Junior Chenoa Francis said she felt “genuinely seen” when President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency called Black lives matter an “eternal truth” that should be universally accepted. Oaks made the statement on Oct. 27, 2020, at a devotional at BYU in Provo. The following year, in 2021, the celebration of the emancipation, or freedom, of slaves in the United States, a day known as “Juneteenth,” became a federal holiday, which Francis added also helped her to feel seen.

The aloha spirit was strong, said members of the BYU-Hawaii ohana, as they gathered in person in Utah and via Zoom to remember retiree and former business professor and university administrator William “Bill” Neal on June 10. His family reported he passed away peacefully on June 4 at the age of 73.

Music was one of the focal points of the memorial service for BYU–Hawaii alumna and longtime university employee Valerie Kaliko’okamaile Nihipali on May 26 at the Laie Hawaii North Stake Center.

Sixty-two percent of college-aged students in a recent Instagram survey said they think of surfing as a male sport. Kinsey Hippolite, a resident of Kahuku, said the way to change this perception is for women to talk more about being surfers and support other female surfers. She said as women are proud to be surfers and bring it into the conversation, others will start to do the same, and people will begin to recognize surfing as a sport for both men and women.

With more than 700 students in attendance, the Winter Semester Closing Social had an amazing turnout, according to student employee Zayne Williams, a senior from Florida majoring in communications.

At the end of 2020, a medical issue drove Steve and Foloi Vaiouga to rely on each other and their faith in God to push through, shared Foloi Vaiouga.

New students, some who arrived on Oahu only days earlier, packed the Stake Center chapel for the New Student Orientation President’s Devotional on April 24, 2022. President Kauwe addressed the new students and invited them to contemplate the legacy and purpose God has designed for them to fulfill at BYUH.

A longtime campus filmmaker and BYU–Hawaii retiree Glenn Alan Gee Keong Kau was remembered at his memorial service on May 2 by family and friends for his notorious dry wit, his love of films and filmmaking, his love of good food, but mostly for his love for his ohana and the people he interacted with over the 30-plus years he worked at the university.

First Lady Monica Kauwe reminded students, during her address in the first devotional of Spring Semester 2022, now is the time for them to develop and nurture their integrity. She said, “Success comes and goes, but integrity is forever.”