Ohio. He was playing football at New Mexico State and I was at Wright State, but then we both came back and got married and had three kids.”

After they started their family, Adolpho said she never expected to play volleyball on the collegiate level again. “It had been over five years, and I had barely touched a ball. But then I ran into Coach Mona and she invited me to come back to try and play volleyball, and my husband said, ‘Yeah, why don’t you go?’ My response was, ‘Because I haven’t touched a ball in five years and I have three kids.’ But I went and tried out,” she said.

Teammate Lacy Lange joked, “On her first day back, she was lifting three times more than any of the other returning players.”

Adolpho gives the credit to her Crossfit training, one of her hobbies listed on her roster profile on the BYUH Athletics page.

“I kept going to practices and no one had said I was cut,” said Adolpho. “Then Coach Mona offered me a scholarship, and since then I’ve been blessed to play these two seasons.”

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Leilani Adolpho is a full-time student athlete and mother.

Photo by Monique Saenz

Lacy Lange gave birth to her daughter in December 2015, and returned to being a fulltime student athlete. Photo by Monique Saenz FALL 2017 103

Fe ature

Left: Lacy Lange hits the ball during a game as Leilani Adolpho looks on.

Center: Lacy Lange and husband, Corey, stand after his basketball game

Adolpho added, “We joke about it sometimes, but we literally think BYUH is the only place where you can have moms on a team and have it be a family environment.” ost collegiate athletes’ lives are

Both women said their husbands help to dedicated to their sport, but for two of make it possible to play collegiate volleyball BYU-Hawaii’s starting players on the and be moms at the same time. women’s volleyball team, being a mom matters Adolpho said, “I really wouldn’t be able to much more. do this without my husband and my family, be “We really want to be moms first,” said cause my husband works the night shift helping Leilani Adolpho, a mother of three from the kids with homework and making dinners Hauula majoring in exercise science secondary while I practice, and then I take the mornings education. on, getting the kids ready to go to school. I’m

“The things we as moms have to do, it’s just blessed and grateful for the husband I have crazy, but we do the crazy things to make it who loves and supports me in doing something work because we really love our families and I love.” we love volleyball.”

Both ladies were adamant that without

Because of the grueling schedule of coltheir husbands, their dreams of playing vollege sports, it is incredibly rare for a single leyball at this time in their lives would not be member of a collegiate women’s volleyball possible. Both husbands played or currently team to be a mom, let alone two. But for Adol- participate in collegiate athletics, one of the pho and Lacy Lange, a senior right side hitter many things the two share in common. Adolfrom Nevada majoring in elementary education, pho’s husband, Kaena Adolpho, played football it is part of the beauty of playing volleyball at at New Mexico State. Lange’s husband, Corey BYUH. Lange, is currently a shooting guard on the

“People on other teams find out we’re Seasiders men’s basketball team. married and freak out,” said Lange, who just

“We like our husbands’ competitive edge,” had her first child in December of last year. joked Adolpho.

“They find out we’re moms and they’re like,

Lange pointed out, “It helps that Corey ‘What!?’” is also on an athletic team here because he un-

Volleyball moms

M

104 K E ALAKA I

derstands. He loves basketball and has a passion for the game and so he knows and understands better than anyone my love for volleyball.”

They said Head Coach Mona Ah-Hoy also played a key role in making the possibility of being a mother and a volleyball player simultaneously a reality. Ah-Hoy was once in their same shoes herself.

“As a former student-athlete mom, I understand that trying to balance school, athletics, and being a mom can be tiring and challenging,” said Ah-Hoy. “Our team has a great admiration towards Leilani and Lacy and are very supportive. I personally have so much admiration for my student-athlete moms. To be able to juggle a life of being a student, athlete, and mother, I’m sure they would not have it any other way.”

Both athletes said Ah-Hoy’s experience and understanding makes them feel their motherhood is seen as a strength and not as a burden.

Ah-Hoy said she actually feels her player moms have an added balance to their lives and an extra drive to work for their children. “There is something about female athletes who return to sports after giving birth,” said Ah-Hoy. “They tend to come back with a new drive, energy, and maturity.”

On a recent team road trip to California for a volleyball tournament, Lange was unsure how her husband would be able to handle his

Adolpho agreed and offered, “The hardest fatherly duties plus school and basketball pracpart is time away from family, because as a tice all on his own. mom even after practice it never ends.You just

“Coach Mona offered to let me bring have to go because if you stop, then you think, Braelyn on our team’s road trips because she knows what it is like to be away from your kids, ‘Oh, look at everything I have to do,’ but you just got to keep going.” and she knows what it would be like for my

During the tough times, Lange and Adolhusband to watch her on his own,” said Lange. pho depend on their family for the motivation

Additionally, it was Ah-Hoy who invited and support to continue to push forward in Adolpho to get back into collegiate volleyball their practices, studies, and home life. after five years of full-time motherhood. And Adolpho said, “That’s one thing that keeps it was Ah-Hoy’s personal experience that made Adolpho feel comfortable with making the leap me up at night when I get home from practice back into college-level volleyball. and I just want to go to sleep. I think ‘If I finish my homework now, then I will have the whole

“We like that our coach can relate to us weekend to be with my kids.’ So that’s what because she knows what it’s like to have a kid and play college sports,” said Adolpho. “She is literally makes me go, ‘Okay, you have to do this now so you can have time.’ Otherwise, I sympathetic to us because she understands we wouldn’t have any time on the weekends for are moms. We’re tired. We’re busy. Sometimes my family.” things won’t be perfect.”

Lange added when she is at practice she

However, both moms made it clear usually thinks, “I better make this practice although it is a surreal and amazing experience worth it if I’m going to be spending time here to play for the Seasiders, it is not always the at the gym when I could be with my family. If easiest. Balancing family with an education and I’m already here, then I might as well give it my collegiate athletics takes a lot of energy and all.” makes both of them question their sanity every

For those who are struggling to achieve once in awhile. their educational or career goals, or to those

“When I get home I’m like, ‘Why am I struggling with challenges that seem unconeven in school right now? Why am I in volquerable, both Lange and Adolpho said to leyball?’ I just want to be a mom,’”confessed Lange. remember in the end it will all be worth it.

Adolpho said sometimes after a difficult practice, “I come home, and I’m so frustrated, and I’m crying to my husband.” But Adolpho said he reminds her she is doing this for her family. This motivates her to “just work harder and take one day at a time, and it will pay off in the end.”

Lange agreed with Adolpho. Keeping the end in mind can give perspective during the rough times. She emphasized it is okay to rely on others.

“My little sister just moved out here to help watch our daughter,” Lange said. Her sister sacrificed a lot to move to Laie, Lange said, but her help makes a difference. “I know I couldn’t do it without her, without my family, and without my husband.”

Both women look forward to a time when they can be full-time moms. But they said the lessons they are learning now from pursuing their passion to play volleyball will be worth it, not only for them, but also for their families.

Adolpho concluded, “I want to set that example for my children that no matter what, even when you are however old and three kids later, you can still do something you love and be good at it.”

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Fe ature College students surf on the web while waiting in line.

Photo by AP.

From counselor to professor B Y GO SU K E KAWAN O

Eric Orr becomes psychology faculty, wants to help students become counselors Dr. Eric Orr finished his time as a school counselor at the BYU-Hawaii Counseling Office in February and made the transition to becoming an assistant professor of the BYUH Psychology Department in order to establish a clinical psychology program. He said though he felt joy as a counselor from seeing the changes in his former clients’ lives, he wanted to be a professor and help students prepare for their dream careers.

“I am looking forward to helping future counselors discover their talents and their abilities in counseling,” said Orr. “I’ve been hired to establish the clinical program in the Psychology Department. What I’m looking forward to doing is helping people discover those abilities within them and hone or practice those abilities so they can become good at it - so they are either ready for graduate school in counseling or working in some sort of counseling-related profession after they graduate from here.”

As a school counselor, Orr said he has met and advised students on a variety of issues. He said he tells students, “Have balance in your life, exercise, have a good diet, take good sleep, have good relationships, make sure to play, don’t just study, and do your [church] calling.” He said fulfilling callings is important to discover one’s personal calling here on earth.

“Discover why you are here on earth. The earlier you figure out your calling, the more flow you will feel in life. Work on discovering what you want to do in your life. Discover where your talents and gifts are, and all classes will make more sense to you.”

As the Psychology Department welcomed Orr as a new professor, Department Chair Jess Kohlert said, “In psychology, the majority of the students are interested in counseling and clinical psychology. The rest of the faculty other than Dr. Orr are not clinicians or counselors, so he is going to round out our program and help those students who are really interested in those fields.”

Happy to have him on the team, Kohlert said, “We are very excited to have him on board and looking forward to him ... bringing real life experiences into the classroom for the students who are interested in those courses.”

Leilani Auna, the director of the Counseling Center, has worked with Orr for more than 18 years. Auna said, “Dr. Orr has helped many students over the years as well as saved lives.” She said he will be an excellent professor. “The students will learn a lot from him, especially with his background in counseling. Teaching is one thing, but having actual practical experience makes it even more meaningful when it comes to teaching.”

Orr’s dream to become a school counselor traces back to high school, he said, because of the positive influence his high school counselor had on him. “The school counselor I had really helped me discover myself and see the potential I had in my life. He helped me go from not good direction to good direction.”

Orr first came to BYUH as a graduate intern for a year back in 1999 when he was working on his doctorate. After a year-long contract, he was able to start working as a counselor full time.

As he reflected on his time as a school counselor, Orr said what he enjoyed the most about his job was “working with the students.” He said, “Assisting students who were in very difficult situations and points of their life and helping them go from their difficult situation or crisis to become successful by helping them overcome mental issues they were dealing with and move on to graduation and establishing their lives– that’s just very fulfilling.”

Orr said being a school counselor gave him the blessing of making changes in people’s lives and seeing the fruits of those changes. He said, “Having traveled to Asia and South Pacific and met some former clients or former students and see what work they are doing over… that’s just very satisfying. “ While he has left his former job of 17 years, Orr said he is looking forward to the next chapter of his new professional life.

Orr said he’s excited to help students from the target area of the school. “I really am thrilled for this opportunity to teach students who would like to become counselors to get them ready to be graduate students or actually working in South Pacific Asia.”

This semester, Orr is teaching Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 440) and two special topics classes: Community Mental Health and Advanced Psychotherapy. He also leads the clinical research team on campus.

For the Fall 2017 Semester, he plans to teach Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 440), Psychotherapy (PSYC 450), and Measurement and Evaluation (PSYC 310), which hasn’t been offered in several years.

“ Discover why you are here on

earth.The earlier you figure out your calling, the more flow you will feel in life.

”

After 17 years of working as a counselor on campus, Eric Orr is sharing his experience and expertise with students now as a Psychology professor. Photo by Chantal Hopper 106 K E ALAKA I

FALL 2017 107

LFe i feature st y le Abby Padilla worked six to eight hours a day building houses for families in Cape Verde through a Humanitarian EFY program. Photo by Kelsie Carlson

Building foundations in Cape Verde Leaving the families she served was the most heartfelt moment for Abby Padilla

BY LESLIE OWUSU

Abby Padilla, an undeclared freshman from Utah, spent two and a half weeks in Cape Verde building homes for families, and also a foundation for her desire to serve a mission.

Padilla said she heard about this opportunity through a friend and she quickly knew she wanted to participate in it. She said, “Motivation wise, I’ve always wanted to travel and this was a really good opportunity. But, most of all, was the fact of serving.”

“The week after I heard about it, the [LDS Church] came out with a letter to all the wards about involving yourself in humanitarian work.

It was more focused on helping refugees. I was kind of guided by the Holy Ghost in this sense.”

Padilla said the opportunity was organized through Humanitarian Especially For Youth.

She was amongst 15 youth and three adults.

The service trip took place during the first half of June and also had short stops in Boston and Portugal.

“We flew out of Boston to Portugal. In Portugal, we kayaked in Lisbon, ate dinner with members of the church, and had a little devotional. Then, from Portugal we got to Africa,” she said.

Padilla’s friend, Joseph Webb, a freshman from Colorado in marketing, said, “Traveling is intriguing for anyone, but to take time to go and serve others, especially as an 18 year old is admirable. In the church, maybe that’s a norm, but in the world’s standards that’s definitely not something people would choose to do.”

The group arrived in the city of Mindelo on the island of São Pedro and was ready to work. Padilla said the purpose of their trip was to build homes for families. “We were mixing cement, stacking the bricks, and digging the trenches and holes to start foundations. In

54 108 K E ALAKA I

homes that were more built, we would hammer through the blocks so that tubes could be put in,” she said.

She said they worked six to eight hours everyday from Monday to Friday. “It was hard work, but it was worth it,” said Padilla. “It was so awesome because we got to meet the families that we built the homes for. And we got to know their [stories] and why they needed the house.”

Despite the language barrier, Padilla said it was not hard to connect with them. She said, “They spoke Portuguese and Creole there… but through serving and loving them, [the language barrier] didn’t come up as an issue.”

Padilla said the trip has inspired her to learn Portuguese.

She said, “My favorite part was actually playing with the kids. We would build the houses and we would take breaks. The little kids would just swarm us and we would play games with them.”

“Our suitcases were packed with toys and candies to give them. It was just all together a really neat experience. I would say just seeing the kids really happy, and just seeing the people of Africa so happy, even though they had so little, was incredible. We were able to give them this service of being their friends and building their homes. It was just the coolest experience ever. I really miss it.”

She said during their non-working hours, they would play with the children, go to the beach, eat at restaurants, and participate at local wards.

Padilla said the group even got to travel to the capital of Cape Verde, a city called Praia on the island of Santiago. “We did lots of shopping, went to markets, and got souvenirs. I got a sea

turtle necklace that I really love and I have a dress that I got from there,” she said.

From all of her experiences, Padilla said the most heartfelt moment was parting ways with the families because of their extreme gratitude.

She said the experience was an answer to her prayers in terms of preparing for a mission. “I still have about a year until I go, but we would go to family home evenings and be surrounded by a language I didn’t know.”

“It was all sorts of different experiences preparing me for something bigger. It was great preparation for my mission, and a whole new window to a possible career in working in humanitarian stuff. After that experience, I really want to invest myself in helping those who are less fortunate than I am. It was a really humbling experience all together. I recommend it to anyone,” she said.

Brooke Parkinson, a junior from Utah majoring in marine biology, is a friend and roommate to Padilla. Parkinson said, “She’s honestly one of my best friends. She is a very hard worker and when something needs to be done, she’ll do it. She’ll help anyone. She’s a very giving person.”

Parkinson continued, “I don’t think people understand how kind her heart is, because honestly every single day she does so many things for me. I think a lot of people don’t understand the degree of kindness that she has.”

Padilla said multiple groups of volunteers go to work on the same homes in Cape Verde, and they are able to monitor the progress of the construction through Facebook.

FALL 2017 109

V

iliami Tolutau created a bronze relief as part of the centennial celebration of LDS missionary work in Tonga, which the king and queen of Tonga attended. Tolutau also made sculptures for the grand re-opening of the International Marketplace in Honolulu. He said, “I want people to understand the significance of the message behind my work instead of focusing solely on the physical bronze sculptures.”

C mr ue nrei t y FeoFe amt uatu

Sculpting to preserve history

IN TON G A

A r t i s t ’s wo r k c e l e b r a t e s t h e h i s t o r y o f H aw a i i a n d a l s o t h e L D S C h u r c h i n To n g a

BY HA ILEY RA S M U S S E N

BYU-Hawaii sculpting professor Viliami Tolutau stands in front of his sculptures of King Kamehameha IV, and his son Prince Albert. They are on display in the International Marketplace. Photo by Monique Saenz

Tolutau, a BYU-Hawaii sculpture professor from Tonga, said he helped create the monument to LDS missionary work in Tonga. He said it took the collaboration of an architect, a carpenter, Area Authorities and members of the Quorum of the Seventy. BYUH students from Tonga and seven LDS stakes in Tonga danced during the celebratory festival.

Presiding at the celebration was President Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Also in attendance was Elder John H. Groberg of the Seventy, a former missionary and mission president in Tonga. The film, “The Other Side of Heaven,” is based off his story. Elder Groberg, acquainted with the royal family since he was a young missionary, hosted the king and queen at several events and thanked them for allowing freedom of religion in the kingdom and for their support of the centennial.

Also nine of the 11 living mission presidents attended the celebration. Among them was Eric B. Shumway, former president of BYUH, who edited a book for the centennial, “Tongan Saints, Legacy of Faith.” Shumway is also known as “Faivaola,” his chiefly title that was given to him since his early missionary days in 1959. He gave the opening remarks at the gathering. Retired BYUH faculty member and a former Tonga Mission president, Isileli T. celebration.

Kongaika was also at the celebration.

Tolutau’s bronze relief, that is part of the monument, is of the 1891 King Siaosi Tuku’aho, who is the great-grandfather of the present-day king of Tonga. The relief, which is a sculpture coming out of the flat surface, rests on one of the six sides of the monument. The other sides have plaques telling the story of the establishment of the LDS church in Tonga.

Continued page112 44 Continued on on page 42 110 K E ALAKA I

OCTOBE R 2017 2016 111 43 FALL

C ommu n it y Fe ature

Viliami Tolutauexplains explains the the significance significance ofofeach sculpture in Honolulu at the Marketplace.

Center: A monument erected to erected display the Left:Left: Viliami Tolutau each sculpture in Honolulu atInternational the International Marketplace.

Center: A monument to significance of the LDS Church Tonga and the in the area.efforts Photo courtesy of Viliami Tolutau.

Right:ofTolutau’s Toa Aupiu, was display the significance of theinLDS Church in missionary Tonga andefforts the missionary in the area.

Photo courtesy Viliami grandson, Tolutau. Right: Tolutau’s the model for the statue of young Hawaiian Prince Albert and stands next to the statue in the same pose. Photos by Monique Saenz grandson, Toa Aupiu, was the model for the statue of young Hawaiian Prince Albert and stands next to the statue in the same pose. Photos

Continued from 43111 Continued frompage page

Tolutau said, “Siaosi Tuku’aho was key to the establishment of the LDS Church in Tonga.

He helped the missionaries obtain a plot of land to build a school where they taught the children of Tongan families. Eventually, parents would come to them with an interest in learning about the gospel. The king’s son attended this school once it was built, but it wasn’t until years later that someone from from the royal familyfamily was baplater that someone the royal was tized. baptized.

“Tupou Moheofo was the first member baptized from the royal family, and there is a plaque for her on the monument. King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipau’u, the present-day king and queen of Tonga, are both descendants of lady Tupou Moheofo. Tolutau said even though they are not members, they came to the celebration because their great-grandmother was baptized in the LDS Church.

Looking at the history of LDS missionary work in Tonga, President Nelson noted the progress of the infant church was slow. “It was 44 K E ALAKA I 112

many years before the Book of Mormon was translated into the Tongan language. But, from the beginning, there has been a constant stream of missionaries of great faith here in Tonga.”

According to the Church News, His Majesty King George Tupou VI unveiled the monument in Tonga on Aug. 8 that recognizes the landing and welcome of the first Mormon missionaries to Tonga in 1891.

Tolutau said, “I think the king was touched. I believe he realized how instrumental his ancestors were in paving the way for the church.” Tolutau said he feels the bond between the church and the Royalty of Tonga has been strengthened through this celebration.

Tolutau said King Tupou VI’s son is a member of the church and he is an ordinance worker in the Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple. Tolutau said he goes by his name without his title while working inside the temple.

The monument tells the story of missionary work in Tonga, and Tolutau said he hopes

the story will be remembered and shared. It has a base with six sides, with each side dedicated to different people who played a significant role in the establishment of the church.

On the top of the monument is a kali, or a wooden pillow, with the word “uho” written underneath it.

Tolutau explained that uho is a Tongan word that is synonymous with an umbilical cord and the pith of a tree, which is the core of a tree. It conveys the idea of nutrients being passed from the supplier to the receiver.

Tolutau said he wants ancestral knowledge to be passed on to people. He said the way this is done is through parents, mothers particularly, spending time with their children as they fall asleep and tell them lessons and stories of the past. He said this is why the Tongan pillow tops the monument.

As part of the celebration and festivities, a showcase performance for the king was held on Aug. 14. Some of the participants included

Tongan students attending BYUH and associated with the Polynesian Cultural Center, who performed the dances of other cultures of the South Pacific. seven-stake dance dance festival, festival, held held in in the the AA seven-stake Teufaiva Outdoor Stadium, was held on Aug. 15. Nearly 3,000 young performers streamed onto the field in a seemingly endless procession, each attired in a brilliant hand-sewn costume. They formed a giant “LDS,” and then formed a giantAs “LDS,” and then a “100” andThey released balloons. they pera “100” and released balloons.

As they performed, their collective wholesomeness was formed, their collective wholesomeness was touching to many, reported the LDS Church touching to many, reported the LDS Church News.

News.Feasting followed the performances. As performances.

As Elder Feasting Douglas followed J. Martin,the a member of the QuoElderofDouglas J. Martin, a member of the Quorum the Seventy, observed, “It is not a good rum to of the observed, “It is not a good year be aSeventy, pig in Tonga.” year toElder be aGroberg pig in Tonga.” said, “In most of the world, said, are “In most thehere in peopleElder love Groberg others if they loved.ofBut world, they people love others if they are loved. But Tonga, love everybody.” here in Tonga, they love everybody.”

IN HAWA II

Tolutau’s wife, Sheila Tolutau, from Alaska and a nurse at Kahuku Medical Center, said her husband was asked to make a sculpture for the “re-envisioned International Marketplace” in downtown Honolulu. Some might remember this part of downtown as a mini swap meet.

“They gutted it and built a three-floor structure for high-end shopping and dining catering to tourists,” said Sheila Tolutau. Business Wire stated it now holds a world-class lineup of restaurants and retailers.

“A percentage of the profits made from the businesses that occupy that space goes to the Queen’s Medical Center,” said Sheila Tolutau. She said there is an area on the ground floor called the Queen’s Court where her husband’s sculptures of Queen Emma, King Kamehameha IV and their little son,Prince Albert, are found. Viliami Tolutau said he made the king without a beard to portray how young he was when he passed away. “The quality of

healthcare in Hawaii was so poor and the king pressed this issue until he died at an early age,” said Sheila Tolutau. Viliami Tolutau said the king is depicted petitioning passersby to support advancement in healthcare in Hawaii.

Viliami Tolutau said since Queen Emma’s husband and son died before she did, he installed them in different places in the Queen’s Court. The king and the prince are located next to each other on one side of the stage while Queen Emma stands on the opposite side.

He said the queen appears to be more serious because she was the one who took responsibility for pressing the issue for better healthcare in Hawaii. A part of her efforts resulted in the establishment of the Queen’s Medical Center.

Viliami Tolutau made the ceramic sculptures for each of his bronze forms at BYUH, and his grandson,Toa Aupiu, was the model for Prince Albert.

FALL OCTOBE R 2017 2016 113 45

Stu dFe e nt Travel ature

Alumnae ser ve in refugee camps Recent graduates travel to France to help out with refugee relief programs

BY A LEX MA LDONA DO

Top: Rebecca Sabalones went to France to volunteer in refugee camps. Middle: Victoria Jaques in one of the camps. Below: Refugee camps house people waiting for papers to allow them to enter England. Photos courtesy of Rebecca Sabalones

38 114 K E ALAKA I

Two BYUH alumnae set off to serve refugees in Europe this past summer after being inspired by a talk given in General Conference about the current refugee crisis.

“These people are vulnerable,” recent ICS grad Rebecca Sabalones said, “They have no nation and no government to back them up.

They have very few people on their side who can help them.”

Sabalones, who is from Indiana, spent four days serving with her friend Victoria Jaques, an English major graduate from England, in two secluded refugee camps in the forests of France. While there, the two distributed food and clothing donated by local businesses and grocery stores, cleaned up trash around the camps, and met refugees from all over Africa and the Middle East.

Jaques said, “The most important thing I would want people to know about the refugee situation in France is the negative portrayals of refugees in the media is not a fair representation. While we were there we heard a lot of negativity from various sources about refugees being violent; but it’s important that people stay open minded.

“Everyone we encountered was seeking peace, and we were always treated with respect and kindness by all of the refugees. We also witnessed that, although they were essentially stuck, they were still incredibly resourceful and wanting to progress.”

According to Sabalones, the exact locations of the camps are being kept hidden from the public because the refugees have been targeted in the past by French citizens who don’t want them in their country.

Sabalones described the process of getting to the first camp in Dunkerque as: “We got off at a stop our friends had gotten off at the day before, and then they told us to go wait for this old white van near the stop.

“We go to the location they told us to go and there are like 15 people waiting; a couple of volunteers, but most of them refugees. It was pretty sketchy, but we were just going on faith, you know? Then the white van comes and it’s old and beat up, but it’s driven by a friendly white woman. We just got on without really knowing where we were going and not really knowing French or anything else. Bada bing, we’re there.”

Sabalones then spoke about getting to the other camp in Calais, “Once we get to the Calais camp, it was like stepping into a thirdworld country.”

Sabalones described “the Calais Jungle” after her time there. “The entire thing is laid with rocks, dirt and mud. It’s cold there even in the summer, but many were only wearing slippers, T-shirts, and shorts,” she said.

She continued, “There are no proper houses; most live in tents while the nicest dwellings there are made of thin wood boards and tarps. Some of the refugees have been there long enough that they have made small shops and restaurants. Those are the biggest ‘buildings’ there, but they are still made of the same [materials].” She also mentioned the refugees can only use port-a-potties for latrines.

The Calais Jungle is home to 7,300 refugees as of July, according to BBC. Dunkerque sits about 25 miles east of the Calais Jungle and is home to about 3,000 refugees, according to Al Jazeera.

Jaques added, “The mood in the camps were pretty oppressive because litter was everywhere and the fences make you feel somewhat contained. However, I think there was a feeling of resilience there too; many people try to focus on where they want to go next.”

Sabalones said some of the refugees have been in the camps for several months, with a select few who have been there for longer than a year. She explained the refugees are waiting

for a chance to either get their papers to enter the United Kingdom or to sneak out and try to enter England illegally. Many who try the latter option leave the camps on trucks almost every night, Sabalones added.

Sabalones said it is also fairly common practice for western women to visit the camps, where refugee men will pay 6,000-8,000 pounds for her hand in marriage so he can apply for his immigration papers.

The organizations that got Sabalones and Jaques into the camps are Utopia 56 and L’Auberge des Migrants. Utopia 56’s website says, “Our goal is to mobilize and manage volunteers to help refugees concentrated in northern France. We work in cooperation with all the organizations working on this territory for a while and willing to collaborate. We organize about 2,700 volunteer work days a month and count 3,000 members.”

To volunteer at either of these organization, visit www.utopia56.com/en or the L’Auberge des Migrants Facebook page. The LDS Church’s website, iwasastranger.lds.org, is dedicated to helping people get involved with offering aid in the refugee effort.

Sabalones offered a word of advice, “Don’t believe everything you’re told [about refugees] and find out for yourself. If we had listened to the some of the bigger voices in our lives, we wouldn’t have had these opportunities or have met these people.....There is a plan and design for our lives and it is up to you to take it. Live without regret and allow love and understanding to take over fearful thoughts. Reach out!”

In Elder Patrick Kearon’s general conference talk, “Refuge from the Storm,” he promised, “Meeting refugee families and hearing their stories with your own ears, and not from a screen or newspaper, will change you.

Real friendships will develop and will foster compassion and successful integration.”

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Fe a t u r e

Mass killings remembered Student raises her country’s flag in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide

BY A LY S S A O D O M

S

Zara Manukyan dressed in a traditional Armenian dancing gown to raise with her country’s flag on April 24 in memory of

tudents gathered on April 24 in the Little Circle by raising the Armenian flag to honor those who lost their lives in a covered-up Armenian Genocide.

On that day in 1915, hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and distinguished people gathered in Istanbul and were later deported and murdered by the Turkish government during World War I. Zara Manukyan, a senior from Armenia studying social work, had the opportunity to raise the Armenian flag in honor of those who lost their lives. A group of students and friends of Manukyan gathered together at sunrise on the 24th to support her and show their respect for the victims.

Each person in attendance was given a blue paper flower to attach to their shirt. The flower, a forget-me-not, is symbolic of those lives and is a reminder to never forget those victims and the importance of the event.

Juliette Powell, a freshman from Texas studying piano performance, came to support her friend in the flag raising. She said she was touched by the love Manukyan exhibited for her country and for those who had passed.

Continues on Page 118

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The blue forget-me-not flower acts as a reminder to never forget the

Students gathered at the flags in the Little Circle and each person attached a blue paper flower to their shirts to pay Continued from Page 117

“Waking up at the crack of dawn was worth it to experience an event as solemn and genuine as this,” said Powell. “I am so thankful to have Zara as a friend and to have been able to learn more about her culture through her. Her efforts have unified not only the Armenians at this school, but also students from around the world as well.”

Alanna Norwood, a BYUH alumna from California who is half Armenian, said, “As soon as I got a glimpse of Zara and overheard her talking, I knew she was Armenian. We all have a special bond and we stick together. She looks just like all of my extended family and I was so excited. I ran right up to her and we’ve been friends ever since.”

According to Norwood, there are only four students, including herself, with Armenian heritage on BYUH’s campus.

Although Manukyan is the only student who grew up in Armenia, she said all of them connect through similar family traditions.

Manukyan said she felt honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to raise her flag and share her culture with her fellow students. She was dressed in a traditional Armenian dancing gown and passed out homemade Armenian bread to those in attendance. “April 24 is always such an important day back home, and I am happy that I am able to join together with the few Armenians here at BYUH and share that day with people from so many places,” said Manukyan.

“Because Armenia is small and many people have not heard about our history, I love to share our history and culture. I have found that the more people learn about our country and the genocide that occurred, the more they care about us and our culture.”

A new film, “The Promise,” was also released on April 21 to commemorate the event and bring worldwide attention to the tragedy of the genocide.

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The film is based in the time of the Ottoman Empire and follows a love triangle of an Armenian medical student, an American journalist, and a beautiful Armenian woman, states IMDb. com. The genocide has remained largely unrecognized for over a century as the Turkish government denies any role in the deaths of the Armenians, says The New York Times.

According to the article, a couple of years ago “Pope Francis referred to the killings as a genocide and faced a storm of criticism from within Turkey. Many countries, including France, Germany and Greece, have recognized the genocide, each time provoking diplomatic showdowns with Turkey.”

Now, more than 100 years later, the weight this topic carries on international relations between Turkey is still heavy. “The United States has not referred to the episode as genocide, out of concerns for alienating Turkey, a NATO ally and a partner in fighting terrorism in the Middle East,” reported The New York Times.

The film was also extremely controversial prior to it being released to the public. IMDb’s website said negative ratings flowed in after the first premier in 2016. “Before the first audience even left the theater, reviewers, suspected by many to be Turkish government-sponsored trolls, had submitted 4,000 negative ratings. That number reached tens of thousands before the movie was released.” The ratings page on IMDb.com has also received more than 86,000 user votes, which is more than “Finding Dory,” the highest grossing film of 2016.

Manukyan and Norwood said they were excited to see the release of the movie, both calling it “incredible.” Norwood said, “Armenians have a connection, and this movie has brought us even closer.”

From left to right are Jacob McGee, Audrey Acomb, Sam Brieden and Megan Carter holding a piece of Armenian bread.

Homemade Armenian bread, prepared by Zara Manukyan.

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From love to engagement Finding love by buying a bike, sitting next to an empty seat in class, talking on Skype and more B Y B ROO KLY N RED D

Jordan & Alex

Kamy & Kate

“I got so nervous and awkwardly left. So I left [for] home with no success and an extra bike.”

-Alex Moreno

“When he first walked in, it was kind of like the movies.”

- Kate Hedrick Tekurio

Alex Moreno and Jordan Porter. Photo by Chantal Hopper

Kamy Tekurio and Kate Hedrick. Photo by Olivia Tsan

NEE DLES S LY BUYIN G A B I K E

After a temple session and outside of the Laie Temple Visitor’s Center, Jordan Porter, a junior from California majoring in psychology, and her fiancé Alex Moreno, a junior from Mexico majoring in business management, told their love story.

Moreno said the first thing to catch his attention about his fiancé was her nose. “She has a beautiful nose,” said Moreno while his fiancé laughed. The two said they met in 2016 while working for BYUH Food Services. Moreno said it took him three months to get the courage to invite her to a game night with his friends.

Moreno said the first time he tried to ask Porter on a date, he got too nervous and backed down. He said one day she posted an ad for her bike on the BYUH Sell Your Stuff Facebook page, so he made a plan to pretend he was interested in buying so he could ask her out. He said, “I had a bike already,” to which Porter laughed and added, “And a longboard.”

Moreno said he was excited to meet with Porter for the exchange because it would be his first time seeing her outside of work. He planned 120 K E ALAKA I

A N EMPTY SEAT IN SPA NISH CLA SS

to tell her, “No thank you,” for the bike, but he wanted to ask her out on a date instead.

“That was my plan,” said Moreno. “But when I got there, I was really nervous and I couldn’t say no to the bike for some reason. So I bought her bike for $50, $50 that I didn’t really have. I got so nervous and awkwardly left. So I left [for] home with no success and an extra bike.”

Porter said she thought maybe he was trying to ask her out when she would talk to Moreno at work. She said, “Whenever he would talk to me the first couple of times, he asked me for my name twice as if he had forgotten it.” He responded, “I didn’t forget. I was just trying to not be too obvious…but I knew her name.”

Moreno said he finally got the courage to ask her out, then a week later they decided to be in a relationship. They were engaged in December and will be married in June. Porter said single people should trust in the Lord. “He has a plan for you. It wasn’t my plan to meet Alex this early in my life, but I am very grateful I did.”

The couple was inseparable as they entered the LDS stake center on campus for the interview; hands interlaced, both smiling brightly, teeth showing, dressed in matching shirts.

“We just love each other,” said Kamy Tekurio, a sophomore from Tahiti majoring in international cultural studies, who is engaged to Kate Hedrick, a senior from Oregon majoring in psychology.

Tekurio said he remembered the first time they met as if it were yesterday. When he arrived to his second day of class, he said the only available spot was next to her.

“I sat down, got to know her, and pretended I didn’t know anything about Spanish. I asked her if she could help me,” said Tekurio while Hedrick giggled.

Tekurio’s voice softened as he expressed how it was her kindness and calm, quiet personality that caught his attention. Looking directly at her face, placing his hand on her leg, he said, “She’s very sweet and gorgeous.” Hedrick responded smiling from cheek to cheek.

“When he first walked in, it was kind of like the movies,” said Hedrick, while Tekurio laughed. She said class had already started when in walked in a tall, handsome guy into the room.

Tekurio said he was nervous to ask Hedrick out on a date, but on Sunday, Nov. 22, he saw her at the cafeteria and found the courage to ask her on a date. He said they spent the rest of that Sunday at the temple, and ever since then his life was changed. The couple was married on March 1.

For single students, Hedrick said, “We think the best advice would be to work on coming closer to God yourself. When you are in your best stage in your life, God would put the person in your life that you need to go through life with. It sounds cliche but just pray about it. Ask God specifically to qualify you to be the right person instead of asking if the person you are dating is the right one.”

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Courtney & Ben

Tiffany & Spencer

“We really work on our communication because that is literally all we can do.”

-Courtney Bow

“I swore to myself I would never do a blind date.That was the last thing I wanted to do.”

-Spencer Nielsen

Courtney Bow and Ben Nielsen. Photo by Chantal Hopper

Spencer Nielsen and Tiffany Greer Nielsen. Photo by Chantal Hopper

SKYPE ST RENGT HE N S R E L AT I O N S H I P

For Courtney Bow and Ben Nielsen, a long-distance relationship is not impossible, they said.

Bow, a senior from California majoring in graphic design, and Nielsen, a senior from Mexico majoring in broadcast journalism at the University of Utah, said being distant from each other is challenging, but Skype helped strengthen their relationship.

“We really work on our communication because that is literally all we can do,” said Nielsen over a Skype call.

He continued, “Yesterday we Skyped for three hours. I set up my computer, and she set up hers. We talk while we are doing something else, mostly the entire time. To keep the relationship alive, we just keep Skype on,” he said.

Four years ago home from his mission for just two months, Nielsen said he met Bow at a BYUH basketball game. “It was my first semester at college. I was there by myself and didn’t know anybody. I met Courtney the first day, and she became my best friend in 72 hours.”

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BR OTHER SETS UP BLIND DATE

spent most of our time going to the beach,” said Nielsen. “Hiking and going to the beach,” Bow chimed in.

Over the past four years, with Bow going on a mission to Africa and Nielsen transferring schools, the couple continued to write and keep in contact through Skype but dated different people.

Nielsen said by dating other people, he knew Bow was the one.

“After meeting Courtney, everyone I talked to while she was on her mission was not Courtney. I knew because no one made me feel the same way,” said Nielsen.

Nielsen added, “It’s been a long time coming.” He said he has wanted to marry Bow for a long time, and he is finally getting his wish in May of 2017.

The couple said they are looking forward to a future together. They hope to eventually use the skills from their majors working for National Geographic as a partnership. This summer they will start by being counselors for the Especially for the Youth Program in a different country.

While there, they said they will make their first documentary together.

Tiffany Greer and Spencer Nielsen first met on a blind date set up by Greer’s older brother, Brandon. On that fateful day, the two said they spent an evening getting to know each other while watching the TV show “The Flash.”

As a tribute to the day they met, Nielsen, a senior from Oregon majoring in accounting, came dressed to the interview wearing his “Flash” T-shirt, holding hands with his fiancé Greer, a junior from Virginia majoring in elementary education.

Nielsen said, “I swore to myself I would never do a blind date. That was the last thing I wanted to do.” He said he tried to brush it off, but her brother Brandon continued to insist he get a hold of her.

Brandon tried to set the two up after Tiffany told him not to. She said her brother was very persistent, and one day she received a text from Nielsen. At first she said she wasn’t really interested, but decided to give him a try. She said, “I totally didn’t like him at first. I don’t know how [Nielsen] did it, but he got me to fall in love with him.”

Greer said she sees Nielsen as a gentlemen who knows how to

treat her well, mostly due to his experience being the youngest of seven sisters. “He definitely boosts my confidence a lot. Before I met him, I was kind of going through life like black and white. Now it’s full of color. Oh my gosh, that was so cheesy,” she said.

Nielsen said, “Not to sound shallow or anything, but I am not going to lie: before I called her, I did Facebook stalk her. She was super hot.

She had the best profile picture. I was like, ‘Dang! I got to call this girl!’”

Nielsen said he wants single BYUH students to be open to opportunities. He said if he continued to be close-minded to the idea of a blind date, he would not have been nearly as happy as he is today. “Every opportunity, even if it’s not something you expect, it can lead to something,” he said.

The two started dating in October 2016, were engaged the following December and were married in February. “We hope to have a happy marriage, be able to progress forward spiritually, and have a family,” said Greer. About their decision to get married, they said when you know, you know.

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‘Transcend:’ The Jon Mozo Story A b i g - w ave p h o t o g r a p h e r a n d a l u m n u s ’ i n f l u e n c e b eyo n d h i s p h o t o s.

BY HA ILEY R AS M U S S E N

While a student at BYUH, Jon Mozo survived a shark attack at Hukilau Beach.

Beyond being a noted surf photographer, he was the father of four children and husband of Nikki. He passed away 12 years ago.

Photo provided by Nikki Mozo

T

he documentary “Transcend,” which commemorates the life of Jon Mozo, came under the spotlight at the Honolulu International Film Festival on Nov. 4. Mozo was a BYU-Hawaii alumnus who was known to the public as a professional wave photographer.

The unifying trait of the ocean was a theme woven in throughout the film. Mozo used the ocean in his work to transcend culture and time, says the documentary. Devin Graham, also known as DevinSuperTramp on YouTube, filmed the majority of the footage shown in the film. The film was six years in the making and the production team reworked the story of the film three months before the premiere, said Nikki Mozo at the premier.

Jon Mozo said the ocean gave so much to him. However, the lifeguard who was on duty the day he died, said the ocean claimed his life on the most perfect day to be out in the waves. He died in 2005 after hitting his head on the reef at Pipeline.

Among those close to him, Jon Mozo was first and foremost known as a father.

People revered him for how he treated others.

“The impression Jon left as an artist and as a person continues to inspire people to be more loving, more engaged and more conscious of the beauty in and around us,” according to the Mozo collection website.

Home video footage showed Jon Mozo in a gallery with his work behind him and his children in front of him. Instead of beginning by speaking about his photographs, he spoke about his family and their central place in his life.

Amber Mozo, his oldest daughter, has followed in her father’s footsteps as a photographer. She said in her book “Chasing Light,” “My dad was everything to me. Everything I wanted to be. He chased light every day and died doing what he loved…[our family] had to decide that we were going to find the light again, to chase it and to be it.” Amber captured images that took her on an emotional journey to find healing. She recorded those thoughts with the images in her book.

Jon Mozo often spent time in Tahiti and the people he interacted with still have a special place in their hearts for him. One of the locals said, “Before, we didn’t like people. We kept to ourselves, but Jon changed that.”

According to Nikki Mozo, this was her husband’s favorite photo.

Tahitian Glass by Jon Mozo

Continued on page 126 124 K E ALAKA I

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Left to right: Makana, Nikki, Anela, Jon, Amber, and Yani Mozo gather for a family portrait not long before Jon passed away.

Photo courtesy of Nikki Mozo

Continued from page 125

Interview after interview of his wife, friends, brothers, children, and mother all reiterated the same central message: His kind and loving treatment of people was especially significant about him.

Graham said the process of making this film changed him. He said, “Though I had never met Jon, I have felt his influence through the people he inspired and the legacy he left behind. I attribute the discovery of my own voice because of Jon’s story. I was inspired to pursue my own passion and remember the importance of my voice and influence on others… [Jon Mozo] was a family man first and foremost.

People know me as a filmmaker first and I want to switch it around. Obviously it doesn’t change in an instant, but it’s what I’m aiming for.”

Nikki Mozo said an Enactus team at BYUH wanted to make a film about the Jon Mozo story and they connected her with Graham.

“He moved here to make this film. We gave him a place to live and a van to drive for free and he filmed the interviews. Nikki Mozo said this was before he was well known on YouTube as DevinSuperTramp.

126 K E ALAKA I

She said after he came here, he started producing a video about every other Tuesday for his YouTube channel. “There were adventurous college students living in a beautiful place and he took advantage of that.” She said, “We never gave him a dime for the project, and in the end, he spent a lot of money hiring an editor to finish the film on time since he was busy with other projects.” She said that through the process of making the film, they grew close with Graham. “We gave him a hard time just like family does when he started getting famous on YouTube.”

SY N O P S I S O F TH E M OV I E

“Transcend,” started at the beginning of Jon Mozo’s life. He was born in Hawaii, but since his dad was in the military, they lived all around the globe. His family was living in Japan when Jon Mozo graduated from high school and he decided to move back to Hawaii for college.

There he began working at the Polynesian Culture Center Photo Poly, where he took pictures of visitors and worked in the lab developing photos. Nikki Mozo was working at the PCC as well and a mutual friend of theirs introduced them. “On our first date, he took

me to the campus movie. He was very shy.

The next date was bowling at the game center, and from that point we spent our weekends together,” said Nikki Mozo.

Jon Mozo went back to Japan for the summer and Nikki followed him there. They were married the following spring, and a year and a half later they had their first child Makana. They later had three more children: Amber,Yani, and Anela.

Back at BYUH, Jon and Nikki Mozo were trying to balance between school, work and taking care of their young family. They decided Nikki, who was closest to graduating, would finish up school and get a full-time job while Jon took care of their children and pursued his career in photography. It was during this time that Amber Mozo became his work (buddy).

She would go with him to photo shoots.

He pursued his career in photography in full force when he began taking photos of models here in Hawaii. They decided Nikki would quit her job to raise their children. Nikki said this pushed him to work even harder.

They moved to New York for Jon to go to art school. “He showed them his portfolio, and they told him he didn’t need to go to school for

Devin Graham poses with a fan outside the theater after the premiere of “Transcend”.

He was a co-producer with Nikki Mozo for the film. Photo by Hailey Rasmussen

“Working at Photo Poly gave him resources to be innovative. He was doing things that no one was doing at the time. His experience eliminated his need to go to art school.”

In New York, he worked as an apprentice for a well-known photographer. Nikki said, “He did a lot of high-end weddings.” She said her husband wanted to start his business where they were going to live, so they moved back to Hawaii after two years in New York.

An interview of Jon Mozo showed him pensively describing his relationship with the ocean. Jon had an innate fear of the ocean. He was aware of her [the ocean’s] power. His tone and body language in the film showed he had a deep sense of respect for her.

One morning he was on a Jet Ski on his way to take photos out at Keana Point and his box of equipment fell off and was lost at sea.

Nikki Mozo said when he came home he wasn’t upset. He said it was okay for the ocean to take from him because, “She gives me so much.”

On another occasion, a shark attacked his feet while he was surfing at Goat Island and left him unable to walk for a few weeks. She said, “A community member gave him an electric wheelchair for him to use while he recovered, and he made his way up to the temple to shoot a wedding shortly after his attack.”

Nikki Mozo said her husband had a premonition his life was coming to an end. He wrote a note to his family on the back of one of his large prints and stowed it away in their shed.

Nikki found it after he passed away. She said it served as a reminder to her that even though he wasn’t there physically, he was still there.

Jon Mozo died on the North Shore at Pipeline. “He was especially excited to get in the ocean that day for some reason,” said Amber Mozo. He arrived at Pipeline right as his brother Allen was leaving. He also said Jon was very excited to get in the water.

That was the last time Allen spoke with his brother. The movie showed how pull-

ing these heart-wrenching memories to the surface drew raw emotion up with it.

Nikki was driving back from town when she received a phone call informing her Jon was critically injured. She and her family didn’t know what the extent of his injuries were, but she knew it was serious. She said deep down she knew that Jon wasn’t coming home when she was told he was at Kahuku Medical Center and they weren’t going to move him to a different hospital with better equipment. She was right. Jon didn’t come home.

The website jonmozostory.com says the film is about, “A man’s love affair with the ocean; a love that reached out to embrace him and never let go.”

Proceeds of the film go to The Jon Mozo Legacy Fund which offers grants and micro loans to 16-26 year olds who need assistance launching their businesses.

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C ampus L i fe

Lexi Breen talks about her experience with adoption to help others

Lexi Breen holds a photo of her parents and siblings. She was adopted by them through LDS Services.

Two other sibling were also adopted.

Photo by Lexie Kape-

Student says reading a letter from her birth mother was a turning point B Y LE S LIE OWU S U

L

exi Breen said while some people shy away family, and it’s hard on the children. However, from speaking of being adopted, she beit doesn’t have to be the end.” lieves sharing her experience helps others.

During the month of November, organi“Some people don’t want to talk about zations, communities, families, and individuals things in their life because they’re afraid of it, “come together to celebrate adoption as a posibut to me it can be something that can help tive way to build families. Across the nation, other people. So if you don’t want to talk activities and observances such as recognition about it, it’s okay. But if you do it can really dinners, public awareness and recruitment help a lot of people. We can help make a difcampaigns spotlight the needs of children who ference,” said Breen, a senior from Sandy, Utah, need permanent families,” according to adopmajoring in hospitality and tourism managetion.com. ment.

Families come in different shapes and Breen said she had a misconception dursizes, and Breen’s family is no different. She is ing her childhood about what adoption meant. the oldest of six kids. She has four brothers and “I thought that I was adopted because my birth one sister. She said the three oldest children in mother didn’t love me and she wanted to get her family are adopted and the youngest three rid of me.” She said her adopted mom ‘would are not. be so hurt if she knew I ever said that, but “My parents couldn’t have children. They for some reason I had this misconception. It’s had a really hard time. So they filed for adopbecause she couldn’t take care of me – not that tion. They adopted my brother and I through she didn’t love me.”

LDS Social Services. The rule used to be that In the United States, November is recyou can only adopt two kids, so then my next ognized as Adoption Awareness Month. As rebrother was an open adoption in California,” ported by adoption.com, “On a national level, she said. while all adoption-related issues are important, Breen said she and her brother had closed a major focus of this month is the adoption of adoptions, and her parents only had contact children currently in foster care.” with her birth mom for the first six months of Breen said, “I think this month is so great her life. She said they never knew her name because adoption is such a beautiful thing. I and the only contact was through pictures and think it’s great that people can be aware. Adop- letters. “I don’t remember how old I was when tion is just so amazing. I don’t even know how my parents told me I was adopted. But I knew to put it into words. If someone gets pregnant at a young age. I remember being in the first young, it’s so hard on them, it’s hard on the grade and telling someone I was adopted.”

128 K E ALAKA I

Breen said the process of adoption takes a long time. “It was a lot of paperwork and a lot of waiting. They go through everything. I was adopted through LDS Services, so my birth mom got to pick. She went through all the different applications and she got to pick who the parents were. Just from what she read about them, she thought that I would be the best fit with them.”

The hardest thing for Breen and her younger brother was discovering their third adopted brother received money from his birth mother and they didn’t, Breen said.

A major turning point for Breen was when she found letters from her birth mom to Breen. “I found the letters. I don’t know when my mom was going to give them to me, but I found them first and that’s when it clicked and I understood it more.

“She wanted what was best for me. When I found the letter, I learned that she was in high school. She wanted me to have a better life.

She knew she could give me that kind of life one day, but she didn’t know when.”

Breen said her birth story is crazy. “When I was born, I was actually pronounced dead at birth. My heart wasn’t beating. My birth grandma was the one who wrote a letter telling me about this experience. My birth grandma wrote, ‘You have so many people who love you.’

“I only have one letter from my birth mom directly to me, and it’s the sweetest thing.

She she talksfelt about haddoing to give and like how whatChrist she was washishard life,itand likething whatfor sheme. wasIndoing was but wasshe thefelt right the hospihardallbut was the thingmuch for me. the tal, sheitcould sayright was how sheInloved hospital, all of shemy could say was howI much me.

It’s one favorite things. read itshe from lovedtome.

It’s one of my favorite things. I read time time.” it from timesaid to time.”

Breen she has been fickle about findshe has abouttold finding herBreen birthsaid mother.

Shebeen said fickle she always ing her that birthwhen mother.

She said18sheshealways herself she turned wouldtold find herself when she turned 18 she would find her birththat parents. her birth parents.

She said she tried once right before leavsaid right before “Ileaving to She serve in she the tried Idahoonce Nampa Mission. got ing paper to serve Nampa got the forinit.the ButIdaho I didn’t wantMission. my mom“I to the paper forthey it. But I didn’t wanttomy feel bad, and weren’t going getmom infor-to feel bad,forand weren’t to get mation methey in time, so Igoing decided justinforto wait mation me Iingot time, so I decidedare just to wait and do itforafter home...There times and doI think it aftersheI got home...There when would want me toare findtimes her. I whenwant I think to find her. I still to. Ishe justwould don’t want knowme when.” still want I just know when.”

Breento.said shedon’t doesn’t know much about Breen muchwant about her birth dad,said butshe shedoesn’t believesknow he didn’t hercontribute birth dad,tobut believes to theshe family oncehehedidn’t foundwant out to contribute to the family once he found out about the pregnancy. aboutGrowing the pregnancy. up, Breen’s family didn’t talk Breen’s talk about Growing her beingup, adopted toofamily much,didn’t she said, about being loved adopted tooallmuch, she said, and herher parents them the same.

“I and her parents all but the we same.

“I don’t know if it’sloved goodthem or bad, didn’t don’tabout knowit ifasit’s good or bad,up, butbut weitdidn’t talk much growing was talk about it as much growing up, but it was fine. fine. “Looking at our family, people would our family,because people would never“Looking tell who at was adopted in my famnever tell who adopted ily everyone waswas treated the because same.” in my family everyone was treated the same.”

While growing up, Breen said she wanted While growing Breenshe saidwanted she wanted to go into social workup, because to help go into social work who because wanted to other children are she adopted.

She

like toKarissa talk about beinga adopted she has to help other who are people adopted.

Sheare Maughn, senior inbut... marketing said, “I feel likechildren with adoption, who learned to accept it.” is what you make it. said, “I feel with adoption, people from Utah, said, “Family adopted havelike different views and this iswho just are my Karissa a senior adopted havekids different views andorthis just my For me, I haveMaughn, blood family, andinmymarketing roommates view.

Other are more open lessisopen. from Utah,and said, “Family what youhere make view. want to find their birth moms; others are family, then I haveisan ohana in it.

Some For me,ofI have blood roommore open or less open. friends and family, auntiesand andmy uncles.” don’t“Other want tokids findare their birth moms.

Some love Hawaii matesTupua are family, and then an everything ohana here Somethey’re want to find their others said, “My familyI have means that adopted, andbirth somemoms; are ashamed in Hawaii of friends and aunties and uncles.” don’t want to find their birth moms.

Some to me. It’s my identity. It’s where I came from. that they are adopted.”

Tupuaabout said, you “My ties family means everything love that they’re adopted, Everything back to them.

I’ve Breen said her familyand lovessome to goareto to me. my and identity. where I came from. ashamed thatand they arewent adopted.” left my It’s family have It’s found another family Disneyland, they a lot while growing Everything aboutLexi. you Heavenly ties back to them.defiI’ve Breen her family loves to vacation. go to here.

I’ve found Father up. “That wassaid probably our favorite left myorchestrates family and have family Disneyland, and they went a lotbeach. whileWe growing thesefound thingsanother in our lives.”

We’d go to Disneyland and the know nitely here.Tupua I’ve found definiteup. “That was favorite vacation. said,Lexi.

“I metHeavenly Lexi my Father first week Disneyland likeprobably the backour of our hands.

I still ly orchestrates things in our lives.”

We’dit.goI’m to Disneyland and the beach. We know here on campusthese last November.

There was a love still a little kid.”

Tupua said, “I met my first weeka Disneyland backparticipates of our hands. concert at Foodland, andLexi we met through She saidlike herthe family in Iastill lot of here on campus last November.

There was a love it.

I’m still a little kid.” friend. Her smile was my very first impression. holiday traditions. The one they look forward concert Foodland, and she we met a her family in aegg lot of Her face atwas red because was through sunburned to the She mostsaid is when their participates mother makes friend. holiday traditions.

The one look forward but her Her smilesmile stoodwas outmy to very me.”first impression. casserole on Christmas and they Easter. “[Family Her face was red because she was sunburned to the mostare is people when their egg Maughn, a housemate and friend of Breen, members] that mother love youmakes no matter but her smile stood out to me.” casserole on Christmas and Easter. “[Family agreed Breen never stops smiling. “Lexi’s laugh what,” she said.

Maughn, a When housemate and friend members] are say people youparents, no matter is so contagious. she starts laughing, you “I would I’m that closelove to my of Breen, Breen stops smilwhat,” she can’t stop agreed laughing.

She never is completely fine maybe not said. as close as I’d like to be, but I did ing. “Lexi’s laugh isShe’s so contagious.

When and she would I’m close myoldest, parents, talking to anyone. very welcoming learn “Ia lot fromsaythem.

Beingtothe I’ve starts laughing, you can’t stop laughing.

She maybe not as close as I’d likeThey’ve to be, but I did accepting of everyone. People are instantly is become really independent. always completely to anyone. She’s very learn a lot me. fromThat’s them.one Being theI love oldest, I’vemy supported thing about friends withfine her,”talking she said. welcoming and Hamblin, acceptingan of alumna everyone.

People become They’ve really independent.

They’ve always parents. always supported every deciGretchen who studare elementary instantly friends with her,” said. is supported me. That’s education fromshe Wisconsin, sion I’ve made,” Breenone said.thing I love about my ied anto alumna parents. supported decialso a Gretchen friend andHamblin, housemate Breen.who Shestudsaid, HerThey’ve friends always describe Breen as every bubbly, ied elementary education is sion I’ve sociable made,” Breen “Lexi is very selfless and shefrom putsWisconsin, her priorities likeable, and a said. great cook.

Her friends describe Breen as bubbly, also a friend housemate to herand loved ones.” to Breen. She said, Breen’s boyfriend, Timoci Tupua, a sopho- second “Lexi is very agreed selfless and and said she puts priorities likeable, sociable science and a great Tupua someher people take more in political fromcook.

Fiji, said, “I’m second to her loved ones.”

Breen’s boyfriend, Timoci Tupua, a proud of her. I’ve met people who don’t like to advantage of Breen’s consideration of others.

Tupua agreed and said some people take sophomore in political Fiji, said, talk about being adoptedscience but... from she has learned advantage of Breen’s consideration of others.

“I’m proudit.” of her. I’ve met people who don’t to accept FALL DE CE MBE R 2017 2016 129 13

Fe ature

Tom and Tara McBride: Crossfit Jerusalem A l ove a n d d evo t i o n t ow a r d C r o s s f i t a n d a d e s i r e t o s e r ve s e n d s B Y U - H aw a i i c o u p l e t o Je r u s a l e m B Y LES LIE O WU S U

Tara McBride takes advantage of Jerusalem’s historical landscape. Photo by Tom McBride

T

om and Tara McBride, a Canadian couple, spent seven weeks during the summer in Jerusalem participating in a Crossfit internship. They said they enjoyed the neutral ground the gym brought for people from different walks of life, and they grew as coaches.

Tom McBride is a BYU-Hawaii alumnus who graduated with a business degree with a finance track. His wife, Tara, is a senior majoring in exercise sports science. They are both from Alberta, Canada, and have enjoyed receiving an education here at BYUH. Tom said, “Living here and experiencing all the different cultures and different teachers from all over the world in such a tight-knit community has really been the best experience as a college student. It’s been so amazing.

You get experiences here you don’t really get anywhere else in the world.”

Tara said apart from being an EXS major, she had already been heavily involved with exercise and sports for as long as she could remember. “I was just thinking about what I should do for an internship because graduation is coming up. So one night, I was just sitting

down and the idea came to me to contact boxes.” She said a “box” is what a Crossfit gym is called.

Tara said she went on to contact boxes in locations all around the world; including Morocco, Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, New York, New Zealand, and Jerusalem.

Tom said, “Part of the challenge of figuring out school is asking ourselves, ‘What the heck do we love?’ And for us, it’s always come back to health and fitness.”

Tara said she had the opportunity to be coached by Mike Burgener, a Senior International Weightlifting and Olympic coach. She also has a weightlifting certificate and placed 12th in the world for weightlifting.

“There’s a Crossfit gym in Kahuku that we both co-own and work at. So I’m constantly coaching and being involved, not just here at BYUH, but in the community as well. We’ve both competed in all of the Crossfit competitions, both local and worldwide. We’re heavily involved in Crossfit and the lifestyle of it. We love it!” Tara said.

Tom and Tara both had unconventional beginnings in getting involved with Crossfit.

Tara said, “I had never lifted weights or anything before but I was always really active. Triathlons, racing, surfing, all sports.You name it, I play it.”

Their origins in Crossfit started in Canada while they were living there for a year while Tom was working. “We went to all the gyms in the city we were near and participated in all the free trials that were offered. After a while, we ran out of gyms. So we thought ‘Ugh, okay we’ll try Crossfit,’” said Tara.

Tom said they enjoyed the environment: “No one was wearing headphones. There were no mirrors. No one got their phones out.”

Tara said they did the workout and it kicked their butts. “We both felt pretty fit going in, and it destroyed us. We fell in love with it right away. We went back the next day and people remembered our names. From that day we were hooked. So [that sense of community] started in Canada, and it hasn’t changed coming here to Hawaii.”

For the internship, Tara said they ended up deciding on Jerusalem because it would be

Tom and Tara McBride demonstrate some workout techniques they learned and use in their Crossfit programs.

Photos by Kelsie Carlson

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The McBrides stand in front of the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine on the Temple Mount, while on their trip to Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of Tara and Tom McBride

Continued from page 130

Tara McBride walks the streets of Jerusalem. Photo by Tom McBride

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an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. She was also interested because of the history of Jerusalem.

Tara said, “Obviously, Israel is a heavily religious area.You’ve got people with faiths in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and they’re all living together. Unfortunately, there is some conflict. But what’s awesome about Crossfit Jerusalem is the neutral ground for all of those religions to come and work out together without any judgment, without any conflict, and obviously with respect between everybody.”

“Coaching turned out to be a little bit of a challenge. Orthodox Jews study for a minimum of 40 hours a week. So they’re sitting and not doing anything with their bodies. We were dealing with people who almost never use their bodies.”

Tara said, “And at the same time, coaching is very hands-on. In many of the members’ faiths, [members of the] opposite sex were not allowed to touch each other. As a coach, it’s very useful to show people and move people

in certain specific ways, and when you can’t actually move somebody, it becomes difficult.

If they don’t understand you, and obviously if they only speak Hebrew or Arabic, and I only speak English, communication can be challenging. It definitely helped us grow as coaches.”

Tom and Tara said they also helped by teaching fitness classes, doing personal training, and aiding in projects to help spiff up the gym.

“We helped with the platforms and painting the buildings and everything like that. We also helped clean,” Tara said.

During their time there, Tom and Tara said they were able to visit the Red Sea, Egypt, the old city, the garden tomb, the Mount of Olives, the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of Temptation, the pools of Bethesda, Galilee, Capernaum, and Jericho. Tom said, “Seeing the sites I’ve read and heard about my whole life was incredible.

Tara said, “Looking over old Jerusalem and having those thoughts come into your mind

like, ‘Whoa, Jesus stood here and wept over the city,’ or to think about how Lehi and his family lived here before fleeing, it was amazing. That country is just so beautiful. Everything about it.”

Tom added, “We were there during Ramadan, a month of fasting for Muslims, and so we were in Palestine in the homes of religious Muslims experiencing their traditions.” He continued, “You could tell they are just trying to be good to God and live the best life they can.”

Now that they are back at BYUH, Tom and Tara are continuing to share their love of Crossfit with others. Tom said, “We’re looking into hosting a fittest at BYUH competition. I think a lot of people just don’t even know we are there or they don’t know what Crossfit is.”

The McBrides say the best way to explain Crossfit is just for people to come in and try it.

He said Crossfit teaches you correct techniques in gymnastics and weight-lifting.

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religion

in this section

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Returned missionaries say mission experiences changed their hearts

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Any time served is service to God, says missionaries who came home early

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Temple experience inspires students to share the gospel on social media Business professor shares joy of doing her family history and temple work

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A mighty change of heart Returning BYU-Hawaii students appreciate education here more after serving missions B Y B ROO KLY N RED D Photos by Kyungji Kim, Dorothy Chiu, and Alvin Vincent Dy

Hannah Naylor

Tanner Smith

Katelynne Halliday

Courageous Xavier Herrera

A sophomore from Iowa majoring in peacebuilding, Naylor returned from her mission in Brazil in January.

Naylor said very few things have changed in Laie, but she is able to adapt better to the small differences after her experience as a missionary.

“I think now is when I am actually able to apply what I really learned on my mission.”

Since returning home from her mission, Naylor said she realized, “You can provide humanitarian relief for people, you can give them an education, but nothing will change their life like the gospel will.”

Naylor also offered advice for BYUH students. “Be very grateful for the privilege you have to be a student here. I think sometimes we underestimate the value of an education and we don’t realize how many people would like to get one, and yet we complain about it.

“Be a little more grateful for the privileges offered to us right now, rather then looking for something in the future that will make us happy,” she said.

A freshman from Oregon majoring in biomedical science, Smith returned from his mission in Japan in December.

Smith said he didn’t decide to go on a mission until he came to BYUH to run cross country. He said, “Back home, being Mormon wasn’t really cool. I didn’t like it and was embarrassed... I wasn’t very active.”

He said just about everyone on his team was an RM, and they were all an example to him.

“I decided to try with church and prayer. It helped me a lot and made me happier, because I was struggling with my first semester. When I had felt help from God, I wanted to help other people feel the same thing,” he said, “so that is why I decided to serve a mission.”

Smith said he saw many changes in himself since returning home.

He said, “I feel my mission was the first thing I really tried my hardest in my entire life, so I am really grateful for my mission in showing me I can do hard things... I think I gained a lot of confidence that way.”

A junior from Utah majoring in art, Halliday returned from her mission to Chicago in July 2016.

She said, “The mission changes you a lot. I feel now I have a better mindset of what it really means to be here at BYUH as a student and member of the church.

“Something I loved about my mission was the focus of obedience. I wish I were still out there. There is a special spirit with being a missionary and having that nametag, completely dedicating your life and self to His work and will. Completely serving Him is an experience you never forget.”

To those who already served missions, Halliday said, “Don’t forget the things you learned on your mission. Don’t forget habits you established and how important they are.”

To those who are preparing for a mission, Halliday said, “Don’t stress out too much, and do the simple things people say to prepare like read your scriptures and Preach My Gospel.”

A sophomore from Tennessee majoring in biology, Herrera returned from his mission in Brazil in July 2016.

Herrera said at first he was unsure whether or not he should return to BYUH due to there no longer being an Athletics Department and having offers to run track and cross country at other universities.

In the end, he decided to return. He said, “The spirit lasts longer than the physical, and I knew I would grow most here spiritually.”

Herrera said he has seen a lot of differences in himself since attending BYUH before his mission. He said, “I am a lot more focused, and I don’t waste as much time as I did. I take more advantage of the spiritual and temporal resources they have here.

“Everything here is the same, but my perspective is different. I was blinded before from all the good things this school has to offer.”

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Campus Life

BY LES LIE O W U S U

Missionaries who return early with honor S t u d e n t s s ay s e r v i n g f o r a ny l e n g t h o f t i m e is still ser vice to God

BY BROO KLY N R E D D

From left to right: Kawika Wise, Rachel Roundy and Arilla Utley all returned early from their missions and share their stories. Photo by Chantal Hopper 138 K E ALAKA I

hile five BYU-Hawaii students said they returned home early from their LDS missions, they said in time they came to understand they still returned home with honor.

Religion Professor Marcus Martins shared his experience as a former mission president in Brazil. “I honor all those who receive medical releases with the same degree of honor, and perhaps slightly a bit more, than those who went and only had to face a little cold, flu, [etc]. No big deal. Everyone goes through that,” said Martins. However, he said missionaries with medical releases “went to the very edge of their physical possibilities.”

During his experience as mission president in the Brazil Sao Saint Paulo North Mission, Martins said he sent about 25 missionaries home early. He recalled, “It is never pleasant to send missionaries home.” He said it was very difficult at the time, but he felt Heavenly Father directed the decisions. He added, “That missionary who receives a medical release went above and beyond their duty.”

Daniel Starr, a sophomore with an undeclared major from Utah, said he was called to serve in Samoa. “Coming home early was hard because people see you and are wondering why you are suddenly home, along with becoming suspicious with what happened. Even when you tell them it’s anxiety or that you are still worthy, they still don’t know what to say, so it makes it harder.”

He continued, “People don’t understand what it’s like coming home for a mental condition. No matter the reason for coming home early, there is something in that missionary’s life where they are not able to function well enough to be a missionary at that time and are needing to come home.”

Starr feels after 17 months of being home, he is now prepared and ready to return to his mission. He said he hopes to help other missionaries who may be going through the same struggles he has gone through.

“I feel that because of the Atonement, Jesus Christ knows how to help us. He knows exactly who to put in our path and what experiences to help prepare us at this time,” he said. “When coming home early, it is important to have people who are understanding and who are loving towards that missionary.”

He added, “If you feel that your time is done, then I think that is okay. Some people just have shorter missions because all our tests in life are different. Remember your whole life is a mission. [It] may not be full time, but you can continue to be a servant to the Lord.”

Returning home with honor means that you have done what the Lord wants you to do in that place at that time,” said Starr.

Rachel Roundy, a sophomore from Utah majoring in sports science, said she was called to serve as a missionary in Japan. Due to a back injury, she went home after going to the Missionary Training Center. It was later decided that she would be reassigned to serve in California. She said, “I felt prompted to go back out, even though I didn’t feel 100 percent good about my back.”

When it was recommended that Roundy serve stateside, she felt “heartbroken,” but her stake president encouraged her to pray about it.

She said when she prayed, she felt at peace with California being where she was needed. Roundy said she knew there was a reason behind the changes, especially when she went through different experiences; one of which was when she taught a Japanese investigator in their native tongue while in California. She knew she was supposed to be serving there at that time, but due to more issues with her back, she felt she needed to go home. She said, “I didn’t get my answer until I gave up my own will, asking the Lord what does he want me to do?”

“I went home and saw so many miracles at home. I can honestly say I saw more miracles at home than I actually did on my mission. God allowed me to finish my mission at home in Utah.”

She added at first she had a difficult time at home, but after a month, she said, “I started seeing miracles. Christ didn’t heal my back physically, but he gave me opportunities to serve people and that healed me in a way and helped me have a positive attitude. The more positive I would think mentally, the less I felt pain.”

Roundy concluded with, “Heavenly Father will take away your anger, your heartbreak.” Raising her voice and looking more intently, she added, “He will take away your sadness if you let him.You have to let him do it for you.You have to be open-minded enough and forgiving enough towards God to let him take that from you, because it is part of his plan, even if you are angry you came home early. It is meant to happen. That’s how it’s supposed to happen.”

Kawika Wise, a junior from Hawaii majoring in Hawaiian studies, said he was called to serve in the Philippines before coming home early.

Wise said, “There were still things at home holding me back. Because of that, I couldn’t give everything to the Lord, or to the Philippines.

My mission president and I decided that I would come home for a period of time and work on some things to prepare myself to go back on my mission. “ He said his family’s support and love for him was his driving motivation. He said it was hard at first but knew there was a reason.

Wise said he felt it was a good time to be home and be a missionary for his family in supporting and helping them to overcome trials. With tears in his eyes, he said he was the last person his grandmother saw before she passed away. “I love my grandma,” he said, “being home early from my mission wasn’t so much a struggle, but there was purpose as to why I needed to be there.”

He smiled and continued, “I then knew, ‘Okay, this is what Heavenly Father had planned for me,’ and because of that, I was prepared even more and had learned so much more about myself, about Jesus Christ, the Atonement and how it cannot only bless my life, but other people’s lives. When I went back on my mission, I felt that my testimony was so much stronger and there was so much more I could give to these people.

I am very grateful for that experience, despite how hard it was.”

Wise gave this advice to early returned missionaries: “If there is any chance you are to go back out on a mission, don’t give up. Continue to build the church, stay with good friends and family.

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Aline Weitzel talks with Daniel Starr. Photo by Chantal Hopper Continued from page 139

Don’t listen to any negativity people give you for being home early from your mission.”

Martins said of missionaries who go home early, “Their desire to serve was clear. That desire to sacrifice was clear – a sacrifice the lord was not asking for.”

Aline Weitzel, a junior from New York studying hospitality tourism and management, said she was called to a California Spanish-speaking mission. She was 14 months into the mission before she had to come home for dental reasons. She said, “It’s something you can’t control. At first, I felt I was not worthy enough to go to church, and I didn’t want to talk about it. It took a while for me to respond to friends since I felt ashamed, but then I realized my purpose was only to serve for that amount of time.

“We all have trials in our life and Heavenly Father knows that.

He knows that we each do things differently. Heavenly Father understands you inside out. He knows your desire and he knows your heart. Anything you came home early for, that’s the plan.”

Elder Jeffrey Holland, speaking in a video to missionaries who returned home early, said, “I want all of you, anyone out in the audience who would wrestle with this issue, to have that feeling of self-worth and of a successful mission honorably offered to the Lord, regardless of the period of time involved. I encourage that and want you to feel that way forever.”

Weitzel said, “The best thing to do once you return home is to keep that connection with Heavenly Father. The time you are at your lowest point is when you really need guidance from him. A lot of people see it as if when you are at your lowest point, he does not want to talk to you anymore. That’s not true. That is the exact moment that he wants you to talk to him.”

Arilla Utley, a freshman from Oregon majoring in psychology, said she ended her mission in Peru a couple months early to 140 K E ALAKA I

undergo surgery. She had the option to either go back to Peru or serve locally, but after praying, she said she received a confirmation she did not need to return.

Utley said, “Any of the time we devote to the Lord and his work is valued, and it does not matter how much time it is.You’re called to serve an 18-month or two-year mission.Yes, you are expected to serve that time, but especially after this experience, you served the time that the lord needed you to serve. When he says you are done, you are done. That could be a part of your plan. If I didn’t come home early, I would not be here at BYUH.” She said, “The personal plan the Lord has for you is the most important above anything. The Lord knows who you are. Keep going and remember the Lord loves you. Every little work you did on the mission was fulfilling the calling.”

Utley concluded with, “We can look fondly on our mission, and, with humility, accept the fact that the Lord has other plans.”

Martins said he posted on Facebook a message in respect to his own missionaries who had not been well received in their home wards after returning early.

He wrote, “There is no indignity in the early medical release of a worthy and diligent full-time missionary. In fact, we may say that these missionaries consecrated everything their mortal bodies allowed them to offer the Lord, even though such an offer did not match the size of their desire to serve the Lord.”

He continued in his post, “Because of this, they deserve the same honor granted to those whose (relatively) good health allowed them to serve the regular duration of a mission. I’m sure the Lord will accept their sacrifice just as he promised Oliver Granger [in Doctrine and Covenants 117:13]: ‘... his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase, saith the Lord.’”

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Temple activity inspires students to share the gospel on social media BBYY HHYYRRAM AM YARB YARBRO RO

Students from from Elder Elder Paul Paul Thayn’s Thayn’s Book Book of of Mormon Mormon religion religion class class gathgathStudents ered on Tuesday, Oct. 25, to document their love for the temple on social ered on Tuesday, Oct. 25, to document their love for the temple on social media and said they enjoyed spreading the message of the gospel. media and said they enjoyed spreading the message of the gospel.

Eleven students students from from the the class class appeared appeared at at the the event, event, each each comcomEleven mitting to sharing their picture on social media.

Each student held sign mitting to sharing their picture on social media. Each student held aa sign reading ‘‘When I go to the temple, I feel…’’ with a personalized word reading ‘‘When I go to the temple, I feel…’’ with a personalized word that reflected reflected their their feelings feelings while while going going to to the the temple. temple. that

Elder Thayn, Thayn, aa missionary missionary and and Religion Religion professor professor at at BYU-Hawaii BYU-Hawaii Elder said he asked his class if they knew people who were not members of the the said he asked his class if they knew people who were not members of church, and they wrote down nearly 400 names in a five-minute period. church, and they wrote down nearly 400 names in a five-minute period.

“[In our our class] class] we we talked talked about about our our responsibility responsibility to to share share the the gospel. gospel. “[In We realized realized that that here here on on this this campus, campus, we we are are very very limited limited with with the the numnumWe ber of people who are not members.

But I pointed out to them that the ber of people who are not members. But I pointed out to them that the Lord has provided a way for us to think bigger, greater,” said Elder Thayn.

Lord has provided a way for us to think bigger, greater,” said Elder Thayn.

He added added because because the the BYUH BYUH community community is is worldwide, worldwide, it it is is obviobviHe ous to to see see technology technology exists exists to to communicate communicate with with friends friends and and families families ous back home. back home.

“We always always talk talk with with our our friends friends on on Facebook, Facebook, no no matter matter where where “We they are, whenever we want.

That technology is great for friendship relathey are, whenever we want. That technology is great for friendship relationships, but but the the Lord Lord has has other other things things in in mind mind for for us. us. He He thinks thinks we we can can tionships, use it now to share the gospel with our friends anywhere in the world.” use it now to share the gospel with our friends anywhere in the world.”

42 142 K E ALAKA I

Gosuke Kawano, Kawano, aa junior junior from from Japan Japan studying studying psychology, psychology, said said he he Gosuke helped organize the event by coming up with the idea of having students helped organize the event by coming up with the idea of having students write notes notes to to share share their their feelings feelings of of going going to to the the temple. temple. write

Hailey Jenkins, Jenkins, aa freshman freshman from from Utah Utah studying studying graphic graphic design, design, said said Hailey writing on the notes was a great way to promote God is greater than writing on the notes was a great way to promote God is greater than social media. media. “He “He created created [social [social media] media] for for this this reason. reason. For For the the word word of of social the Lord Lord to to be be spread spread faster faster and and to to aa grander grander scale scale than than ever ever before.” before.” the

Herbert Ishibashi, Ishibashi, aa sophomore sophomore studying studying education education from from the the Big Big Herbert Island, said, “The temple has a very special place in my heart… [it] helps Island, said, “The temple has a very special place in my heart… [it] helps me to get a lot of answers that I’ve been looking for.

Before I go to the me to get a lot of answers that I’ve been looking for. Before I go to the temple, II typically typically ask ask myself myself aa lot lot of of questions questions and and take take the the time time to to temple, reflect on on what what II know, know, what what II need need to to know, know, and and how how to to become become aa better better reflect man.

Every time I come out of the temple, I feel like…

I have gained man. Every time I come out of the temple, I feel like… I have gained some sort sort of of revelation revelation from from Heavenly Heavenly Father Father in in some some way, way, shape, shape, or or some form that that has has helped helped me me to to become become better.” better.” form

Shinyoung Choi, Choi, aa student student studying studying business business management management from from KoKoShinyoung rea, said living near the temple helped him feel safe and taken care of by rea, said living near the temple helped him feel safe and taken care of by God. “A lot of people don’t know about the temple and are hesitant to go God. “A lot of people don’t know about the temple and are hesitant to go to the the temple temple because because they they are are busy. busy. But But II know know that that ifif II go go to to the the temple, temple, to will feel feel comfort comfort so so that that everyone everyone will will know know that that they they have have to to go go to to the the II will temple.” temple.”

Ishibashi said, said, “I “I think think all all of of us us college college students students here here are are trying trying to to Ishibashi find out who we are, find our own way, and make our own decisions… find out who we are, find our own way, and make our own decisions…

They have have aa bunch bunch of of opportunities opportunities to to make make choices choices for for themselves themselves and and They pave their their own own roads. roads. A A big big part part of of my my testimony testimony is is that that the the temple temple can can pave help us us to to make make aa better better road road and and better better choices.” choices.” help

The church has been embracing modern technology and and social social The church has been embracing modern technology media, according according to to LDS.org. lds.org. President media, PresidentDieter DieterF.F.Uchtdorf, Uchtdorf,the thesecond second counselor in in the the First First Presidency, Presidency, said said in in the the 2011 2011 May May Ensign Ensign article article counselor “Waiting on on the the road road to to Damascus,” Damascus,” that that “with “with the the blessings blessings of of modern modern “Waiting technology, we can express gratitude and joy about God’s great plan for for technology, we can express gratitude and joy about God’s great plan His children children in in aa way way that that can can be be heard heard .. .. .. around around the the world. world. Sometimes Sometimes His single phrase phrase of of testimony testimony can can set set events events in in motion motion that that affect affect somesomeaa single one’s life for eternity.” one’s life for eternity.”

Kawano said, said, “[The] “[The] temple temple is is something something that that makes makes our our church church Kawano unique or or stand stand out out from from other other sects. sects. Other Other religions religions or or faiths faiths might might unique have [a] [a] building, building, which which is is equivalent equivalent to to temple, temple, but but what what we we do do inside inside have the temple is something that touches human’s soul.

As the prophets have the temple is something that touches human’s soul. As the prophets have been saying, we can use technology for either good or bad, and needless been saying, we can use technology for either good or bad, and needless to say, say, spreading spreading the the Gospel, Gospel, which which can can help help others others to to draw draw closer closer to to to God, is is one one of of the the best best ways ways to to sharing sharing goodness goodness of of this this church church and and God’s God’s God, love toward our neighbors and His children regardless of their religion.” love toward our neighbors and His children regardless of their religion.”

Left:Left: BYU-Hawaii students expressexpress their appreciation and love for LDSfor BYU-Hawaii students their appreciation andthe love templesthe through modern technology and social media. Above: Elder Paul LDS temples through modern technology and social media.

Thayn encourages his students to share the gospel globally by Above: Elder Paul Thayn encourages his students to online. share Photo the gosYukimi Kishi.

“We always talk with our friends on Facebook, no matter where they are, whenever we want.That technology is great for friendship relationships, but the Lord has other things in mind for us. He thinks we can use it now to share the gospel with our friends anywhere in the world.”

- Elder Paul Thayn

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Religion

Family obligations B Y U - H aw a i i P r o f e s s o r H e l e n a H a n n o n e n d i s c u s s e s f a m i ly h i s t o r y a n d w hy i t ’s i m p o r t a n t f o r s t u d e n t s

BY PAT RICK CAM P B E L L

Dr. Helena Hannonen holds pictures of her father. Photo by Olivia Tsan

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These lace making tools were passed down to Hannonen from her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She made the table cloth by pulling fabric from cloth and made the designs by sewing threads together. The black spool in the back belonged to her grandfather, a supervisor for a factory that made wooden spools for yarn, thread, and cable. Photo by Olivia Tsan.

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YU-Hawaii Business professor, Dr. Helena Hannonen, said she has always been an avid family history buff. But since a near-death experience a year ago, she said this milestone has increased her commitment and dedication even more to the work she loves so much. hadto togo goto tothe thehospital hospitalwith withaarespirarespira“I“Ihad tory issue. It’s there the doctors discovered my vein in my heart was blocked and the doctors told me I could have dropped dead. It was an intense experience.”

Afterbeing beingreleased releasedfrom fromthe thehospital, hospital, After Hannonen was driving home when she received a powerful impression. “While I was driving, I was told my life has been spared because you need to do your family history and let others do their own family history. And I realized I had helped so many other people do their family history that I didn’t have time to do my own.”

WhenHannonen Hannonenmoved movedto toHawaii Hawaii10 10 When years ago and began teaching at BYU-Hawaii, she said she helped others research their family history with her extensive genealogical research experience.

“For“For me,me, it is itnow an obligation all ofallusof is now an obligation in the world who livelive at this time have because us in the world who at this time have beour ancestors came before us when there was cause our ancestors came before us when there no gospel.

We were savedsaved for the was no gospel.

We were for last the days last days because we made a promise to them we would do their temple work and connect their families together,” said Hannonen.

Shereceived receivedadditional additionalinspiration inspirationshortly She shortly her near-death experience during after herafter near-death experience during the Octhe October 2015 General Conference.

She tober 2015 General Conference.

She received received an impression shetoneeded cut out an impression she needed cut outtoactivities activities were distracting from family that werethat distracting her from her family history. history.

“During general conference, they talked “During general conference, they talked a lot about family history and temple work.

So I canceled my cable subscription because I decided I had to make more time in my life for family history work.”

Sincethat thatpoint pointHannonen Hannonenhas hasprepared prepared Since what she estimates to be thousands of family history records for temple work. Currently on her FamilySearch account she has 500-plus names ready for temple work with 470 being released to the temple and approximately 50 being printed for her own personal temple worship. She said along with the 500 names she

has completed, she has roughly 2,000 names she is “cleaning up.”

Partof ofher hersuccess successisisdue dueto toaanew newstratPart strategy sheincorporated has incorporated the year last year egy she has in theinlast that that forces herbetomore be more attentive the forces her to attentive to thetoindividuindividuals she istotrying find. “Istart would start als she is trying find. “Itowould with a with a prayer andI began then I saying began to saying to my prayer and then my ancesancestors, have little very time, little time, butready I’m ready tors, ‘I have‘I very but I’m to to do your work.

If you want your temple work do your work.

If you want your temple work done, you’re going to have to come and help me find you.’”

Oneday dayshe shefound foundshe shehad hadsome somespare spare One time before she was required to leave for campus to attend to her faculty responsibilities. “I was working with my great-great grandmother and I was missing her birthdate. And I said, ‘Christina I know you were born because I am one of your direct descendants, and if you want to have your temple work done, you have 15 minutes, and I better find you otherwise I’m moving on.”

Within15 15minutes, minutes,Hannonen Hannonensaid saidshe she Within had found her birthdate. “It is definitely more of a collaboration and I see miracles all the time where I know these people really want to get their work done.”

Hannonen’s Hannonen’s mother mother would would go go from from Finland Finland to to Switzerland Switzerland for for three three weeks weeks in in order order to to visit visit the the temple temple and and purchased purchased dolls dolls for for Hannonen Hannonen from from the the different different countries countries she she traveled traveled through. through.

Photo Photo by

by Olivia Olivia Tsan.

Tsan.

Continued on Page 52 146 K E ALAKA I 50

NOV E MBE R 2016 51 FALL 2017 147

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lifestyle Show above are cards of Helena Hannonen’s family names she has prepared to take to the temple to perform their ordinances. The photo on the far right is a picture of her mother the day she was baptized in the Lutheran Church, and there are additional family photos below. The photo by Olivia Tsan

Continued fromPage Page Continued from 50146 EA RLY YEA F FA M I LY H I STO RY Y EA RS O OF

Hannonen’s love for family history began as a young girl in Finland when her mother, brother, and her were baptized into the church.

Shortly after their baptisms her mother had a dream including Hannonen’s father, who had passed away.

“My father appeared in a dream to my mother. He was in a prisoner’s outfit. He asked her to come set him free. My mother didn’t understand what the dream meant and so she asked the missionaries. They came back and told her he wants to have his temple work done. After the temple work was done, he appeared again in white clothes and thanked her.”

As a teenager Hannonen became more involved in family history work when she would help the elderly in her congregation.

They didn’t have the typing skills necessary to prepare their families records to go to the temple in Switzerland. Her mother made the three week trip to Switzerland every summer. she moved to Provo to attend Later Later whenwhen she moved to Provo to attend BYU, BYU, her mother wason keen on reminding her mother was keen reminding her toher take to take advantage of thefamily manyhistory family history advantage of the many resources resources to her in Utah. available toavailable her in Utah.

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Hannonen became proficient in researching family history records due to her ability to read and write in several languages. While interning for her master’s degree of organizational behavior in Salt Lake City, she became a licensed professional genealogist.

Later as she began her corporate consulting career in California, Hannonen said she always found a little time to do family history work and often used her skills to help others who were unable to find their own family names.

ADV I C E TO STU D E N TS believes ADVHannonen I C E TO STU D Emaking N TS family his-

tory a priority for students is one of the most Hannonen believes making family history a priimportant skills she ority for students is can one teach, of the even most more important important than her lessons on leadership skills she can teach, even more importantand than management. her lessons on leadership and management.

“The students who worry about schoolwork and worry about their grades in classes and about not understanding things, if they do family history, and I don’t mean all the time, but if they do a little bit every week, they will see their grades will [get] better and they will understand their studies better.”

“First off, no one should every believe all your family history is done. Check and see if your ward has a family history Sunday School

course. If you’re getting on FamilySearch for the first time, you should make sure you and your immediate family are in your family tree.”

Along with becoming familiar with FamilySearch, Hannonen recommends focusing on spiritual growth and development. Part of that development includes tuning in to the inspiration that will guide those working on their family history to the names needing to betodone. family history to the names needing be done.

“You“You to start to listen tolanguage the havehave to start to listen to the language familywork history workifbecause if you of family of history because you think think the spirit is, iton isn’t about about wherewhere the spirit worldworld is, it isn’t some on some otherIt’s planet.

It’s right here ancestors so those other planet. right here so those ancestors will communicate will communicate to you.” to you.”

“It’s like customer service. What does the customer want instead of what do I want?

I may want to sell this person ice cream and all they want is Gatorade, and I try for years to sell them ice cream and every time the customer says, ‘I want Gatorade.’You have to be in tune to what your ancestors’ needs are.”

A few other ways Hannonen recommends to get involved with family history work include going to the temple, writing in a journal or letters and emails home to family, and interviewing grandparents and elderly relatives about their childhoods and young adult lives.

in this section Laie family Wheels, hosts heeltraditional and automobiles: hukilau, Transportation which is options communal on the net North fishing

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Learn how toStudent make Filipino share their favorite five best snorkeling pork and chicken spots onadobo Oahu

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Car buying A hiker’s tips: guide Taketothe Oahu timehikes to learn baseda little abouton cars difficulty and Hawaii’s and length laws

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Four Finding of theyour best niche: snorkeling Students spotsgain on confidence, friendship through cosplay Oahu

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Wheels, A hiker’sheel guide andtoautomobiles: Oahu hikes based Transportation options on difficulty on the North and length Shore

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Student BYUH and daters local saycouple find balance start speciality between soda beingbusiness proactive at PCC and not Marketplace rushing it

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Hawaiian monk 12 ways seals to aresave protected money in Hawaii and restwhile alongatthe BYU-Hawaii shoreline

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Learn aboutDaters different giverunning dating advice routes aroundtocampus fellow students and Laie

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8 tips for PCC finding honors off-campus Aunty Sally’s housing hula traditions through annual festival

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Map details different running routes around campus and Laie

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and it travels to most places on the island. Bus stops are all along Kamehameha highway, including outside of Foodland, the temple,

everywhere. You always have to pay gas, you don’t get to chill in the passengers seat, and you’re in charge of lives. It’s good because I can have a job at Turtle Bay, and the pros outweigh the cons.”

WHEELS, HEELS AND AUTOMOBILES Making the most of transportation options on the North Shore B Y GRE G E RI CK SO N Click here bus schedule: http://thebus.org/ For the busfor schedule, check http://thebus.org http://thebus.org/ Click for bus schedule:

Walk - The oldest and most independent

mode of transportation can sometimes be the best. If you are headed to the beach, shopping center, or anywhere else in Laie, walking will get the job done. The shopping center is only .5 miles away from campus, which means walking is convenient. The Polynesian Cultural Center and beach access points are also a short walk away.

There is a bike path parallel to Kamehameha Highway between Laie and Kahuku that is good for walking or running, too. The path is three miles round-trip, with picturesque views of the mountains and open fields near Laie.

Bus - For only $2.50, you can get a transfer

slip that allows for a round-trip journey on The Bus. Bus stops line Kamehameha Highway, including nearby stops at Foodland, Temple Beach, and the PCC. The bus comes every hour and can take you almost anywhere on the island.

Travel time will vary depending on your final destination, but a one-way trip to Waikiki takes about two hours. For bus schedules and stops, check Google Maps or thebus.org.

Bike - Even though bikes are generally

quicker than walking, they require frequent maintenance on the North Shore. The salty humidity, rain, and trade winds can make bikes rust very fast, and loose gravel can leave you looking for a replacement tube. Luckily, Ace Hardware in the Laie Shopping Center has everything you

need to get your bike back in working condition.

Tires can be filled up for free near the physical plant behind the Old Gym.

A lock or chain is a must, as bike theft is common on campus and in the community. Even if you are just going inside for a few minutes, make sure to lock your bike.

Bikes must be ridden only on the streets.

There is a counter-flow bike lane on campus, and several bike lanes around Laie. Bikes are not allowed on sidewalks.

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Skateboards - Longboards and skate-

boards are great for navigating around campus and fun to ride.You will see many students and some teachers longboarding to classes. However, don’t ride them on sidewalks. Use the bike lane on the street.

Drive - Although not everyone is fortunate

enough to own a car, there are still several ways to drive around Oahu. The car rental company Enterprise has four cars on campus available for rent. Also, the facebook pages “BYUH Rides” and “Sell your stuff @ BYU-Hawaii” are good places to find students willing to carpool or rent their car out for the day.

Uber - The ride-sharing company has been in

Honolulu for a while but has recently debuted on the North Shore. Fares tend to run a little high, but a ride in an Uber car is most likely faster and more comfortable than The Bus.

Transportation photos by Hector Periquin

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Car buying tips Take to time to learn a little about cars and the registration process in Hawaii B Y A DA M CA SE

Riding the bus and hitching rides with friends is fun for a semester, but students said that can get old. When buying a car, they said find a friend who knows about cars, try adding your

car to your parents’ insurance, and always use a code reader to find out if the car you want to buy has any A H OR R OR STORY

Blair Hauk, an exercise science major

California, recently purchased a Nissan Xterra. He tells his story, “I met this man on BYUH sell your stuff. I met him on campus and he told me that there was a problem with the sensor. He was going to fix it. I told him I was interested but to let me know when he fixed it. A couple of weeks later I checked it out.

There was no engine light.

I made a deal and bought the car. That night driving from Moana Street to campus the car died three time and the engine light turned back on. I called the guy who sold it to me. He came and checked it with his code reader. He said it was the sensor again. He let me barrow me another car and told me that he would fix the problem. A week later I got the car back. The engine light was off, he said he had to change the distributer. About a week later, driving to Sunset Beach on my first journey out of Laie, the engine overheated. I called a friend and he couldn’t figure out what is wrong with it. I called the seller back and he came and put two buckets of water in the radiator. I tried to sell the car back, but he told me that he only has $1,000 of the money I had already given him.

So, I decided to keep the car. I had a bunch of people look at my car and they couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Eventually I went to the organic mechanic and he tells me that it needs 152 K E ALAKA I

a new water pump. I got that fixed and it has worked pretty well since, but it is currently starting to shake…”

Hauk counsels, “It’s not a matter of looking for a perfect car. It’s about looking for a car with problems you can handle.”

It usually costs $1,000 to $1,500, but you will have a car that you already know. Colton Roney, a senior studying phycology, shipped his car from home for around $1,000. He said it is worth it to ship one over because it is hard to find something of quality here.

FINDING A CA R

INSUR A NCE

Foster May, an accounting major from South Africa, just bought a Nissan Pathfinder. “I searched Facebook and Craigslist for a couple of weeks. I found a lot of good deals, but I never was motivated enough to drive across the island to check out a car. Finally, I found an ad for an older Pathfinder on Facebook. There wasn’t a lot of information on the ad, but the seller was very quick to respond and seemed honest - so I went to go look at it in Mililani.

It has some mechanical problems that I haven’t identified yet but it seems like a good car.”

Some sources that students mentioned finding good deals on cars were: • “BYUH Buy and Sell” page on Facebook. This is a private page you can join where they sell everything from cars to baby clothes.

• Craigslist. Students recommend bringing a friend who knows about cars to check and make sure the car a working properly. A few students have unknowingly bought cars with major problems because they didn’t know what to look for, they said.

• Ask friends who are graduating or leaving the island. Students end up selling their cars cheap because they are leaving soon.

• Consider shipping a car from the mainland.

Insuring your vehicle is very important and should be done before you drive it anywhere. Most policies can be set up online or by phone. Some companies students have used are Geico, Island Insurance, and Allstate. Something important students mentioned doing was pairing up with their parent’s insurance policy.

Hauk said he is on his parent’s AAA plan. Some mainland companies will not insure a car in Hawaii but, if possible, cheaper rates may be found this way.

SA FETY A ND R EGISTR ATION

A big road block in getting your car ready for the road is safety and registration. The first step would be to get your safety check done.

This can be done with most mechanics and costs around $20. They check and make sure your car is in proper working order. Students mentioned that places like Jiffylube and other well-establish businesses aren’t as lenient.

Once you get the first inspection done, they give you some paperwork you can take, along with proof of insurance, title, and possibly other documents depending on your situation found at http://www.dmv.org/hihawaii/car-registration.php, to the DMV. The

DMV in Kaneohe usually has shorter lines but other DMV’s, like in Aiea, let you take a ticket and come back in a few hours when they are ready for you. The cost of registration is more expensive in Hawaii than it is on the mainland and is based on the weight of the car instead of the price.

One very important thing to know about registration in Hawaii is back taxes. It is important to buy a car that has been registered recently or you may have to pay any unpaid registration tax on the car if it has been unregistered. For example, if I buy a car from a man who has not registered it for three years, I must pay those three years of registration to get it registered instead of just paying this year’s fee.

This can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.

After paying your dues at the DMV, you must go back to where you had your car inspected and show them that you did your registration to receive your stickers. Then you are done, until next year…

R E PA I RS

There are a few students on campus who have knowledge of cars. Roney, who said he has helped many friends with their cars, said a lot of cars here have problems with batteries, cooling problems, and leaky hoses. He suggests using a code reader to find out what exactly is wrong with the car before you buy it because most cars in the price range students are looking at have the check engine light on.

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L i fe st y le College students A Hawaiian monk seal surf on the web rests on Temple Beach. while waiting in line.

Photo by Yukimi Kishi Photo by AP.

Protected seals in Hauula Beached seals are often pregnant, says professor, and are to be protected

BY KELSY SIMMONS

A pregnant Hawaiian monk seal beached in Hauula near the fire station causes volunteers to section the area off with caution tape in hopes of protecting the seal during its resting period.

“The Hawaiian monk seal is an endemic species to Hawaii,” said Dr. Brad Smith, assistant professor of the Natural Sciences Department. “You don’t find them anywhere else in the world.”

Smith said when seals come to the beach to sun themselves, they usually lay very still. He said the barriers are put up to prevent people, who are not paying attention, for mistaking them as a rock and walking right into them.

Similar in the effort for sea turtles, people in Hawaii are dedicating effort into conserving Hawaiian monk seal populations as well with laws and regulations to protect them. “Generally, if you are really cute, you are going to have a lot of laws,” said Smith.

Dr. Benjamin Jordan, an associate professor of Natural Sciences, said of the seals, “They are considered one of the most endangered species on Earth.” According to the Hawaii Marine Mammal Alliance website, the monk seal is also the most endangered mammal in the United States. The website says there are “only about 1,300 seals left” on the face of the planet.

The seals are more likely to be seen along the North Shore and Waianae Coast in the less populated areas, said Smith. “During the day, they will come up on the beach and sunbathe.”

Smith said there have been times when he has been on his way to surf and walked right by a seal when he was not paying attention. He said Hawaiian monk seals typically do not move, especially when they are pregnant.

“They look like they’re dead. I’ve had people come up on the beach that have been nervous about it and wanted to go up to check to see if it’s dead,” Smith stated.

According to Smith, it’s not a good idea to approach the seal to check. However, if a bystander is concerned, they

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can call the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at 808-220-7802.

NOAA is in charge of monitoring sea life. Because NOAA is working to survey monk seal behavior, their website, NOAA Fisheries, asks Oahu residents to call and report any sightings.

People can also call if they are concerned a seal is in any danger from humans, said Smith. “If you see someone walking too close or trying to take a selfie, there is a number you can call and report it.”

Jordan said his wife were part of a local volunteer conservation group for two years. “Just web search ‘NOAA Hawaiian monk seal.’ They are always looking for volunteers.”

He said whenever a seal beaches itself to rest, the organization will try to send someone to ensure no one disturbs it.

“They have volunteers go and pretty much just hang out and look at the big lump on the beach to make sure nobody gets too close,” said Jordan. He said volunteering in the program is a really good experience, especially for students.

Yutong Wu, a sophomore from China studying international cultural studies who lives in Hauula, said, “I think having barriers put up around them is a good idea because Hawaii has so many visitors from all over the world. Some people don’t even know they shouldn’t touch them. It’s a good way to protect them and educate people from all over the world.”

The first time she saw seals on the beach in Hauula,Wu said she took a photo “because they are so cute and fat!”

Monk seal pups will stay with their mothers for about a year after they are born, said Smith, and the moms will be protective of their babies.

“If you see a cute little small seal, a lot of people will want to touch it,” Smith cautioned. “The mothers are big.

They can do some damage if they bite you. They will bowl people over and knock them down.”

For more information on Hawaiian monk seals, visit www.monkseals.org.

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C ampus L i fe

Tips for finding

Off-Campus Housing Having friends who live off-campus is best way to find a place, students say

BY HYR A M YA RB RO

R E A C H OUT T O F R I E N D S Emily Barnett, a sophomore from Pennsylvania studying psychology, said, “It’s not that hard to find housing once you’ve been at the school [for] a semester and make friends. My tip would be to ask about housing opportunities that your friends might know about.

Most of the time you will find something.”

LO O K F O R B Y UH A P PR O VED H OUSI NG Nona Khosbayarovna, a senior from Mongolia studying political science, said looking for approved housing “will be much easier to find solutions to problems, and it is also more organized. Always read through your whole contract and housing rules, because you might not get your deposit back.”

d e v o r p Ap

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FI N D O P E N I N GS O N TH E B Y U H O F FI C I AL H O U S I N G W E B P AGE

JOIN T HE BYUH OF F - CAMPUS HOUS ING F ACE BOOK PAGE

Go to https://offcampushousing.byuh. edu to find BYU-Hawaii approved housing options within the Laie, Kahuku, and Hauula areas. The website says, “Students can search contracted properties, have access to policies and procedures, and utilize off-campus online tools.”

Go to Facebook and search “BYUH OffCampus Housing (Unofficial).” When you’ve been approved to join the group, you will be able to find local listings for housing in the Laie, Hauula, and Kahuku areas.

L O O K I N TO P O TE N TI AL O P TI O N S I MME DI ATE L Y Shelley Ashworth, a BYU graduate from California, said, “As soon as a space becomes available… you must talk to the landlord immediately and go see it as soon as possible. Spaces are often promised to friends by the current renters and the landlord is unaware. If you can, contact the landlord directly, walk through the space, and give your deposit to him/her.

“You can reserve the space even though the current renters have promised the space to their friends. When you give the deposit, you should sign the contract to reserve the space for you. If you don’t communicate directly with the landlord, the current renters will tell the landlord their friend is taking the space and it won’t be available for you.”

KNOW WHO YOUR ROOM M ATE S ARE AHE AD OF T IM E By knowing who you will be living with beforehand, you can eliminate any possibility of unnecessary conflict which would arise.

Mikaela Tauiliili, an accounting graduate from Samoa, said, “Ask current tenants about the relationship with the landlord.

Do they respond when repairs/maintenance are needed? Do they make it difficult to get a deposit back? Are house rules/ clean checks reasonable? Do they live in the same building?”

COM M IT T IM E TO LO O KIN G AT HOUS ING OP TIO N S Mikaela Tauiliili, an accounting graduate from Samoa, said, “Look! Look at a bunch of different houses long before you look to rent, even if they don’t have openings yet. Don’t be shy to ask friends what they’re paying for rent. Be well informed.”

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AV OID POTE NT IAL SC AMS Jessica Leon, a freshman communications major from Mexico, said, “I think it’s good that you address the facts about scams. I had three or four people who just wanted to get the money wired before getting a contract. [Ask] for pictures, the exact address, look at the place first, sign the contract, and then pay either the landlord directly or a deposit.”

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Lifestyle

Recipe: Pork and Chicken Adobo A d a m A l o c s h a r e s h ow t o m a ke a m e a t y F i l i p i n o f avo r i t e

BY A LEX MAL D O N AD O

Adam Aloc, a junior business management and hospitality major from Bicol in the Philippines, teaches his family’s adobo recipe. Adobo is a dish derived from the Spanish, but adapted to satisfy the Filipino pallet, according to Aloc. Photo by Stop Khemthorn

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The

BEST Snorkeling Spots

L i fe st y le

1

Students share favorite diving spots on the island

BY KEVIN BR OWN

SHARK’S COVE

Despite the name, the chances of running into a shark at Shark’s Cove are slim, although white tipped reef sharks are occasionally spotted here, according to hawaiiweb.com. Located in Pupukea, this is known as one of the best snorkeling places on the island and the world, according to the Huffington Post.

Shark’s Cove provides a sheltered cove for the inexperienced ELECTRIC BEACH and beginner snorkelers with This snorkeling spot is located on diverse tropical fishes just waiting the west side of the island adjacent to be viewed.

“Shark’s Cove is very close to campus and it’s not to a power plant. The plant uses seawater as a coolant and recycles as packed with tourists,” said this water through a big tube Terri-Lee Bixby, a junior from going out into the ocean. The temNew York studying history. “The perature of the water is noticeably fish are everywhere. There are warmer as you approach the pipe, many sea urchins so bring some and the marine habitat thrives off water shoes.” that warm water, especially the The Hawaii Snorkeling spinner dolphins.

Guide says, “The bottom is made If you arrive early enough up of large smooth boulders and in the morning, you may be able coral heads forming small caves to swim side by side with these and ledges for marine life to hide.

The walls of the surrounding cliffs dolphins. The underwater current tends to be strong in this area so provide calmer water attracting it’s advised snorkelers use caution schooling surface fish.” so they don’t get swept out to There is a tunnel called the “Blue Room,” a 75-foot tunnel sea. The depth increases suddenly creating an ideal environment for about 15 feet below the surface scuba divers as well. of the water. Due to the amount Chris Page, a junior from of crevices and tunnels at Shark’s North Carolina studying internaCove, scuba divers are seen navitional cultural studies, said Elecgating the passageways. tric Beach is his favorite because Katelyn McBeth, a senior it’s not as touristy as Hanauma Bay. from Utah studying EXS, “I love going out and having to find said she is a frequent visitor the fish and turtles. It’s really cool to Shark’s Cove. She said snorhow the turtles don’t swim away keling is an adventure. “There’s always somewhere new to explore from you. They just hang around you.” and discover.”

2

Adam said thethe people of the use a lot and salt and to preserve their food their and have taste for theasalty a result.

He AdamAloc Aloc said people of Philippines the Philippines useofa vinegar lot of vinegar salt to preserve fooddeveloped and havea developed tasteas for the salty saida the preservation techniques are what transformed oncetransformed Spanish dish the into once a distinctly Filipino recommended lots of as result.

He said the preservation techniques arethewhat Spanish dishmeal. into Aloc a distinctly Filipinopicking meal. meat Aloc with recommendfated because juices andlots flavor get because absorbed the into juices the fat.and He also encouraged peopleinto to have much their bowl as they can. He the flavor pickingthemeat with of fat flavor get absorbed theasfat.

Hebroth alsoin encouraged people to said havea lot as of much broth in comes from the as broth and that’s thatflavor sets apart good adobo Stop Khemthorn their bowl they can.

Heone saidof athelottraits of the comes from the from brothbad andadobo. that’sPhoto one ofbythe traits that sets apart good adobo from bad adobo. Photo by

Stop Khemthorn

Ingredients Three chicken breasts 4-5 lbs of frozen pork About ½ cup white vinegar About ½ - ¾ cup soy sauce Half an onion (sliced) Seven small cloves of garlic (chopped) Two potatoes (diced) One lemon (halved)

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Instructions 1. Thaw the pork and chicken. Boil them together with about a half inch of water covering

the bottom of the pot for 30 minutes. Be sure to cover the pot as the meat boils.

2. Lower the temperature to medium heat and let it cook for 30 more minutes.

3. Put the heat on high and add the remaining ingredients to the mixture, stirring thoroughly throughout.

4. Once it’s all together, put the heat back down to medium and let it cook until the potatoes are soft.

5. Once the potatoes are soft enough to easily put a fork through, taste the broth and determine if it needs any more soy sauce or vinegar. If it isn’t salty enough, add more soy sauce.

If it needs more vinegar, squeeze half the lemon into the pot.

6. Pour into a bowl and enjoy.

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HANAUMA BAY Located on the south side of the island, Hanauma Bay is an old volcanic crater that has collapsed and been engulfed by the sea. This is one of Hawaii’s most popular tourist destinations, and depending on the day, you could be one of nearly 3,000 visitors there, according to the Huffington Post.

“You can see just about every type of fish at Hanauma Bay, and you can swim amongst various schools of fish circling around you,” said Kavin Mendez, a junior from Utah studying accounting. Mendez said Hanauma Bay is the most popular snorkeling site on Oahu and often times is “too saturated with tourists,” making it a less personal experience.

Hanauma Bay is a protected preserve, and visitors must use caution when entering the waters so the coral and the fish aren’t harmed.

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Snorkelers take a glimpse at the Blue Room, one of the caves at Shark’s Cove. The tunnel is 75 feet long and 15 foot below the surface of the water. Photo by Kelsie Carlson

KUILIMA COVE

Sheltered by a natural rock barrier, Kuilima Cove is a calm snorkeling place with no waves crashing overhead and it’s suitable for an adventure with children. “It’s like you are swimming in an aquarium. The sensation is unreal,” said Lucas Marchant, a freshman from Oregon studying psychology. “The white sand and crystal clear water of Kuilima Cove make for a perfect combination of paradise.”

Located at Turtle Bay, parking is available nearby.

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L i fe st y le students KalinCollege and Kiana Uluave are surf onoftheSo’Da web Bomb, a the owners whilesoda waiting in line.truck at new speciality Photo by AP. Centhe Polynesian Cultural ter’s Hukilau Marketplace.

Photo by Kyungji Kim

It’s So’Da Bomb Student and local couple start mixed soda drink truck, first-ever in Oahu MA LIA DIA Z

TVA couple Kalin and Kiana Uluave have started the one and only soda business on Oahu, So’Da Bomb, they said. Upon moving to Oahu from Utah in 2015, the newly married couple noticed there were no soda shops on the island. They had previously been accustomed to places like Swig and Sodalicious, which have several locations in Utah and Arizona.

“We had the idea when we first moved here to Hawaii in August 2015. We thought it would be cool to open one up,” said Kiana, a BYU at Provo alumni from Laie currently teaching history at Kahuku High School.

“My favorite part has been bringing the first of its kind to Hawaii. It’s such a big thing on the west coast, and we are so happy to bring it here.”

Kalin, a senior business major from Utah, said, “Honestly, my favorite part of all of this is just meeting everyone... It’s so cool to sell something that you build yourself.” He said this business project is part of his internship for his degree at BYUH. Pono Cummings, a sophomore undeclared major from Laie, is the creative operations manager. He said the best thing about working with the Uluaves is “[being] a boss and [having] people believe in me.” He also said So’Da Bomb has helped him decide to earn a certificate in entrepreneurship.

The truck, located at the Hukilau Marketplace, serves drinks mixed from various sodas and juices.

When asked about how they created the menu, Kiana said, “We had a soft opening. We invited friends over and bought lots of soda and flavors. They tried them all and had lots of great feedback. We created different combinations and came up with fun names. It took about two weeks to get a solid menu.”

The Uluaves said they worked with a graphic design company called 99 Designs and about 30 designs 164 K E ALAKA I

later, the official menu was born. The menu included dozens of combinations of brand name sodas like Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, Sprite and Coca Cola.

“We started planning, got the supplies ourselves, and began working with PCC after Christmas break to get a spot at one of the marketplace trucks,” said Kiana.

Richie Norton, managing coordinator of entrepreneurship at the Willes Center, posted live videos on Facebook and Instagram on March 10, opening day, and he was the official first customer. “To see this all come together has been a dream come true,” Norton said. He ordered the “Aloha Spirit” drink, made of Mountain Dew, Blue Curacao, coconut, and passion fruit. “As soon as I drank it, it gave me the ‘breath of life.’ And now I know the color of Aloha is green.”

Kalin said they weren’t originally planning on opening that day. He and Cummings saw Norton at the Foodland parking lot, and he asked them about their business. Norton said, “Why don’t we have a soft opening today?”

Norton said, “The location is unreal. As soon as I heard it was a drive-thru, it was over. I’ll drive there every single day. It’s easy on locals and on PCC to reach more customers who don’t want to get out of their cars.” Kalin clarified there will be a drive up in the future.

The Uluaves said they had an unbelievable turnout and exceeded their sales goal for opening day. “We literally worked for about seven or eight hours straight before the crowd thinned out. It was nuts,” said Kalin.

The company’s Instagram is @sodabomb808.

Uluave said future deals and giveaways for BYUH students will be announced there.

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L i fe st y le

Daters give advice for BYUH singles Find balance between being proactive and not rushing it B Y KAY LA HELM

For singles wondering how to go about dating at BYU-Hawaii, students Brittany Liu, Annabelle Phillips, and Eric Hachenberger shared their words of wisdom to help singles better date.

Liu is a senior from Roy, Utah, and an international cultural studies major. Phillips is a senior from Ohio majoring in marine biology.

Hachenberger is a freshman and undeclared major from Austria. All three said they have dated recently and frequently.

GETTING A DATE

Liu: “Girls need to be out there more and so do guys. It’s good to be talking to people.”

Some guys will ask a girl out through text or will play it off as hanging out, which is a no go. Liu said, “I don’t accept being asked out through text. I’ll make him call me,” and being asked out in person is still preferred.

Phillips said she doesn’t actively seek dates, but they happen naturally. “If you just have a nice personality, and you don’t blend into the wall like a fly, but you are very friendly with people–try to get to know them, talk to them and really pay attention–they will notice you treat them differently than other people would normally treat, them making that person feel really special.”

Hachenberger: “For me, it is the direct approach. As on a mission, go up to somebody and ask the right questions. Ask someone out while you are having a conversation with them.”

Hachenberger: “Another approach I found out is a little bit better is try to get to know the person a little bit before–have some condition of friendship–that way it makes the date a little bit easier.”

Hachenberger: “If I meet someone at the temple or see them doing something extremely valuable, it makes the person very attractive on a spiritual level and on a character level.”

ON THE DATE

Liu: “My last date was going to watch the sunrise.”

Phillips: “I would want to go paragliding, or doing something outdoorsy because it is one of my favorite things.” Activities like these are meaningful from a dating perspective because they reflect personality.

Phillips: “I like walks, too, because you can talk. It can also be spontane166 K E ALAKA I

ous and turn into a fun adventure. Is he going to take you through the streets of Laie? Maybe he is going to take you to the temple or the beach.”

Hachenberger: “When I go on dates, I try to do fun activities – adventures. I love hikes and I love sports activities. Often I get to know people.

I don’t frame it as a date, but I invite them to surfing or play sports. It could start as a group date but eventually you will want to go one-onone.”

If you want to get to know someone on your date, he said, “It is all about the topics you talk about.”

Indicators that two people are getting a little closer are “when you can talk about your family; when you can talk about your life goals and dreams with each other; when you can talk about the challenges you have had; [and how] past experiences can shape you,” he said.

If you want to make this happen, he said, “A movie doesn’t work. It is better if you are walking or doing something together.”

RUNNING ROUTES LEGEND A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P

AFTER THE DATE

Liu: “After a date, some guys will just stop talking to you and get all weird and awkward if they are not still interested.” To which she added, “It is much better to be up front.”

Hachenberger: “When it doesn’t work out, I try to keep it friendly and keep it open. Keep it normal.”

Hachenberger: “Sometimes when you don’t know a person good enough, it becomes awkward afterwards. That is why friendship at the beginning is really important.”

BENEFITS OF DATING AT BYUH

Phillips: “There should never be a conversation-killer because if a person is from another place–which everyone is from a different place–then it’s so fun to find out about their home and the things they love about their home, and they can introduce you to new things.”

Phillips: “There are unlimited things to do.You could have adventures on every date.”

Hachenberger: “Everybody is a member … It is protection… When you are dating someone who is Mormon, the odds that the person values are similar to yours are much higher.”

Hachenberger: “Eventually we are looking for that one person, and to be honest, I couldn’t really see myself marrying a person of another faith because the focus in life is so different and the values in life are so different.”

Hachenberger: “It is vary culturally diverse so you can get to know different values and different viewpoints.”

Beginning of Large circle and start of course ByUH Museum Back of Tennis Courts ByUH Health Center Front of Snow Building Back of Snow Building Back parking of CAC and Trash bins Back entrance to pCC S i d e e n t r a n c e t o F r o n t pC C p a r k i n g l o t Corner of naniloa and Iosepa CAC parking/pCC Service Road Entrance 4-way stop-Kahuku side Hale Laa, Kulanui junction C o r n e r o f H a l e L a a a n d na n i l o a 4-way stop-Kahuku side Beginning of Large circle and end of course

O p t i o n s fo r a 1 - m i l e co u r s e : • • • • •

DATING SMART

Liu: “Don’t hand your kisses out like pretzels.”

Phillips: “Be careful.You don’t know if a guy is just dating you for a green card.”

Phillips: “If you’re an 18-year-old girl and dating an RM, expect the guy will want to marry. Don’t just be thinking, ‘This is so much fun.’”

Hachenberger:“The more you can start building a friendship the more you can date long-term and meaningfully.”

All three suggest you try to find a balance between being proactive and not rushing it.

once around Large Circle plus two times around Flag Circle following the --- line.

Start at A and follow course to G. Start at G and follow course to K. S t a r t a t K a n d f o l l o w c o u r s e t o o.

Start at A, go directly to M, then back to A.

o n c e a r o u n d t h e pC C f o l l o w i n g t h e . . . l i n e i s equal to 1 and 1/4 miles.

Entire Course (A to p) is equal to 3.1 miles or 5K. Map and information provided courtesy of “Come walk with me” pamphlet from the ByUH Exercise and Sports Science Department.

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Ke AlAKA‘i

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Less than a week old, Inho Jeong is held by his father. This Korean couple’s baby was the 100th baby cared for by a campus nurse just before she completed her mission. Read the story on page 50. Photo by Alvin Vincent Dy

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