BYUHSA officers explained BYU-Hawaii’s 2017 Culture Night was scheduled mid-semester rather than right before finals to help students balance school and Culture Night practices. Committee members and students said the earlier date shows how education is a priority and can prevent students’ GPAs from falling.
BYUHSA President Tyler Pisciotta, a biomedical major from Nevada, said, “I helped plan Culture Night last year. When it was one-to-two weeks before finals, it affected the entire school’s GPA and brought it down. It was going to be the beginning of May, but the CAC was booked. So we had to put it in for this last week of April. It was just the best [weekend] we could get.”
BYUHSA made the decision last year. “We meet biannually to book spaces. The date was decided after Culture Night last year and officially confirmed in October. Clubs were informed again in February,” said Pisciotta.
Alison Whiting, director of Student Leadership Activities and Service, said, “This is just a pilot to try to help students find a good place between midterms and finals. Some of the planning did happen last semester.” Whiting said it was intended that the previous association would be able to plan during Winter Semester and then begin practicing this semester to preserve balance.
“The problem is that association presidents are constantly changing and didn’t have all the information. Within their infrastructure, they didn’t know about the change because of communication. It’s always an adjustment,” said Whiting.
Pisciotta also said there were some associations practicing before the official date was released.
“I would like to say sorry on our behalf,” he said. “We are learning and are discovering what works best for students and are pushing to have it at the right time next year.”
Officials said each association was given two hours a week for practice. It could be in increments or all at once. If needed, associations were allowed an extra hour each week.
“There is a process to Culture Night,” Pisciotta added. “Associations have to fill out an application proposal that includes all the people who will be dancing to validate the amount of money they will pull from their accounts to purchase costumes. Some clubs submitted names late and will be getting their costumes late.”
At the BYUHSA meeting, there was an initial upset about how soon it was. However, students and BSA leadership said they have adjusted to the time. “There was a lot of pressure on us to simplify. We couldn’t have it so soon after the beginning of a semester or so soon after Foodfest, things that take a lot of work. The BSA has adjusted and the Culture Night practices look great. Everyone should be excited to see them, it’s going to be great,” said Pisciotta.
Another member of BYUHSA, Emma Hunt, a psychology senior from California, said, “For me, it’s a simple answer. Previous years it has been really hard for students to balance Culture Night and finals and their grades suffered dramatically. They want to do their very best perfecting their Culture Night performance, and school sometimes takes a lesser priority. We wanted to push it forward so even if people did put Culture Night before, there would still be time in the school year to not have their grades suffer right at the end of the semester.”
Hunt said she is part of the Singapore/Malaysian Association. “It’s been difficult due to the restricted time, but I’m amazed at how well they are doing. They’re going full throttle and doing their best. Yes, it has been hard on some of them, especially those presidencies who have not done Culture Night before, but for the most part, people understand when we tell them why it’s early.”
“It’s too tempting to put the fun thing over school,” Hunt added. “Since we made sure that we only sanction two hours of practice a week, we have gotten a lot of good, positive feedback from students. They’re not so exhausted. I heard some girls say they were so happy practice was actually over at 10:30 p.m. when their leaders said it would be over.”
Hunt said in years previous, practices were notorious for going overtime by hours during multiple weekly practices. “I think it’s really good. It’s hard with the current school semesters. It started at the beginning of March and this month, but next year they will have so much more time to practice.”
Pisciotta said he joined the Tongan Association. “It’s been awesome because the leadership of the association has all stepped up to the challenge. They have organized themselves in a way that makes it easy on students and we can still have fun without being stressed about learning the dances because the leaders are doing so well.”
Writer: Malia Diaz