Jane-Lyn Scotty is the first and so far only student attending BYU-Hawaii from an island country in Micronesia called Nauru, and recently hoisted her home country’s flag to join the circle that marks the university’s entrance. Scotty, a political science major, said she has a passion for people and plans to return home to help her country and fellow Nauruans. “Not a lot of people know where Nauru is, so I’m happy my flag is up there to recognize that I am proud to be Nauruan,” said Scotty. Scotty joined the LDS Church while attending high school in Kiribati, where she lived with relatives. “In high school, I wasn’t that serious about the church until the end,” said Scotty. “I saw different families happily living the gospel and realized I wanted that for my family. It made me really want to be a part of it.” Currently, Nauru has placed restrictions on the church’s presence in its country. Scotty, who served her mission in the Utah Salt Lake City East Mission, hopes to one day bring the church to Nauru. Through her membership, Scotty was able to come here to BYUH and receive an education, the best part of which, she said, is the people. “I love getting to interact with all sorts of different people and getting to know more about their different cultures,” said Scotty. “I love to just talk to people, meet different people and get to know them. I just talk to anyone.” Originally, Scotty said she had planned to major in information technology but switched to political science, which so far she loves. “I love it because it helps me understand how things work, and what’s going on around the world,” said Scotty, “and how a government should run.” Elder Sam McCollum and Sister Jeannine McCollum, senior missionaries in the Career and Academic Success Center, met Scotty at the PCC during their scheduled time for distributing tickets. “We encouraged her to come in and see us,” said Sister McCollum. “We have a map on our wall where we try to put a pin for all the different countries students are from. We currently have about 35-36 different countries,” Sister McCollum added. “We found out she was from a country we hadn't heard about before.” Elder McCollum checked into the statistical information of the country of Nauru, which, according to him, is the world’s third smallest country. McCollum then informed BYUH President John Tanner about his findings. “I thought it would be really nice if we could have a flag for her, and he agreed,” he said. “When I first came home from my mission it was hard because there was a specific way I wanted things to work out,” said Scotty, “but it didn’t happen the way that I wanted. Later I realized I didn’t actually want it that way, and I was able to be happy with Heavenly Father’s plan. Everything is going to work out the way Heavenly Father wants it, even though we may not want it at first.” Elder McCollum said of Scotty, “She has a very positive attitude. She knows where she's going and she sees that she can help her small country so that's what she wants to do.” After returning from her mission, Scotty came to BYUH. She said not seeing her family for so long is hard. But if there’s anything she has learned, it is “everything is going to work out.” Uploaded Jan. 14, 2015
Writer: Leiani Brown
