Being multilingual is a common characteristic of students at BYU-Hawaii. For Filipino graduate Kit Nadado, who majored in TESOL, and Tiffany Ng, a TESOL sophomore from Hong Kong, a diverse lingual background has been a bridge to connect with other students on the personal level. Hello, nei hou, ni hao, and kumusta—Tiffany Ng is fluent in four languages and is learning a new one: Spanish. Ng grew up speaking Cantonese and Tagalog. In Hong Kong, people speak Cantonese, but she grew up in a home where her mother and Filipino grandmother spoke Tagalog. In school, Ng was required to learn Mandarin and English. At BYUH, she decided she wanted to learn Spanish as well. “First of all, I think that Spanish is really cool. I think that because I know four languages, Spanish will also help me in my future,” said Ng. Ng said she wants to learn Korean and American Sign Language to be a well-rounded linguist. She also wants to go back to Hong Kong and teach children the different languages she knows: “In 40 years, I want to teach kids sign language because I want to help kids to be able to communicate with lots of other people,” said Ng. The Philippines was once ruled by Spain, and because of this, Ng said the verbs and other words in Spanish are the same in Tagalog.Although Ng speaks English on campus, she most often speaks Cantonese with her friends. Tagalog has also helped Ng make more friends by being able to connect with Filipinos. As she said, “At BYUH, I have a lot of Filipino friends. When you speak their language, no matter what they think that you are a part of them.”She added, “I feel like, because I know a lot of different languages, I have a lot of different friends. I have learned a lot from our differences. It is really nice to be a student here.”Kit Nadado has a similar story. Knowing four languages, Nadado finds English, Tagalog, and two dialects from the Philippines—Ilocano and Cebuano—most comfortable. Nadado said he has picked up each language as he’s moved around. “I grew up with Ilocano, then went into English, which is started in the Philippines in kindergarten, but not spoken a lot. “My family moved to a Tagalog-speaking area and they also speak Ilocano there. Then I served a mission in Bacolod, Philippines speaking Cebuano.” Laughing, Nadado said, “It’s kind of a lot.” Now at BYUH, Nadado said the language he uses the most on campus, beside English, is Tagalog. “A lot of Filipinos around here come from different parts of the islands, and we have kind of decided to speak Tagalog because everyone in the Philippines is taught Tagalog in school.” As a common language for the Filipino students, Tagalog creates an instant connection Filipinos from different cultures to come together. Nadado said there is a sense of ownership and identity that comes with being able to know another person better through language. Learning a language for the first time is not like learning how to ride a bicycle. Rather, Nadado explains, going through the process of learning different languages gets easier through the skills you acquire while learning. “The techniques I learned when picking up one new language I can apply to learning another; there are just different rules and different vocabulary with the new language,” he said. Nadado said being multilingual helps him to be informed, not fooled, and aware of what people are saying. As he said, “I can react correctly and respond correctly to people. It is easier to defend my beliefs and share my opinions.”Uploaded on January 21, 2015

Benny Kai Jr., BYU-Hawaii alumni and Ambassador of Aloha, passed away at the age of 54 in his home two days before Christmas, surrounded by his family after a year and a half of battling lymphoma cancer. “He shared his Hawaiian aloha spirit and entertained countless thousands of guests at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Aloha, Benny Kai. Aloha,” said the PCC Facebook page on the day of his death.Sharon Craighead Kai, his wife of 32 years, said Kai contributed to PCC’s entertainment for most of his life. “He started when he was 17 or 18 years old, right out of high school. When he first started working there, he was a dancer, then a musician, then he became the emcee at the Luau and Hawaiian ambassador.” Even after hospitalization, Kai continued to entertain. He would sing to other patients and he played for YouTube from his hospital bed, according to the Hawaii Reporter. Music helped him endure, Kai said before his death. “It almost ruined my will to live, but I always thought about my music,” Kai said to Hawaii News Now in May 2014.His music had made him a crowd favorite at PCC for over 30 years, and he was well known for playing his ukulele behind his head and with his teeth. The Hawaii Reporter wrote in May 2014 that Kai was active in the community as well by, “sharing his Hawaiian heritage to the students of La’ie elementary school and Na Kamalei preschool, teaching music and Hawaiian culture to the keikis with his characteristic zeal and enthusiasm.”The Kahuku, Laie and Hauula communities helped the Kai family in their time of need. Sharon said, “The community support was very much appreciated. It was other people wanting to do it, not us saying we need help. People just wanted to help.” To raise money for his stem cell transplant, a 5K was organized, as well as a concert at PCC. “When I saw just the tidal waves of love and people just helping, I was just blown away,” Kai said to Hawaii News Now last May. “I cry because I am so grateful for the love. In Hawaii, we may live on an island, but yet our hearts are as big as the island.”Kai never got his stem cell transplant, said his wife, Sharon. ”He didn’t because there was no match. Polynesian-Asian blood types are the ones who do not sign up for transplant. It is not an invasive transplant sort of thing—like bone marrow transplants—but people don’t know that. Its just stem cells like a blood donation. Good to know for everybody. I made all my kids sign up, even if it’s not a match for Dad.”Sharon continued, “We met at BYU-Hawaii in a health class. He would serenade me under my dorm window. Bring me roses. I already had my mind set on going on a mission, so he decided to go, too. He went to the Philippines and I went to England. We got married July 3, 1982.”Their daughter saw her parents’ strength in their final days. “The love my parents had for each other is priceless. With a courageous spirit, Dad tackled his race head on with Mom beside him. He has helped us heal with his bright smile,” Tasha Kai, daughter and Olympic gold medalist, said to former mayor Mufi Hannemann, who wrote of his own memories of the musician in Midweek. “He had a contagious smile and was a gifted musician. Through the years, when I would bump into Benny in the community, the wide grin was embedded on his countenance. Benny had a heart of gold,” wrote Hannemann. Sharon chuckled as she said, “He loved to bear his testimony, he loved to sing. He is probably still singing,” Uploaded January 21, 2015

As a senior female going into her final semester at BYU-Hawaii, the first day of school presents a tough decision for me: make a last ditch effort to get married with a Pinterest-perfect outfit, or dress how I want- in sweatpants. This year I sat down with women in the same boat, figuring out the outfit that could make or break their image, dating life, “basically everything,” according to Alison Reece, a sophomore in hospitality and tourism management from Utah. “The important thing is looking good without trying too hard and taking advantage of the nice weather,” said Reece, a recently returned missionary who served in the Ukraine Donetsk Mission. On the first day of school, Reece opted for a flowy, feminine shirt and shorts, “because it’s January and we can get away with it.” The RM laughingly said she wore the shorts with pride since the rest of her family lives in Utah where, Reece analogized, the weather is like “Frozen” before Elsa could control her powers. “I had to wear my sandals because it’s January and well, I can,” said Reece, laughing to herself and looking out toward the warm sunshine.While Reece bragged about her sun-warmed shins to her family through Snapchat, for other women, getting ready for the first day of school was inspired by celebrities rather than bragging rights.“I Googled pictures of my fashion idol, Taylor Swift, for my first day of school outfit. She’s an icon and always looks great,” said Rina Tafua, a senior in university studies from California. “Her secret to looking good? Black sunglasses and a red lip. Boom! First day of school perfection.”Though iconic, the Swift-Tafua red lipstick didn’t fly for some BYUH women who opted for less glam and more spam. Armed with a musubi in hand, Amanda Winger, a junior in elementary education from Canada, lounged in the Seasider in sweatpants and a black BYUH basketball shirt. “Listen,” she said before taking a bite of spam musubi, “I’ve been here six semesters already, and no one really cares what you wear. Why dress up fancy on the first day of school? No one’s gonna keep that up, so we all might as well drop the pretense and wear what we want, and we all know it’s about the sweatpants, baby.” A table of freshmen girls smiled and nodded as Winger lifted her sweatpant-sheathed leg onto the table and showcased it with outstretched arms.Whether in sweats, in Swift, or in sunshine swag, the first day of school gives students the opportunity to start the semester how they want, and while that first outfit might seem like the make-or-break moment for a chance to get married, all Winger can say is, “I’m already engaged.”Uploaded January 21, 2015

The USS Missouri Memorial Association presented a plaque made from the original deck of the USS Missouri, or Mighty Mo, to representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Dec. 5, 2014, in honor of the 15 years and approximately 27,000 hours of volunteered service by LDS missionaries and local members. Elder Daniel L. Johnson, of the Quorum of the Seventy, and President Stephen R. Warner, president of the Honolulu Hawaii Mission, accepted the plaque at the presentation ceremony along with 50 missionaries. According to Mormon Newsroom, Association President and CEO Michael A. Carr expressed his gratitude for the service of the LDS Church stating that, “their generous help was equal on our books to almost half a million dollars worth of in-kind services. The ship would not look like it does and be where it is today without volunteer help in general and, specifically, the work of the LDS volunteers.”During the ceremony, Elder Johnson thanked the association for giving missionaries and church members this service opportunity and talked about the importance of serving. “You cannot serve without loving,” said Johnson. “You can even love a battleship. As you serve one another, you come to love the people you serve. I hope as you serve on this ship…it will create something inside of you that will also help you value the freedom that this ship and others have helped to bring to us.”The USS Missouri was launched on Jan. 29,1944 and assigned to the Pacific Third Fleet during World War II. On Christmas Eve of 1944, the ship passed through Pearl Harbor before heading out to join American forces in the Pacific. Throughout the war, the battleship took part in the bombing raids over Tokyo, the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and it was on the decks of the battleship where Japanese officials surrendered thus ending World War II.The Missouri would continue its service during the Korean War, and after refurbishment and modernization, was deployed in the Gulf War in 1991. In 1992, the Missouri was decommissioned and made Pearl Harbor its permanent home, overlooking her fallen sister the USS Arizona.Missionaries and members of the LDS Church now provide volunteer service every Wednesday morning. Volunteers clean, sweep, wipe handrails, move material on and off the ship, as well as setting up and taking down chairs, banners and flags for programs and ceremonies. “I don’t really find it surprising that the church is being recognized for its longstanding commitment to service to the USS Missouri Memorial,” said Trinity Waddell, a junior from Dayton, Texas, studying bio-medical science. “They always have and always will help others in exemplary ways. But it’s nice to see recognition that could translate into missionary opportunities.”

McDonald’s is leaving a bad taste in America’s collective mouth with its new commercial, which debuted after the Golden Globes, Sunday, Jan. 11. The commercial showed pictures of the famous golden arches with different messages written in the menu sign, which read, “Boston strong,” “Thank you Veterans,” “All of us weep for the Columbia families,” “God gave us a miracle,” and “We remember 9-11.” Though intended to better connect McDonald’s with their customers, according to Business Insider, critics found it manipulative and disrespectful.“I’m all for marketing, for advertising, letting a company show people how good they are, but I think there’s a line, and that ends with respect. Be respectful of the depth of people’s feelings. Using 9-11 in their commercial? Their mascot is a clown,” said Gabriell Sabalones, a senior in ICS.Headlines echoed Sabalones’ opinion with bold letters asking, “Should tragedy sell Big Macs?” and “McDonald’s Slammed for Using 9/11 to Sell Burgers,” from the Associated Press, the Christian Science Monitor, and other news organizations.McDonald’s advertising generally uses bright red and yellow cartoon graphics and tries to be humorous, even dealing in puns, like the "eco-nom-nom-nomics" of the Jalapeno Double Cheeseburger commercial released in August of 2014. Compared to this new commercial released six months later, which attempts to be heart-wrenching and emotive, critics say McDonald’s mocks rather than memorializes tragedy. Ironically, the McDonald’s website tells its employees, “Branding only works when an organization behaves and presents itself in a consistent way.” McDonald’s commercial is not particularly offensive in its marketing approach, as other companies have used similar tear-jerker tactics, like the SPCA Global Animal Rescue. While McDonald’s commercial features a children’s choir singing a cover of Fun’s “Carry On,” Sarah McLachlan sings “Arms of an Angel,” and pleads with viewers to aid dogs like the one she holds in the SPCA commercial. However schmaltzy the tactic, “It’s not the commercial so much as the context of it and the company it’s coming from,” said Alyssa Asplund, a freshman in graphic design from California. While Sarah McLachlan’s commercial is consistent with the other sad kitty advertisements released by the SPCA, “this isn’t McDonald’s business,” Asplund said, calling the new McDonald’s commercial exploitive. She said, "9-11 gets people. It changed people. To use that to get gain is degrading. It’s horrible. The commercial trivializes the lives that were lost.” Uploaded on Jan. 21, 2015

BYU-Hawaii graphic design Professor Brandon Truscott's poster for his class's ART 333 Type Face Cards exhibit was one of 25 winners of Print Celebrates Design, a national design competition hosted by PRINT magazine. Truscott said he hopes beginners in the graphic design field will see his win as an example of opportunities available in the graphic design community. Print Celebrates Design is "a design competition for your cards, gifts & invitations," according to Amanda Aszman, who posted the winners on PRINT magazine's website. The judge for the competition was the creative director at Etsy, Randy J Hunt. Etsy is a peer-to-peer online market for hand-made goods. "Hunt founded design studio Citizen Scholar and wrote Product Design for the Web and designs prints. Prior to becoming creative director at Etsy, he was recognized as Print New Visual Artist in 2009," wrote Aszman. The winners’ work was revealed January 9th, 2015.Truscott said he hopes his recognition this will help not only students, but also those getting certificates or those who are interested in design "realize that they can be competitive at a national level even if they feel they are from a small place. Even though things we do in class start as small, simple projects, they can be a gateway, if you approach it correctly, to national recognition. Anyone, student or otherwise, can use something like this as an opportunity to open doors." "We often think, 'This is a tough world with all this competition,' but when I've met people, peers at conferences, they are just like you. They do the same things you do when they create stuff and are generally pretty friendly in sharing techniques," said Truscott. Every semester that Truscott teaches an ART 333 class, he said one of the topics is about script and hand letterings. His class designed typography chalk signs with a playing card theme and exhibited them in late October 2014. He designed the advertising poster for the exhibit as the ace of spades, which ultimately won in Print Celebrates Design. "I was looking at the backs of cards, and the fronts, through several different decks. I based the letter forms on two typefaces: Rand Holub's Gillot 291 became the basis of Intertype's Monterey. I modified every little thing as I drew it out," said Truscott. He said "I encourage my students to be active online. Opportunities are rapidly increasing in design." Many of those opportunities come because of digitization and the Internet. "You can get more exposure and connect with a greater audience. So, I submitted mine to be an example." There are 3 million visits annually to the public gallery on printmag.com. For a student that is just starting their career, an award like this can be very advantageous. "It is something you can put on your resume or be a talking point in an interview. Someone might see some of your work they like, click on it, and contact you. It's all about gaining exposure, which can lead to other things," said Truscott, who has personal experience with getting work through such exposure. "People regularly contact me through my website, and ask me to design things" such as book covers, retail display, logos, and T-shirts. uploaded 1/15/15

Laie residents displayed their modern culture with their parents’ traditions in the 2nd annual hip hop fireknife Street Battle on New Year’s Eve. The creators of the event said they are the first to display the fusion of the two styles.“It all started with our parents, who passed down the tradition of Samoan fireknife dancing,” said David Galeai, the “Puppet Master” of the event.“We started to think about how life is right now. Hip hop is a big culture,” said Galeai. “One day we were just talking about it: ‘Hey, we should mix hip hop with fireknife--we’ll put it together.’ And that’s exactly what we did.”Jason Ava, or “MC PeekABoo,” was a big supporter of Galeai’s event, and Ava said the event gave families an opportunity to come together to be entertained and feel good about what they were watching.“A lot of us grew up with the traditional fireknife dancing,” said Ava, “and a lot of our children, and this generation, do a lot contemporary style dancing, or hip hop dancing. They like to mesh both worlds. We’re just giving them a platform to come and do it here in Laie.”Jackson Tilo, “Mr. Slidez,” who choreographed some of the performance, said the fusion of the two styles was to “collaborate to give people the next level of fireknife.”Ava said they have a huge cast of dancers, from hip hop to fireknife. He explained the dancers allow “these two different styles to be fused together into a more contemporary style.”Out of 13 competitors, last year’s reigning champion, “The Prophecy,” put up a strong fight and won this year’s competition.Christian Tekurio, a BYU-Hawaii student in business management from California, had a front row seat, as he helped the competitors with the fires after their performances. Tekurio was impressed with the competitors, saying, “They’re all so good--when you start juggling more than two of [the fireknives], it gets pretty crazy. It’s so hard.”Coming in at 3rd place, competitor, Jeralee Galeai, or “Poison Ivy,” gave some advice about competing.“Always try your best--you never know when you can get successful,” said Jeralee.Uploaded January 12, 2015

The community came together at the LDS Honolulu tabernacle to commemorate their shared faith in Christ, using music as an instrument to bring the joy of Christmas spirit. As part of a missionary effort, Craig Young, the musical director of the event, had prepared the Christmas concert held on the 20th and 21st of December.Young said “It’s really a big stake effort, and at the same time, it’s to bring people from the community,” and that “it’s a really neat experience to have everybody come in here, especially those that are not members--that’s more than half the people here.”Elder Bogner, a full-time missionary from California said, “The concert is for the entire community with an emphasis on missionary work and trying to get anybody who is interested or may be interested to come.”Many missionaries were in attendance, eager at the possible missionary opportunities. Bogner said the program is to show the community “all we offer and that we worship and praise Jesus Christ.” Bryan Crump from Kahuku, who had a mother in the choir, said that he felt joyful feelings during the concert. “It’s the best time of year and it helped bring that out,” he said.Members of the choirs spent many hours a week preparing for the program for months beforehand.Norine Francis, an alto in the adult choir from Honolulu, enjoyed preparing for the program. “There is such a beautiful spirit and there is never any stress,” said Francis, “They want us to have joy in sharing the music.” Janell Yim, from Honolulu Manoa, is a member of the adult choir. Yim joined because of the missionary opportunity she saw the program presented. “I'm not a great singer, so I joined as a missionary tool. I try to bring my nonmember friends. If I invited them and I wasn't in it, then they wouldn't come,” said Yim. Yim said in preparation for the performance she prayed that she could dedicate her and everyone else’s singing to the Lord so “that those present could feel of the spirit.”Alicia Pacheco, a member of the adult choir from Manoa, said, “I love the spirit that comes into my life as I practice the music and the joy of the season that I can feel with my co-singers,” said Pacheco. “It's good to know that no matter our denomination we worship the same Christ.” Some performers said the Christmas spirit wasn’t the only presence felt that night. Sarah Kennedy-Smith, the accompanist and coordinator of the adult choir, said the choir received “divine” help throughout the night. “The hardest part is not tearing up and trying to blink back the tears while you're trying to sing because you can feel these heavenly hosts among us. It's really quite an experience and it happens just about every year,” said Kennedy-Smith.Young said they had a few hiccups along the way. “We’re working with non-professionals, so that’s the biggest challenge. We didn’t rehearse all the time together--we only did it twice.“I think every concert is successful if you have a full house and we always do.”

Around this time of year, many people turn their thoughts to the birth of Christ, but this time is also the anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith. Over 200 years ago, on December 23, 1805, Joseph Smith was born. In Joseph's youth, he searched for the true church to join, as said in Joseph Smith—History. When he was at loss for an answer, the bible gave him guidance that would eventually lead to his answer. Smith trusted in God and put this scripture to the test. The scripture, James chapter 1 verse 5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally." Joseph Smith followed this verse of scripture when he kneeled down and asked God which church to join. After Smith was visited by Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, they told him to not join any of the churches. Following his faith in Christ, Smith spent the rest of his life restoring the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to the earth. Smith was physically close to Christ when he received the First Vision, but more so spiritually close to Christ, then and throughout the rest of his life. We can use Smith's example of coming close to Christ in our own lives, according to Sister Merkel, a missionary from Germany in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. Merkel said that Joseph Smith learned about Christ through reading the scriptures, praying, and from actually meeting Jesus Christ."We all can do what he did,” Merkel continued, “When we have questions, we can pray in the name of Jesus Christ and ask God for answers. We can make sure we know how we can follow Jesus Christ and His example, even if we have to sacrifice something like popularity, we know what is important in life and that we follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.”Sister Qiu from China, also serving in the Honolulu Hawaii mission, has applied Joseph Smith's example in her own life. "I read the scriptures, ponder the messages and pray about them. I can receive answers through Heavenly Father because, just like Joseph Smith, if I have faith and pray about them, then I can receive answers." According to Lds.org, through Joseph Smith "the Lord accomplished a great and marvelous work that included bringing forth the Book of Mormon, restoring the priesthood, revealing precious gospel truths, organizing the true Church of Jesus Christ, and establishing temple work."This Christmas season we can grow closer to Christ by following Joseph Smith's example of faith and trusting in God.