Pressure from finals and uncertainties about the future are similar to the pressures that change the shape of rocks, shared Sister Amy S. Jaggi at the first mask-free BYU–Hawaii commencement ceremony since the pandemic began.
Her husband, Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, added, “You, the graduates of BYUH, have been shaped and molded by fire, by time and by pressure.” He told them they are “modern-day rocks, even leaders of this generation.”
Elder Jaggi used sedimentary rocks, which are formed by mineral deposits over extended periods of time, as metaphors for individuals as he stated, “Every reading and action impacts who people become.”
He shared social media platforms on the internet record one’s desires and allow them to express those desires in the form of searches and clicks. “In this way, these apps create a cyber profile for us— in a sense, our cyber book of life. As in life, over time, these apps will give us more and more of what we seek.”
Sister Jaggi quoted Elder Neal A. Maxwell to demonstrate this principle, “What we insistently desire over time is what we will eventually become and what we will receive in eternity. Only by educating and training our desires can they become our allies instead of our enemies.”
Modern-day rocks
Elder Jaggi, a General Authority Seventy who currently serves at Church headquarters in the missionary, priesthood and family departments, stood at the podium in the Cannon Activities Center with his wife. There, the 270 graduates and those who supported their hard work gathered on April 16.
Sister Jaggi explained lava from volcanic activity creates new lands, which can be observed today in the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. She said these lands are “continuing to grow and develop, just as each of us continue to grow and develop in our trials.”
Trials act as a refining fire, allowing individuals to become like rocks “shaped by heat, time and pressure,” Sister Jaggi said.
Elder Jaggi explained lava rocks are igneous rocks liquified by intense heat and pressure and then cooled into a solid state. He invited the audience to remember the last time they experienced something so difficult it seemed like their core was being liquified.
He provided examples of core liquefaction, including physical, emotional and psychological pains, which can lead to change in one’s core. He said this molds them “in a new and a different way” to “become new creatures in Christ.”
Sister Jaggi extended the prophet’s invitation to “ignite … spiritual momentum” through getting on the covenant path and staying there, discovering the joy of daily repentance, learning about God and how he works, seeking and expecting miracles and ending conflicts.
Walking the covenant path with hand-selected professors
President John S.K. Kauwe III, Natasha Haridas and R. Kelly Haws also spoke during the Fall 2022 Commencement ceremony.
In his opening remarks, President Kauwe said not only does the world recognize the graduating students’ capacities to succeed and their experiences at BYUH, but he also recognizes their accomplishment as evidence of their “capacity to love and serve as his covenant people.”
He said Joseph in Egypt is a great example of what it can look like to live the covenant life. He added from his story, students can learn about the obligation and blessings that come from the covenant path.
He said students will face challenges to their personal integrity and faith just as Joseph experienced, but he reminded the graduating students they have the Lord’s promised miracles in their challenges as they serve, love and save their families and communities through trusting in the Lord and honoring their covenants.
R. Kelly Haws, assistant to the commissioner and secretary to the Church Board of Education and Board of Trustees, warned the graduates about the dangers and challenges that would face them in the weeks after graduation.
He reminded graduating students of their very first semester when they chose their classes. He said they likely learned the professors they choose do make a difference.
He quoted Elder Maxwell, who said God “will customize the curriculum for each of us in order to teach us the things we most need to know, not always what we like.”
He warned students if they do not pay careful attention, the world will select professors for them— professors that are comfortable, smooth and do not demand much. He reminded students the easiest professors they liked in school did not turn out to be the most helpful.
Haws urged graduating students to “sign up” the Lord’s “hand-selected professors” who they sustained in the last General Conference as prophets, seers and revelators. He shared Elder Maxwell’s quote, “What the Lord knows is, fortunately, vastly more— not just barely more—than the combination of what all mortals know.”
He invited graduates to hang their BYUH diploma where they can see it as a reminder to select the Lord’s professors when they find themselves facing extraordinarily difficult homework.
Born to fly
After giving credit to Google, Quizlet, professors, families, parents and fellow students for the achievement, student speaker Natasya Haridas, a business management and marketing major from Singapore, said the elephant in the room is that many graduating students are facing uncertainty about their future.
She said one thing she knows is, “We are not born to fail.” She added each graduating student has so much potential and they are part of David O. McKay’s prophetic vision, “From this school, men and women whose influence will be felt for the good towards the establishment of peace internationally.”
She continued, “Imagine, a bird landing on a weak branch that breaks. Does it fall? It flies!” She explained as graduating students move forward, Heavenly Parents will help them as “the wind beneath [their] wings.”
She said the wind will lift and carry them farther than they can imagine. “All we need to do is to spread our wings and trust that as we fall, the wind will carry us,” said Haridas.
Malia Ah Mu, from Utah, graduating with a degree in elementary education, shared one of the memorable speeches for her was Haridas’ bird on a branch idea because it gave her hope. “I can be scared. I know [what] I am going to do now. I am on the branch, but if I fall, I know Heavenly Father is going to help me.” After summer, she said she is planning to move to South Korea to teach English.
During the ceremony, Allie Donato, a senior majoring in instrumental performance from New Hampshire, along with Jennifer Duerden on the piano, performed “Intermezzo” for horn and piano by Reinhold Glière.
The invocation and the benediction were given by Keola L. Coleman from Laie, Hawaii, who studied social work and Hikari Homon from Sapporo, Japan, who majored in music.