BYUH religious mission continues to support students education and campus-life
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BYUH students and faculty described the university’s learning as inseparable from faith. Here, integrity shapes classroom lessons, scholarship and discipleship reinforce one another and BYUH mission extends well beyond campus. This daily blending of the spiritual and the academic reflects the university’s mission: to prepare students of Oceania and the Asian Rim to be lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ and leaders in their families, communities, chosen fields and in building the kingdom of God. For Lkhagvasuren Boldbaatar, Isaku Yamada and Juanita Denninghoff, the mission has become both a compass and a calling.
People of God and justice
For Boldbaatar, a senior in business management, success means improvement. Yet, in the gospel, success goes deeper: “It includes living with integrity and honesty.” In a world that often lacks integrity, he said, BYUH is preparing him to stand as a leader rooted in righteousness. “Interestingly, all of my professors encourage me to be honest and have integrity—to be men and women of God and justice,” he said. He likened this principle to his business classes, explaining there are always consequences when integrity is missing in doing business. These reminders will guide him even after leaving BYUH, where holding onto faith and values can be more difficult, he shared.
Beyond the classroom, Boldbaatar said living and worshipping alongside peers from many nations has also strengthened his discipleship. He recalled how he saw his neighbor’s family always prayed together before leaving home, and “It really helps [me and my wife] to become a better parent in the future.” This is a small example of how students encourage each other to live gospel principles, he said. These campus-life experiences, along with uplifting Sunday lessons, reminded him that “discipleship is not limited to one culture but unites us as followers of Christ.”
Discipleship is not limited to one culture but unites us as followers of Christ.
Boldbaatar said BYU–Hawaii has also prepared him for leadership through his job as a peer mentor. In this role, he said he helps new international students adjust to university life and encourages them to thrive both academically and spiritually. Through mentoring over 100 students, he said these “conversations taught me that leadership begins with service.”
He views mentorship as preparation not only for the students he helps but also for his own growth as a leader. He recalled one mentee who arrived knowing little about campus life but later became a member of a club presidency and who also presented at a research conference. “Many of those students I worked with are now successfully studying,” he said, “which brings me happiness and reassurance that small acts of service can have lasting results.”
Looking ahead, Boldbaatar hopes to be an entrepreneur in Mongolia, an institute teacher and a mentor to youth. He said he wants to live by the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 81:5, “[to] lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees.” For him, BYUH’s mission shapes his path by teaching him that leadership isn’t about personal success but about lifting others. “No matter the role, I want to keep the BYUH lesson of balancing education, faith and service.”
Servant leaders
As a 2024 BYU–Hawaii alumnus from Japan, Yamada said the university’s mission continues to guide him even after graduation. He sees its influence in two ways: inward, as a call to “be a lifelong disciple of Jesus Christ,” and outward, as an invitation to “[be] leaders in their families, communities, chosen fields, and in building the kingdom of God.”
The first, Yamada said, focuses on personal growth. The latter reminds him that “you’ll lead people wherever you go. Your life is no longer just about you doing your thing,” he explained. Pursuing a master’s degree in second language studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, he said the mission statement reinforces his decision to help others achieve greater opportunities through English.
After two semesters at a secular university, Yamada said he had faced moments that challenged his faith. “Every time I go to school or work, I’m the only Church member there–unlike at BYUH,” he said. In those moments, BYUH’s call to be a lifelong disciple of Christ has become especially real. Now, Yamada said he constantly thinks of what the Savior would do and choose in the environment Yamada’s in.
Frequent gospel conversations at BYUH helped me understand what it really means to be an example ....
Reflecting on his time at BYUH, where the gospel unites students, Yamada said those experiences helped him strive to be an example in his current environment. He observed BYUH students often appeared more mature and diligent, “maybe because they served the mission or they’ve grown in the church environment where hard work, diligence and obedience are the top values.”
Yamada said his non-member coworkers often asked why he seemed so disciplined and self-controlled. Though he didn’t always explain directly, he said the question itself reassured him that his example was noticeable. “Frequent gospel conversations at BYUH helped me understand what it really means to be an example—not to be pushy or forceful, but simply to live according to what you’ve learned and what you believe.”
Yamada also credited BYUH with preparing him to work with people from diverse backgrounds. “You don’t often see universities as diverse as BYUH, where international students even outnumber domestic students,” he shared. In this environment, where cultures come together and perspectives are shared for good, he learned to seek out and adopt valuable principles from others.
Yamada hopes current students take advantage of this multicultural setting to expand their networks and deepen their learning. “I am sure that students will never ever ever encounter a diverse place like this in the future. They may be, but it will be less likely,” he shared.
Zion community
Teaching at BYUH is a privilege, said Denninghoff, an associate professor in the Faculty of Education & Social Work, because both she and her students can share their beliefs openly alongside academic discussion. She always opens her class with an inspired question to spark two-way conversation between her and her students to exchange insight and even spiritual experiences–something she couldn’t do freely at other universities she’s taught.
With the shared understanding of the gospel and the school’s mission, she said, students and faculty help one another grow and fulfill their kuleana, or responsibility, even across language and cultural differences. “The diversity the institution provides connects us rather than divides us,” she said. “It prepares us to become leaders who can work with people from many different backgrounds.”
The diversity the institution provides connects us rather than divides us.
When asked how BYUH’s religious mission prepares students ethically for their careers, Denninghoff said it begins with the truth that each person is a child of God. “Our faith is something we live daily—not just on Sundays.” Because of that, she said, “the gospel shapes our interactions with others, and that carries into our work environments, our families and our communities.”
As a 2002 BYUH alumna who first enrolled as a non-member, Deninghoff said her friends, professors and the community had positively influenced her decision to be baptized. “BYUH is my spiritual birth place. It’s where I found the gospel.” Before getting baptized, she said, her prayers were mostly expressions of thanks, not questions. But after friends and missionaries encouraged her to ask if the Church was true, she received her first answer. That spiritual turning point and support from the BYUH community are what she hopes others can find here too.
Denninghoff said she hopes her students remember their roles and responsibilities to their community because the things they say and do matter. She also encouraged them to remain humble and keep learning. “Always ask what you can learn from a person or a situation.” Turning to Christ for grace and strength, she shared, allows students to transform their shortcomings into hope—a lesson that reflects BYUH’s mission well beyond campus life.