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Local Minnesota Police potentially saved hundreds of lives from a mass school-bombing plot May 2, 2014 when they arrested teen John David LaDue, 17, in Waseca, Minn. Police found LaDue with bomb materials including gunpowder, pyrotechnic chemicals, ball bearings and a pressure cooker when police reached him at a storage unit. After receiving a search warrant to enter LaDue’s house, police found finished bombs and “numerous guns” along with a plan to kill his family and schoolmates outlined in his journal, according to CNN.com Details of the alleged design begin with the teen’s plan to kill his father, mother and sister, according to police. He then planned to set off a fire nearby to divert possible emergency responders, as he would set off bombs during lunch at the Waseca Junior/Senior High School. Next, he intended to kill the school resource officer and open gunfire on students until the police arrived. Finally, he planned to voluntarily allow the police to kill him, said authorities.The Minnesota teenager’s attraction to guns and dark media may be part to blame for his intricate plan to massacre his school and family. His Facebook page showed an interest in assault rifles such as, the AK-101, Heckler & Koch SL8 and Steyr TMP. The majority of his 190 favorite bands were heavy metal and his taste in movies was predominately blood, gore and fighting. “His favorite authors are Stephen King and a more traditional master of literary darkness, Edgar Allen Poe,” reported CNN.com.Courtney Wible, a junior in humanities from Utah, said, “The media proposes a distorted idea about what reality is and causes teens to act out in inconceivably inhuman ways. Its power can affect even the innocent, in this case a 17-year-old boy.” A 2007 study from Columbia University Medical Center found the “brain network responsible for suppressing behaviors like inappropriate or unwarranted aggression became less active after study subjects watched several short clips from popular movies depicting acts of violence. These changes could render people less able to control their own aggressive behavior,” reported sciencedaily.com.Britanny Dyer, a sophomore in EXS from California, said preventing these situations are difficult because, “these types of kids have chemical imbalances in their brains.” She continued, “They seem normal to their friends and peers, but their minds’ desires are twisted. Maybe you could help parents become more aware so that they can recognize some of these red flag attributes in their children and they can then get them help before something drastic like this happens.” Ladue’s mother declined to comment reported CNN.com.The teen was caught after Chelsie Shellhas, a storage space attendant, followed her gut feeling and called 911 after she saw the teen acting suspicious at a storage unit for about 10 minutes. Shellhas was with her cousin, Katy Harty, who has a younger brother attending the targeted school. “It’s scary; we’re both, like, really glad that we did call and didn’t just shrug it off,” said Harty.

Traveling through Europe, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and North America has been his “biggest form of education,” said Samuel Egbert, a graduate in hospitality and tourism management from Utah. Such travel experiences gave him skills for establishing peace, said Executive Director of the Center of Hospitality and Tourism David Preece. Preece said, “There probably is no better way to get to know the world around you and people and cultures that are different than yours than travel. Travel is the best way to see and experience firsthand other ways of living and thinking and even believing.” There are more than a billion people who travel every year, according to Preece, and Egbert is one of them. He said in the past eight to nine years he has been to 24 different countries. “Every ounce of money I get, I save and put it towards travel.” He added Morocco and Iceland to the list after graduating. Egbert said his urge to travel and experience the foreign and unknown has been with him as long as he can recall. “I remember back in second grade, instead of going out to recess a couple times a week, I would stay in and look at maps and read books about other countries. I was obsessed with foreign countries. I remember reading a book about Chinese people and how I couldn’t get over that their eyes looked different from others.” Preece said, “I think fundamentally what it comes down to for leisure travel is curiosity. Curious people are interested in travel.” Travel is more accessible than ever in the 21st Century because of globalization. “The ability to go places is so much easier,” said Egbert. “When my mom was my age, she had never been outside of Utah. It was expensive and the freeway system wasn’t good. They didn’t hear about other places so they didn’t care about other places. But nowadays, we hear about the whole world through the news and the internet.”The Need to see the Other Side Preece said, “One of the really important aspects of travel, in addition to becoming more familiar with other places and people, is that it can be a force for peace. As you travel and get to know other forms of governments and living, even if it is a place that may have a natural competition with your own country, it personalizes the place and it makes it less likely that people are going to fight with each other.” Benjamin Garcia, a BYUH alumnus from Mexico and Egbert’s former roommate, said, “You can learn much by reading. However, it is not the same when you experience it firsthand.” While living in Israel, Egbert found himself adopting the local pro-Jewish sentiment. “There are big stereotypes about that place, about safety and people,” he said. During his time at the BYU Jerusalem Center, he said, “One experience completely changed how I felt about the Muslims and humbled me. Some friends and I were down at the Kedron Valley and the Mount of Olives when a couple of kids came up picking olives. They came up to us because they wanted to practice their English.” Although he first thought they would either pickpocket them or ask for money, one of the boys invited them to their homes. Egbert thought it was a trap. But the boy insisted, saying, as Egbert remembered, “I would be very offended if you would not accompany me home and meet my parents.” With some fear, Egbert and his friends followed along and met the boy’s family. The parents didn’t speak any English, but the eldest son was brought in to translate. “The father greeted us with a kiss and they wanted to know more about us. We spent a couple of hours with them, and they eventually fed us dinner. They invited us every week after that. We even went for the mom’s birthday party. We got such a close relationship with that family!” Egbert said. When he and the family talked about the stereotypes of news broadcasts in Europe and the United States, Egbert remembered the mother rolling her eyes, saying, “We are good people. We are just trying to live happy lives.” As a parting gift, the eldest son, a jeweler, forged Egbert a ring. “He asked me what lessons I learned while in Jerusalem. I responded, ‘Courage from the Jews and dedication from the Muslims.’” The ring reads dedication in Arabic on one side and courage in Hebrew on the other. Garcia had a similar experience on a recent internship in Haiti. “You read about Haiti, and on Google they will show you earthquakes, poverty, famine and medical problems, but when you are there, you become one of them. The media doesn’t really portray what is happening. Yes it is bad, but I met people who, despite those problems, were the most genuine, grateful people I have ever met in my life. They were so tied to their families and religions. They didn’t have expensive cars. They slept on the floor, but they were grateful for what they had. That is something the media doesn’t tell you unless you are there by yourself.” Egbert said while traveling, “the biggest thing is following the golden rule. Other people are human too.” While on his internship at a hotel, Egbert said he had to deal with frustrated managers and employees and was able to listen, understand and communicate the conflict properly on common ground. “But that didn’t happen until I saw them as humans. I learned that as a tour guide [at the Polynesian Cultural Center.] In the future, I definitely want to apply that. In a hotel, you get so many different cultures.” The Education of DistanceThe way to BYUH was a long one for Egbert. “This is university No. 5 for me.” After hopping between Utah universities Snow College, Utah Valley University and BYU at Provo, he said he wanted to do something international and got accepted to the BYU Jerusalem Center. He stumbled into the HTM program of BYUH after going to the BYU Jerusalem Center. “I applied a month late,” Egbert recalled. “They told me it was already past the deadline, so I called again and said, ‘I really, really want to get into this program.’ They sent me an [acceptance] email the next day.” Egbert praised BYUH for its internationality. As a student in Laie, “You see that life works in other places for people with different values you can definitely learn from. It becomes an education.” He said he enjoys learning how Mormons from other countries live their faith in their respective environments. “The frustrating thing with Utah is so many people haven’t even left the state [so] they are so close-minded. There is only one way to live life. There is only one way to do things. Life would be so much more enriched and fulfilled if they’d know what is out there.” He continued, “I found the more time I spend with people from other cultures and the more I get out of the white American groups, the more I learn from them. I have a Mongolian friend who really has taught me what it means to be a loyal friend.” Preece said Doctrine and Covenants 88 teaches members of the church to learn of “things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.” Preece said of this scripture, “I think you could reasonably translate that to an admonition to travel. God wants us to live peacefully in the earth, and if we want to live peacefully, we have to understand other people and other cultures and other places. When we do that, we do our part to contribute toward peace.”

Bill Nye the Science Guy, a popular TV scientist broadcasted on American television, is receiving a new TV show on Netflix called “Bill Nye Saves the World.” The announcement was released on the Netflix Twitter page on Aug. 31.According to USA Today, Bill Nye said, “[On the show] we’ll discuss the complex scientific issues facing us today, with episodes on vaccinations, genetically modified foods and climate change.”Nye continued in a news release, “With the right science and good writing, we’ll do our best to enlighten and entertain our audience. And, perhaps we’ll change the world a little.” A large number of domestic students claim they watched Bill Nye’s show growing up. Jordan Everett, a junior studying fitness and wellness from Kaneohe, said she was happy to watch his show as a child. She remembered saying in school, “I do not want to do this or learn these [science worksheets].” However, she said Bill Nye helped her feel okay with learning science, instead of doing worksheets. Everett said she was uninformed about the resurgence of Bill Nye’s TV show. “I feel it gives adults a good way to retouch what they learned in school and also learn what they don’t already know,” she said.Karley Bergeson, a senior exercise science major from Washington, said she didn’t know about Bill Nye’s new show either. Bergeson also became interested in science because of Bill Nye’s show. “I think it’s pretty cool that he’s still motivated to get other people into science… I guess I will have to check it out and see,” said Bergeson. Daniel Scott, associate professor of the Natural Sciences Department, said he watched Bill Nye as a child and enjoyed it. As for Nye’s new show, Professor Scott said he has doubts. “I feel he allows his political views to influence his decisions about science,” Scott said. Nye is known for being a strong atheist and having strong political views in his life, according to USA Today. Another concern Scott addressed was certain topics will be discussed on the show, whether it be sensitive concepts such as creationism or traditional. Scott has no plans to watch Bill Nye again on Netflix.Mark Cannon, dean of Science and Math, also said he watched Bill Nye as a kid and thought the idea of his show sounds fun. “People in the media, especially politicians, are always making blanket statements… people often don’t stop to think about how valid those statements are,” Cannon said. “It sounds like a really good idea to help with public awareness of what science really is.” Cannon described science as looking at a wall map. He said the map gives a person information about the world, but they can’t see everything such as the distance between Honolulu and Kaneohe. He said the resolution is too far or too close, so it is not everything. “Science is about theories and models,” Cannon said. “Science is like a map where we are trying to put together models that help us to understand the world. [Science] helps to try and encapsulate the world, but it is not the Gospel, so science can be wrong about things. That’s part of the scientific process.”