Campus Community

When a construction project reaches its highest building point, the milestone is often commemorated with a ceremonial ‘topping’ or ‘capping’ of the building. BYU–Hawaii’s new multi-use building reached this point in December and celebrated the milestone with students, faculty, staff, contractors and community members on Thursday, December 13, 2012.

Someday, Oahu’s Koolau and Waianae mountains will be reduced to nothing more than a flat, low-lying island like Midway.

On Tuesday, December 11, nine students studying Finance presented to fellow students and community members on market trends and their investment projections. Splitting the presentations into different segments, they addressed what is happening on the world level, and more specifically in Europe, North America, Indonesia, China, and Australian markets, as well as what is currently happening in the banking and financial, communication, entertainment, and technology sectors.

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will address more than 270 BYU–Hawaii graduates who will be participating in commencement on Saturday, December 15, 2012. The exercises will begin at 9:30 AM in the Cannon Activities Center.

On December 7 and 8, 2012, the Brigham Young University–Hawaii Concert Choir and the

As part of the IT 224 class, BYU–Hawaii Information Technology students host a free computer diagnostic workshop for students and community. The workshop provides the opportunity for students and community members to bring in troubled electronics for IT students to examine them and help to resolve the problems.

On Wednesday, December 5th, 2012, at 6 PM, Brigham Young University–Hawaii will host its annual Christmas Lighting program in the Cannon Activities Center. The event will include special musical performances from Laie Elementary School’s students and faculty and brings the community together.

BYU–Hawaii held its annual Great Ideas Conference on November 28-29 with more than 60 students from all disciplines bringing their best business ideas forward. Each student has exactly 2 minutes to give an “elevator pitch” of their Great Idea to a panel of judges who ranked the ideas on criteria such as creativity, viability, and performance.

Fifth-ranked BYU–Hawaii women’s volleyball will play host to seven other contenders in the West Regional of the 2012 NCAA Division II National Tournament. The host location and teams were announced Sunday, November 18, on the NCAA Selection Show. The tournament matches will take place in BYU–Hawaii’s 4,500-seat Cannon Activities Center on the Laie, Hawaii, campus on November 29-December 1.

“Be prepared, you will be asked, ‘Are you a Mormon?’ How will you reply? Are you asleep or are you true blue through and through… This is the Lord’s kingdom. This is His work. And we are building for eternity.” This was the counsel of David A. Lewis, vice president of construction and facilities management at BYU–Hawaii, during his devotional address Tuesday, November 20, 2012. His talk, “Time to Build,” focused on structuring our lives in accordance with the Lord’s will in order to build eternal homes and families.

The Hypersquad Dance Company will be showcasing and performing various energetic hip hop routines on Wednesday, November 21, at 8 PM in the Cannon Activities Center. Based in Waipahu, the Hypersquad Dance Company was started in 1996.

Thursday’s Academic Forum presented the results of the recent Presidential election, and possible repercussions for the nation as a whole from political and economic standpoints. The purpose was not to debate winners or losers, but to explore tactics, possible outcomes, and consequences of the result.

Robert L. Millet, Professor of Religious Education at BYU, discussed the life and work of Joseph Smith in his devotional address, “Joseph Smith and Christ’s Eternal Gospel,” on Tuesday, November 13, 2012. Millet opened by telling of the power and importance of the restoration of the Book of Mormon through the Prophet Joseph Smith. “The Choice Seer Joseph Smith taught us that God our Father has a plan for his children, a program established to maximize our growth and insure our happiness. And yet that fact alone—that there is some divine plan to life—is not as obvious from the Bible as from latter-day scripture. Knowing what we know, we are able to recognize divine design, but seldom can we turn to a specific Old or New Testament passage that speaks with clarity of a plan. How very different is the Book of Mormon!”

On November 8-10, BYU–Hawaii’s theatre department presented John Patrick’s The Curious Savage, a comedic play about the recently widowed Ethel P. Savage and her inheritance of ten million dollars. Savage, aided by a group of social misfits, misleads her selfish step children from the inheritance in order to ensure that the money is spent with integrity. With the help of a delirious mother, a compulsive liar, an ex-military pilot, a once statistician, and an extreme cynic, Savage is able to carry out her plans to establish a fund for others to achieve their dreams.

Approximately 40 runners gathered for a pink “Race for the Cure” 5K to raise awareness about breast cancer and to honor loved ones who have had cancer. The race, organized by BYU–Hawaii students, was held on October 27 at the Hukilau Beach Park and the Kahuku bike and pedestrian path. The route was lined with pink ribbons, and there were also pink shirts and wristbands available for purchase – the proceeds of which went directly to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organization that is a leading advocate in breast cancer awareness, prevention and treatment.

James D. Lee, Associate Professor and Department Chair of Computer and information Sciences, spoke on the desire to become better christians, saints and disciples of Christ in his devotional address Tuesday, November 6. “Over the years, I have learned that becoming a number one Christian is not simply something that I would like to do, but it is something that I need to do if I want to return and live with Father in Heaven again…. it is something that requires a lifetime of effort, lots of repenting, learning along the way, overcoming challenges and obstacles, loving and serving each other and most importantly, taking advantage of the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”

Continuing the tradition that started in 2002, BYU–Hawaii welcomes basketball teams from New Zealand, Tahiti, China and Hawaii Pacific University for the Asia-Pacific Tournament held on campus this week. Meant to be a friendly competition, this tournament is part of the preseason games for the Seasiders and does not count for their season record. The tournament originally started as a way to strengthen relationships within the BYU–Hawaii target area. By inviting teams from the Asia-Pacific region, students attending BYU–Hawaii can come support teams from their home countries.

Elder J. Christopher Lansing, Area Seventy, North America Northeast Area, discussed our time and development here on Earth through personal trials in his Devotional address, “That’s Life,” on Tuesday, October 30, 2012.