Ricky, a man who has been sleeping on the sidewalk of Kulanui Street in Laie, has been around for years, said his family, although students said they only began noticing him last semester. He slept at a bus stop in Laie for a few weeks then moved to the wall outside of the BYU–Hawaii campus. Later, when Ricky was banned from the campus, he moved to Kulanui Street where he currently stays.

Navigating his way through life’s challenges and uncertainties, senior Vaughn Curioso said he didn’t do it alone. The graphic design major from Santa Maria in the Philippines said he got help spiritually from Heavenly Father, support from his family, and even a life-changing conversation with a refugee from the Congo he met on his mission in Utah.

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 Oahu alauahio, or the Oahu creeper, is a small honeycreeper bird endemic to Oahu, meaning it is native and found nowhere else. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, it is presumed extinct.

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.

In January 2022, the new Hawaii Laie Mission was created, a separation from the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. The new mission includes the Laie Hawaii Temple Visitors' Center, three young single adult stakes near BYU–Hawaii and two stakes in the Laie area. Since the creation of the mission, only sisters have been called as young full-time missionaries, with the exception of some elders who were assigned from the Honolulu Hawaii Mission to serve in Laie for nine months. The mission also includes senior missionaries serving in the area at the Polynesian Cultural Center and BYUH.

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.