Through team-building activities, BYU-Hawaii Holomua mentors and high school students from different parts of the world kicked off the week, embracing them in “a flavor of Zion.”
Holomua is a six-day college-preparation program put together by BYUH to prepare incoming high school students for ACT testing. By participating in the program, students receive priority during the admission process.
Holomua director for 2018 and admissions officer, Maurice Mo‘o said, “Holomua is only done once a year… There’s only one session, meaning there are 109 students here who are participating in Holomua who invested time and money to be here with us. And because of that, we will give them a preference for BYUH when they apply.
“This is to help kick off our week on a good note. This is the first day of Holomua out of six days here at BYU-Hawaii, and these activities are for us to get to know each other. This sets the tone for us to come together and make relationships that last forever.”
Each day of Holomua is paired with a theme, as President Tanner once said in a talk, “a flavor of Zion.” The themes are Aloha, Pono, Ohana, Kuleana, Malama ka ‘aina, Pu'uhonua, and Hukilau. The theme of the day was aloha, which according to Mo‘o, envelops many meanings.
Focusing on the aloha meanings of hello and love, Mo‘o said, “We want the students to get to know each other, interact with each other on a first-name basis, and also get to know their mentors. The mentors are BYUH students and they are all very successful. All of the [Holomua participants] are from BYUH target areas meaning Hawaii, Pacific, and Asia. These are some of BYUH’s finest to help mentor the [Holomua participants] to experience what we have to offer here.”
The Holomua mentors set up four activities for the 10 teams of students. The activities were charades, Disney-emoji speed guessing, fun-fact bingo, and human knot with hoops. Kit Liew, a sophomore from Malaysia studying computer science, said these activities were set-up team-building style to give the student participants the chance to get to know one another, so they can support each other in all the activities the entire week.
Liew continued, “This is a chance for the students to mingle and help each other. The whole purpose of Holomua is to help them prepare for college, and at the same time, we help them get to know each other so the awkwardness goes away.”
Beaming with enthusiasm, Meereaore Birima, from Utah, said she thought the games were a great way to join the small groups which had already formed earlier. She said, “Most of us started today, and you could tell there were definitely groups before lunch. [There were] groups of people who already knew each other, so they were hanging out.
“They separated us so we were with people we didn’t know before. And they forced us to talk with one another in a way that we are able to enjoy it. It doesn’t feel too forced because we were having fun.”
Having a blast, Tia Caulford, from Maui, said her fellow peers and the mentors were a great support. “I love to get to know people, experience new cultures, and how everyone reacts to each other. There are some really nice people here, and the environment is so beautiful.”