Campus Community

Hundreds of alumni and special guests from as far away as the U.S. east coast, New Zealand, and points in between, have spent the past week in Laie enjoying an outstanding array of celebrations marking the Polynesian Cultural Center's 40th anniversary.

T. David Hannemann, the Center's first official employee, literally kicked off the week of activities from Oct. 20-26 by booting a coconut out of the Samoan village chief's house during a special presentation on the early days of the PCC.

A week after retiring last summer from teaching nearly 20 years of print journalism at BYU in Provo, Utah, professor emeritus Alf Pratte started to tackle writing a history of BYU-Hawaii's first 50 years.

Two months later, Pratte and his wife, June, came back to Hawaii where they previously lived in Honolulu from 1964-81. "We feel like we're back home," said Pratte, who likes to say he's had four careers so far.

Armed with a B.A. degree in journalism from BYU and experience as a stringer for the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News, Pratte first came to Hawaii as a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for their first five years in the islands. By 1967 Pratte had completed his master's thesis through BYU on the history of the Star-Bulletin and had also started the Hawaii Record-Bulletin, a statewide LDS newspaper which continued for over 25 years.

The 40-year-old head of a concierge services business has seen his company grow significantly beyond its start-up client and physical location on the strength of the "largest marketing system" in the world: Relationship marketing.

Pono Shim had turned down several opportunities to manage various enterprises at Victoria Ward Center in Honolulu before launching concierge services at Ward, a concierge or service assistance business associated with Consolidated Theaters' 16-plex at the center.

Shim, speaking at the BYU-Hawaii school of business entrepreneurship lecture series on Oct. 14, said the initial ideas for his new business came to him in an "incredible dream" in 1998, but he didn't launch it until Consolidated Theaters was nearly ready to open at Ward Center several years later.

A former Hawaii state young mother of the year encouraged BYU-Hawaii students and faculty at the Oct. 9 devotional to be champions for their families.

Leilani Auna, a BYU-Hawaii coordinator for students with special needs who was named Hawaii young mother of the year in 1998 by the local chapter of American Mothers Inc., quoted President Gordon B. Hinckley in saying her husband and their eight children are her "greatest assets."

Auna, who was born in the Philippines, explained that she was adopted by a young family in Kona, Hawaii, where she was raised on a coffee farm—something that was common among Latter-day Saints in that place and time. When she was older, she recalled her father taught her, "As long as you are sealed in the temple of the Lord by the holy Priesthood, that is stronger than blood."

By special invitation, 23 administrators, staff and students representing BYU-Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center participated in the 12th annual Western Family Picnic at the Marriott Ranch in Hume, Virginia.

The ranch, owned by Richard Marriott of the Marriott hotel conglomerate, hosted over 200 guests, including world ambassadors, diplomats, and members of the U.S. Congress.

The event was sponsored by the International and Government Affairs Office for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, offering an opportunity for hundreds of dignitaries around the world to come together and learn more about the Church.

An Asia-Pacific executive advisor for Bearing Point, Inc., who grew up in a small Midwestern town on the Ohio River but is now "passionate about doing business globally," told BYU-Hawaii students several steps they need to follow to succeed in international business at the Sept. 30 Entrepreneurship Lectureship Series. Robert Lees, former Secretary-General of the Pacific Business Economic Forum comprised of about 900 top international companies, explained that Bearing Point split off from KPMG Consulting several years ago and now has over 16,000 employees worldwide, with about 2,500 in Asia and the Pacific.

Elder R. Lanier Britsch, a service missionary responsible for writing the 40-year history of the Polynesian Cultural Center, traced the close ties between BYU-Hawaii and the popular visitor attraction during the University's Sept. 25 devotional address.

"The history of the Polynesian Cultural Center is closely bound to BYU-Hawaii," said Elder Britsch, the former Vice President of Academics at BYU-Hawaii and author of several history books on the growth of the Church in Asia and the Pacific. He is collaborating with the Center's first employee and long-time executive, T. David Hannemann, on the PCC history book.

Former BYU-Hawaii basketball player Yuta Tabuse signed an NBA contract with the Denver Nuggets today. Tabuse, who played for the Seasiders during the 2001-02 season, becomes the first Japanese player to sign with an NBA franchise and the first BYU-Hawaii basketball player to sign an NBA contract.

Tabuse, a huge crowd favorite during his year with the Seasiders, averaged 7.6 points per game and led the Pacific West Conference in assists 6.5 per contest. He finished fourth in the conference in steals at 1.8 per game and sixth in free throw percentage at .782.

An entrepreneurship professor at the BYU Marriott School of Management told BYU-Hawaii business students they don't necessarily need a lot of experience, exceptional training or even much money to start a successful business.

Gary Williams, a successful entrepreneur in Utah before joining the BYU business school faculty three years ago, shared three principles on Sept. 23 with BYU-Hawaii students that could help them "evolve into entrepreneurs."

Number one: "Don't kill yourself trying to change the world."

"Some of the best companies out there didn't change the world," Williams said, who encouraged budding BYU-Hawaii entrepreneurs to "search for the not so elusive angle, or new twists on something that already exists."

A local businessman and former basketball star for the BYU-Hawaii Seasiders told students, faculty and staff at the Sept. 16 entrepreneurship lecture that "persistence" and "focusing on the task on hand" are the keys to success in the business world.

Alan Akina, born and raised on Oahu, now resides in Kahuku with his family and runs and operates three successful businesses from his own personal computer at home.

Akina explained that his interest in business sparked when he first came to BYU-Hawaii to study in 1991. At that time he had aspired to be a physical therapist and decided to major in biology. His desire to explore various business ventures however, superseded those plans. "My heart was always in business," he said.

The BYU-Hawaii men's and women's tennis teams were honored by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle last week Friday, in a brief ceremony at the Governor's office in the State Capitol Building. Both Seasider teams won the NCAA II national championship in May for the second consecutive year.

The Assistant to the President of BYU-Hawaii drew parallels yesterday between how people's lives in America were changed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and how lives are changed through the spiritual conversion process.

Dr. Norman W. Evans, a professor in English as an international language was named teacher of the year for 2003 by the BYU-Hawaii President's Council.

BYU-Hawaii president Eric B. Shumway delivering the first devotional to start the 2003-04 school year, explained to students and faculty Thursday that "one of the greatest gifts in life and eternity is our precious agency, the right and privilege to choose."

A Tahitian artist whose creativity brought new life to the Polynesian Cultural Center's Marquesan village over a decade ago while enrolled at BYU-Hawaii recently returned to Laie to impress on his 11-year-old daughter that she also needs to study here some day.

Eriki Marchand, who graduated from BYU-Hawaii with a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1992, brought his daughter to Laie in early August because he wanted her "to feel the same spirit I did and some day follow my steps. I know the (PCC) and BYU-Hawaii have played a big part in my life."

"I also know David O. McKay's prophecy established this place," he said. "It's a blessing for all the people of the Pacific. I wanted my daughter to see this, and feel the spirit and mana ['spiritual essence'] of this place. I'd really like to make sure she will some day choose [to attend] BYU-Hawaii."

BYU-Hawaii commenced its first Intercultural Leadership conference, Aug. 8-9, in an effort to give students an opportunity to develop and instill valuable leadership principles within diverse environments.

This year's conference began with the hopes of it perpetuating as an annual event where a greater number of students can participate in the future, according to David Lucero, director of student activities and leadership development and also the organizer of the conference.

"This (conference) was a pilot to see what the future will hold," Lucero said. "Possibilities include gearing a conference more towards a certain type of student on campus like more of the new students not yet involved in leadership, having another conference for students who are in leadership positions and definitely one geared towards students who are graduating and ready to leave."

Former General Relief Society counselor Chieko Okazaki shared five principles that lend eternal perspective to our daily work efforts, in the final BYU-Hawaii devotional for the 2002-03 school year on Aug. 7.

BYU-Hawaii hosted a joint conference from July 27 to Aug. 1 of over 120 U.S. and international scientists and technicians interested in the latest developments in calorimetry.