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New Student Experience hosts second tour and adding interactive games

Graphic of blonde woman with pink shirt watching her laptop sitting at a table.
Photo by Hannah Manalang

BYU–Hawaii New Student Experience hosted a second New Student Connect event for the freshman class on Oct. 16, 2020. The virtual online event hosted more than 80 incoming students with tours of different campus facilities and the Hukilau Marketplace. New students expressed excitement for their eventual in-person education.

Sydney Sears, a junior majoring in theatre from China, is a hybrid worker in the Ho‘okele Department, which houses the New Student Experience Team and assisted in planning and hosting the event. Planning the event involved multiple test runs to ensure everything went smoothly, she said. The Media Production Center was involved with the event, along with the Ho‘okele Department's assistance, she added.

“We give a lot of gratitude to the Media Production Center for guiding us through the entire production process,” Sears said. As the co-host for the previous New Student Connect event, she said it was very successful.

“We didn’t expect to reach the thousand plus new students, but the students who wanted this engagement received it. With the number of participants, the level of engagement was astounding,” Sears said.

The event included live tours of the most visited places at BYUH, such as the Hukilau Marketplace, library and hales, Sears said.

They also included an interactive game of Kahoot, with prizes for the top winners. Any student who asked a question in the comment section of the livestream and had it answered also received a prize.

Jared Tyra, a freshman from California majoring in computer science, said he appreciated the involvement. “I enjoyed the Kahoot. It’s just fun to compete and adds an interactive aspect to it,” Tyra said.

Tia Wilson, a freshman majoring in social work from Utah, said, "I wondered what resources are still available to me as a student living in Laie. I learned there are so many that I wasn’t aware of, and some clubs are still meeting virtually.”

The question and answer session was Sears favorite part, and as a theatre major, that type of interaction was fun, she added. “The goal was to get 50 to 100 students to attend and participate. … We were happy to be able to share as many tips and school updates as we could so our new students are comfortable and informed with this school year,” Sears said.

The purpose of the event is to reach out to the students and make sure they know what they have to look forward to when they come back. “We know this semester is extremely hard, especially for the new students,” Sears said.

Wilson agreed, acknowledging the difficulties of the Fall 2020 Semester. “I miss a lot of that human connection,” Wilson said. “This [event] really helped with that,” she added, saying online classes can feel impersonal, and meeting fellow students can be hard. Remembering that she is a part of an “awesome” student body was exciting, Wilson said.

“I’m excited for when classes are in person, and we can connect more as a student body,” she added, a sentiment expressed by Tyra and Sears as well.

So far, virtual events have been the only interaction within the student body, and Sears said New Student Experience will continue planning events like these.