Campus Community

A proposal by two TESOL [Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages] majors and a Latina classmate to establish an English language school in Merida, Mexico, won the $5,000 grand prize in the 2008 BYU-Hawaii Mark and Laura Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship (CIE) business plan competition on March 7. Visiting entrepreneurs who earlier participated in a two-day business conference on campus acted as judges to also award six other cash prizes in the university's annual business plan competition.

The BYU-Hawaii President's Council met with interested faculty, staff and students at 7:00 a.m. on March 6 in the Little Theater to answer a range of questions from the floor and also pre-submitted by email. For example:

LDS Philanthropies, which coordinates fundraising beyond tithing and fast offerings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its institutions, founded the Matthew Cowley Society during a special luncheon on campus March 5 to honor donors who make estate planning deferred gift contributions to Brigham Young University and/or the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Arnold K. Wunder, president of the Kahului Stake on Maui, used the imagery from the hymn "Brightly Beams Our Father’s Mercy " (number 335) and examples from his own life to encourage students to be better "lower lights".

Leslie Thompson’s inquisitive mind motivated her to search for satisfactory answers. Religion was no exception.

Comparing the young people of today to the army of Helaman, as a group of Christians involved in both physical and spiritual wars, Elder Kim B. Clark, president of BYU-Idaho and member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy, shared at campus devotional two patterns seen in the Book of Mormon that can be used for protection today.

As BYU-Hawaii student Asala Wickramaarachchige grew up in Sri Lanka, he was no stranger to great danger. The country had been at war for many years and had witnessed much violence.

The Executive Committee of the Board of Education of the Church Educational System — including Elders Russell M. Nelson, chairman, and M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve [pictured at top left], and Sister Julie B. Beck, General Relief Society President — held day-long meetings at BYU-Hawaii on February 25. That afternoon they addressed the university ohana or faculty and staff "family." Some of them also addressed the students and Saints in special fireside meetings on the previous Sunday evening.

Dal Zemp, a BYU-Hawaii alumnus and member of the BYUH/Polynesian Cultural Center Presidents' Leadership Council who describes himself as an entrepreneurial philanthropist, told School of Business students on February 21, 2008, how he built several successful enterprises so he can pursue his love of special education and helping others.

Dr. Daniel C. Peterson [pictured at left], professor of Islamic Studies and Arabic at BYU in Provo, turned to a range of modern and ancient scholars during the annual Joseph Smith Lecture Series at BYU-Hawaii on February 19 in the Cannon Activities Center to show that the Latter-day Saint Prophet's revelations restored a number of early Christian doctrines and practices.

Each year since the Golden Jubilee celebration in 2005 the BYU-Hawaii/Church College of Hawaii Alumni Association honors former students who represent the characteristics President David O. McKay envisioned when he founded this university. At the groundbreaking ceremony fifty-three years ago this month he said:

About 50 BYU-Hawaii/Church College of Hawaii alumni leaders gathered on campus from February 13-16 to meet with university officials and learn first-hand about new initiatives, hold training sessions, share ideas, get together with current students from their home countries, and generally rekindle their old school spirit.

Four former presidents who served in Laie — Dan W. Andersen (1974-80) [pictured at left], J. Elliot Cameron (80-86) and Alton L. Wade (86-94) with BYU-Hawaii; and Lester W.B. Moore (91-2000) with the Polynesian Cultural Center — addressed alumni and friends during a special fireside on February 2 in the new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni building at BYU in Provo.

BYU-Hawaii English Professor Dr. Randal Allred, Director of the Honors Program, focused his 2008 David O. McKay Lecture today, Fight the Good Fight: War as Metaphor in LDS Discourse, on "the many paradoxes we have in the gospel, and in the language we use to talk about the Gospel," especially the use of militaristic imagery and language.

Mike Foley | University Advancement | 8 February 2008

Pat Hamamoto, Superintendent of the Hawaii State Department of Education, and Donna Ikeda, Chairperson of the State Board of Education, has recognized BYU-Hawaii "for all that you do to support public education" with one of its inaugural 2007 Partnership in Education Awards.

The staff members at BYU-Hawaii’s Career Services view their job as helping students land their dream jobs as they gain skills and experience in college.

Conveniences of technology cannot replace the influence of the Holy Ghost and fulfilling one's duty, Elder Scott D. Whiting, member of the Fifth Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said during Tuesday's devotional.