John S. Tanner announced as new BYUH president

New electronic music class is offered to students

Trevor McCord prepares to release a second album

KE ALAKA IVolume 111: Issue 3May 21, 2015

THE LEADER

‘

Pages 4- 5

Page 10-11

Pages 6-7

KE ALAKA‘I2

K E A L A K A ITable of

CONTENTS

[10-11]

[12] What’s in Blake Sar nowski’s playlist?

BYUH Music Department of fers new electronic music class

Church CES Executive Education Committee announces new BYUH President

May 21, 2015 • Volume 111: Issue 3

Emily HallsEDITOR-IN-CHIEF ADVISOR

Leeann Lambert

Hector Per iquin

ART DIRECTORCOPY EDITORSNathaniel WasdenJoshua Mason

PHOTOGRAPHERSKelsie CarlsonMason Golden

ART & GRAPHICSAndrea Marshall John DiazEmily Thompson

MULTIMEDIAJOURNALISTSJessica EveretteTrenton McCulloughRachel Reed Siyang ChenAlyssa TroyanekZoe SafeerJiashan CuiEric Harline

Samone IsomHector Per iquin

INTERNS

AD MANAGER

VIDEOGRAPHERSJoshua MasonYan-Fu ChenAbraham Garcia

Joshua Mason

Share with us your photoof the week and we may

feature it in our next issue. e-mail us at kealakai@byuh.edu

Photo of the week: Pictured is the Honolulu cityscape. Photo by Emily Thompson

ON THE COVER: Illustration by Hector Periquin

CONTACT

Edi tor ia l , photo submiss ions & d is t r ibut ion inquir ies : kealakai@byuh.edu. To subscr ibe to the RSS FEED or to v iew addi t ional ar t ic les go to kealakai .byuh.edu.

BOX 1920 BYUHLAIE, HI 96762

PUBLISHER

Pr int Services

NEWS CENTER

E-mail: kealakai@byuh.eduAd Information: kealakaiads@gmail.comPhone: (808) 675-3694Fax: (808) 675-3491Office: Campus, Aloha Center 134

[4-5]

[16] BYUH students share their favortie lyr ics

BYUH student Kar ina King discusses her inspiration for sculpting projects[13]

3MAY 21, 2015

As a result of poor ratings and viewer popu-larity spiraling down, the Fox network has announced the original singing competition American Idol will no longer air after the 2016 season. American Idol began in 2002, and its success can be seen by its Season 1 winner’s commercial success. The process of making a singing “Idol” begins with thousands from across America auditioning in front of the a panel of three celebrity judges. Depending on the audition, the contestant either gets a golden ticket to Hollywood to further progress in the competition or is sent home. After going through even more auditions, the top 20 are chosen. The show then airs live as the contes-tants try to sing their best and win America’s votes. The winner of the competition receives a record deal with a major label and secured management contract with American-Idol’s affiliated 19 management. According to Buzzfeed, ratings have gone down drastically. In 2003, season finale of Season 2 drew in 30 million viewers, whereas in season 13, only 10.1 million viewers tuned in to watch. Regarding the cancellation of the series, Josee Edwards, a junior majoring in graphic design from Utah, said, “Honestly, I feel like it is about time. I think it started off strong with the original judges. Carrie Underwood is my girl. It was good while it lasted, and I feel like it has run its course.” Despite the show no longer being run after next year, an article from Entertain-ment Weekly quoted Fox CEO and chairman Gary Newman about the final season, who said,

“Next year, it’s going to be a true season-long celebration. We’re already talking about sur-prises we can have for the fans to make it feel special and send it off [in a way] that makes it as significant as the run it’s had on our network.” The original judges of the show were Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell. Abdul left in 2009, Cowell left in 2010 and Jackson left in 2013. Since then there have been a few judges in and out of the series such

American Idol to be cancelled

BY ALYSSA TROYANEK

M A YThe faculty Jazz band, Crosscur-rent, will hold a free concert in honor of James Taylor at 7:30 p.m. in the McKay Auditorium.

22 F r i d a y

All YSA are invited to the Multi-Stake YSA Fireside at the Heber Grant Building at 7:30 p.m. Wear Sunday best dress.

24 S u n d a y

National competition will feature its last run in 2016

as Ellen Degeneres, Steven Tyler, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. The current and final judges of American Idol are Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban, according to Entertainment Weekly. A few well-known stars have risen from American Idol. The original winner of Season 1 of American Idol Kelly Clarkson’s seventh album debuted at No. 1 on the Bill-board 200 album chart. One of the Season 3 contestants, Jennifer Hudson, won an Oscar for best supporting actress in 2007 for the film

“Dreamgirls.” In Season 4, American Idol discov-ered Carrie Underwood who is now one of the top selling country music artists. She has won seven Grammy’s so far. A Season 8 contestant, Adam Lambert, had his second album reach the No. 1 spot on Billboards top 200 album. American Idol created a lot of memo-rable moments for those who watched. While reflecting back on all of the seasons, Yina Fer-nandez, a junior majoring in political science from Massachusetts, said, “My favorite part was in the beginning stages when the judges were getting to meet everybody and seeing who was actually going to be picked to go on the show. My favorite idol is Justin from the first season.” Similar shows such as NBC’s The Voice and Fox’s The X Factor now exist, but American Idol was the first singing-based com-petition that involved the viewers. After a night of performing, viewers could text or call in to vote for their favorite singer. Nadine De La Fuente, a senior majoring in marketing from Maryland, said,

“I watched Idol when I was younger and my favorite part of American Idol was Kelly Clark-son. I am so happy it is ending because it got to the point where everything started becoming pointless, and not very many idols apart from Kelly Clarkson had much success.”

American Idol judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick, Jr. pose as they

arrive on set in Los Angeles. Photo by AP

NEWNext university

president and wife announced to join

BYUH ohana

BY RACHEL REED

ARRIVALS

“Our hearts are so full, but it feels really right.

We’ve done our best and we know the Tanners

are going to be fabulous. We’re going to leave this

wonderful place that really is a little bit of Zion.”

- Margaret Wheelwright

Top: Incoming President John Sears Tanner and his wife, Susan Tanner. Bottom: Elder Russell M. Nelson, Sister Margaret Wheelwright, and BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright. After completing their service here, the Wheel-wrights will become the president and matron of the Boston Massachusetts Temple.

E lder Russell M. Nelson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and chair of the Executive Committee of the Board, introduced

the next president of BYU-Hawaii as John Sears Tanner during the campus devotional on May 12. Tanner will be working with current BYUH President Steven C. Wheelwright over the next few months. He will then become the 10th president of BYUH on July 27. Students, faculty and community members said they felt uplifted by the event. Renee Ahuna Cabrinha, a wedding planner in Laie, said, “I cried through mostly all of it. I felt very blessed that I was able to be here. As soon as President Tanner began to speak, I received confirmation that he is truly called of God and I just couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I’m looking forward to getting to know them bet-ter and supporting them.” Tanner has served as first counselor in the General Sun-day School Presidency, chair of the English Department at BYU and academic vice president from 2004-2011. He has written BYU’s Educational AIMS, which serve as the university’s desired educational outcomes for all students. BYU’s website says these include spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, character building, lifelong learning and service for all students. His wife, Susan, served as the Young Women’s General President from 2002 to 2008, according to Elder Nelson’s remarks. Tanner graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English from BYU and earned doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1980. He also served a mission in Brazil and later returned as a mis-sion president there, according to his biographical information. Rumors were spreading around the school about a new president being announced, but some students were still taken back by the news. “For me, I was very surprised,” said Olivia Jong, a sopho-more from South Korea studying international cultural studies in communication. “I thought I was going to graduate this school when President Wheelwright was serving here.”

Jong’s friend who sat next to her, Shine Kang, from South Korea, a sophomore studying international cultural studies, said, “I was so happy that we have a new president from BYU Provo.” Nicholas Grayson, a junior from Colorado studying applied mathematics, added, “That new president has a great smile. I just want to give him a hug.” Students showed appreciation for the work President Wheel-wright and his wife have done for the school by singing “Aloha Oe” at the end of the devotional. President Wheelwright has been working for BYUH since 2007. Margaret Wheelwright said, “Our hearts are so full, but it feels really right. We’ve done our best and we know the Tanners are going to be fabulous. We’re going to leave this wonderful place that really is a little bit of Zion.” The church announced on May 16 the Wheelwrights will be returning to Boston to become the president and matron at the Boston Massachusetts Temple. Lei Cummings, a resident from Laie working with LDS Philanthropies, added, “I am excited. We’re grateful to President and Sister Wheelwright and for all they have done. I work with donors who help the university, so I know from the inside the other things he has been involved in. But I’m so excited to get to know the Tanners.” Katie Grayson, a junior from Texas studying international cultural studies in communications and peacebuilding, said, “I’m sure we’re all going to miss President Wheelwright, but it’s awesome that we’re getting somebody else and he seems like a great guy.” The devotional was centered on faith, and talks were given by the members of the Executive Committee of the Church Board of Education and the Board of Trustees including Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Seventy, Sister Linda K. Burton, General President of the Relief Society, and Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy and Church Commissioner of Education. Elder Nelson conducted the meeting and spoke as well.

From left: Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, Elder Russell M. Nelson, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Margaret Wheelwright, and BYU-Hawaii President Steven C. Wheelwright. The apostles wave to the Cannon Activities Center crowd after the devotional. Photos by Monique Saenz

Trevor McCord sees a deeper purpose in music

S t r i k e a M c C o r d

BY L INDSEY FERR IN

Trevor McCord’s album “Signs” can be found on major music services like iTunes, Spotify and SoundCloud. Hard copies can be purchased from McCord himself. Look for Trevor on Face-book at www.facebook.com/trevordanielmccord.

Top: Trevor McCord smiles for the camera. Photo by Mason Golden. Bottom: He performs at Rides and Grinds last fall in Laie. Photo by Hector Periquin.

Music isn’t just something to listen to for student musician Trevor McCord, a senior studying psychology from California, who hopes to use his psychology degree to be a “head honcho in the music industry.”

7MAY 21, 2015

Q A&

A: My mom plays piano and plays a lot of hymns or Beethoven. She tried to teach my sister, brother and I, but none of us picked it up. My sister started off by playing the cello in her middle school orchestra and moved on from there by playing music you would hear in a café. My brother always enjoyed follow-ing in my footsteps and picked up the electric guitar and then the bass guitar. He’s played in a metal band and a bluegrass band. My dad on the other hand is completely tone deaf and his taste in music is terrible, but we still love him.

Q: How often and for how long do you practice?

A: That is an interesting question because it really de-pends on what I’m practicing for. There has been a time where I’ve played shows with some friends and we’ve only practiced one day before we went on stage, and there have been other times where I’ve spent a couple weeks trying to learn one song because it wouldn’t click.

Q: So you perform in public all thetime. How do you squash your nerves?

A: At first when I started performing, I was 16 and would get nervous before I would get on stage. After the first handful of gigs I played, I felt really comfortable on stage. It was just sort of this at-mosphere I craved, and I got over the nervousness by putting myself out there and now it’s the place where I’m most comfortable.

Q: Is your family musical? If so, how?

Q: Is there anything you want the readers to know, or anything you want to add?

A: Support your local musicians, strive for excellence in whatever talents you have, never settle for less than what Heavenly Father knows you’re going to be best at. And a big thanks goes out to Han-nah Larsen and her huge role in my upcoming CD.

Q: What kind of music do you play? And what instruments do you play?

A: What I play is kind of hard to put in a category. I feel it is very unique in itself, but because of that it probably fits in to the Indie music category.I started playing guitar when I was 15 in high school and from there I moved on to playing bass in a couple of rock bands. When I moved to Hawaii, I bought myself a ukulele and went from there. I tried to learn how to play the piano, and I have dabbled a little bit in the banjo as well.

Q: How has the gospel influenced your music?

A: Music has strengthened my testimony of the gospel and of the love Heavenly Father has for each of us because He’s the one who has blessed me with this talent. I have seen a very direct influence in my best songs from Him. When we truly ask for help in anything - even something as outside of the gospel as music can be sometimes - He is there to guide us. And to be honest, the best songs ever written were definitely not composed by the person who put their name on it. I can recognize that with much of my music. So it’s been a manifestation of how much God loves me and how much He wants to help us develop our talents. Another instance is how driven I am with anything behind mu-sic, which to be honest doesn’t happen with other things. I know this is because of the Spirit lighting a fire within me to do anything with music, even if it’s as small as taking care of my instrument. And I feel that shar-ing this talent with others is the best way I can express to the world how much Heavenly Father loves us and wants us to be the best at whatever we want to be the best at.

Q: In the music industry, who do you admire, and why?

A: Everybody who knows me knows my favorite musi-cian is Jack White, and there are a lot of reasons why. The most important is he is one of the select few people in all of existence who truly understands the deeper meaning behind music. I would say most people say, ‘I love music and I con-nect with it,’ but there is a more intimate level that only few are blessed to have. It’s a true understanding of where music comes from and how it shapes the world.

COMP I LED BY ZOE SAFEER I L LUSTRAT ION BY ANDREA MARSHALL

9MAY 21, 2015

W hen it comes to learning all there is to know about music, it’s not always

about that bass when you still have treble (trouble) learning notes, finding a correct rhythm, or playing in tune. After all, music can be considered a foreign vocabulary to some, as attested by music composer Paul DeMarinis, who named one of his very own albums “Music as a Second Language” in 1991, according to allmusic.com. “I think the challenging thing is the fact that it's like learning how to speak again,” said Raife Campbell, a senior from Australia studying business with a minor in psychology, who is learning how to play music. “If you read from a book, you speak it. With music, you’re not speaking with your mouth. You’re speaking with your hands or feet or whatever instrument you’re playing. It's difficult and unique at the same time.” Gavin Michael Nuttall, a junior studying biology from California, said, “My big-gest problem is I can read the notes, but I can’t keep the time.” He said he is now learning how to read music again. “I don’t know how long each note is supposed to be.” He then added learning to read music was “really enjoyable and really difficult at the same time.” There are a lot of elements to learn when learning how to read music.Keeping a rhythm, holding notes the proper length, knowing the difference between musical terms such as “piano” and “forte,” are just a few things a student of music must master. Luckily, the basics can apply to any instrument, including piano, voice, saxophone, violin, oboe, and so on. If you don’t know how to read music at all, it is important to know about the staff. The staff consists of five lines on the sheet. Notes are placed on the five lines of the staff. Next are the clefs, including the treble and bass clefs. The treble clef looks like a fancy G at the beginning of the staff on the left. The bass sounds lower compared to the treble clef, and it looks like a backwards C with two dots beneath the top line and second line. Treble clef is usually for higher-pitched instru-ments, such as violin, flute, or sax. The bass is

usually for lower-ranged instruments, such as cello, tuba, or bassoon. Some instruments use both, such as the piano or voice. Each clef has notes that are on a cer-tain line or space. For the treble clef, the notes in between the lines on the staff from bottom are E, G, B, D, and F. An easy way to remem-ber this is to think of the acrostic “Every Good Boy Does Fine.” In the spaces of the treble clef from bottom to top are the notes F, A, C, and E. Likewise, a simple acrostic to think of for these notes is FACE. For the bass clef, the lines from bot-tom to top are G, B, D, F, and A. The way to remember this is “Good Boys Do Fine Always.” The spaces from bottom to top on the bass clef are A, C, E, and G, which can be remembered as “All Cows Eat Grass.” All notes range from A to G, and then repeat all over again, so it takes a bit of learning to figuring out which note is which every time you read. A musician can know what to play on an instrument or what to sing by understanding the notes on the staff. The way a note is written will influence how long it should be played. Notes with a filled circle and a connected stem

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3…Learning music for the first time?

are quarter notes. The stem can be up or down, depending where the circle is on the staff. If the circle is empty on the inside, this indicates a half note. If the circle is empty and does not have a line, then it is a whole note. The time signature (the amount of counts per each mea-sure) will determine the length of each note. Josiah Moimoi, a senior studying business human resources from Fiji, who is learning to play piano, said, “For some people, reading music is as easy as reading books, and the most difficult part for me was to get to that level.” For those wanting to learn music, concerted and diligent practice are required to produce a talented musician. One can go very far with a limited knowledge of music if he or she is willing to put in the time to discover and learn how to speak this second language. Build on the talent you already have, and most importantly, do not give up with your music still in you.

Source: www.musicnotes.com

BY RACHEL REED

...It’s like learning how to speak again. If you read from a book, you speak it. With music, you’re not speaking with your mouth. You’re speaking with your hands or feet or whatever instrument you’re playing. It’s difficult and unique at the same time.”

- Raife CampbellSenior from Australia

KE ALAKA‘I10

Students learn how to createcomputer-based music

There are various pur-poses for this class, Bradshaw said, and he believes that fact alone could let students develop them-selves in different and unique areas. He has seen many of the student projects and expressed his praise regarding the creativity of the class. “That’s one of the fun things about electronic music. There are so many ways you can go. There are many different tools you can use to create various sounds through your operations.” One of the hurdles with offering this class was the difficulty of not having a dedicated lab for electronic music. Bradshaw talked with Michelle Johanson about using the recording studio where employees do TV production for school devotionals for the class. They had some of the equipment that such a class required. “Those involved with the TV production were very accom-modating and allowed students to have classes in the production studio for this Summer Term,” said Bradshaw.

Due to an increasing demand for original, computer-based, electronic music,

BYU-Hawaii has chosen to offer an electronic music class to students during this summer semester. Under the direction of Associ-ate Music Professor Dr. Daniel Bradshaw, who also serves as chair of the Music and Theatre Arts Department, students are learning how to expand their creativity and computer skills to prepare to pro-duce music for all kinds of possible venues in the music industry. “Electronic music is of course difficult to be defined,” said Bradshaw. He said electronic composition means composing or writing music that people couldn’t write in any other way, so it usual-ly deals with manipulating sounds on a computer. For example, au-dio technicians may have someone speak into a microphone, and from there, the speaker’s voice can be manipulated. Bradshaw said computers can generate different sounds to be used in music, such as drums or whistles.

Christopher Wiley, a junior studying music composition from Oregon, is taking the class this term. He said, “It’s imperative that we use the production studio because the whole purpose of the class is to help us be familiar with recording.” Wiley said the class is needed because of the evolving world of music. “Lots of music ma-jors are educated in the classical tradition, but we’re very unedu-cated with how the music industry is working around us today.” According to Bradshaw, students are working with the software program called Pro-tools, an industry standard for sound production that focuses on audio production for mediums such as movies, TV commercials and CD production. Currently, he is teach-ing students how to work with large mixing boards. William Walter Arnett III, a junior studying music from Arizona, is taking the class and said he feels the class is essential for music majors. “This is where

music is at and where the future of it lies. It’s one of the only classes which really instructs us in a com-mon, modern medium that we can make money through. We’re dealing with the business side of music.” Arnett described the classwork as “very real-worldy.” He said, “Every week, we have two hours to work on our own projects and produce something.” Bradshaw explained there are only seven students in the class and each were invited individually because “this is a really high level music class. I was very mindful of who I invited to participate. The production studio isn’t a large room. It is too small to fit many students into, so I had to adjust to limit a few students.” According to the article

“Six Machines that Changed the Music World,” electronic music was developed back in 1950. It became wildly used in 1960s. Since that point, its popularity has increased over the years.

Jacob Moss and Dr. Daniel Brad-shaw work using the soundboard during class. Photo by Josh Mason

BY J I ASHAN CU I

11MAY 21, 2015

KE ALAKA‘I12

What’s on your Playlist? What are your different types of playlists for?

“I have a lot of playlists for different types of ac-tivities I am doing. I have one for snowboarding, one for skating, one for just cruising around on a weekend and one for night while I am just relaxing. I have a sleep playlist and a study one. I have maybe 15 or 20 playlists, but the ones that I actually update and listen to are maybe five or six.”

What playlists do you listen to the most?

“Right now, I call it my ‘Summer Night’ one, the relaxing one. And I listen to my skate one a lot.”

What types of artists are on your playlists?

“I have a lot of variety on my playlists. On my skate one I have older punk stuff like The Ra-mones and The Clash.”

How do you find new music?“There is a website called lastfm.com. It tracks your Spotify activity, and then it will recom-mend you new artists based on what you listen to the most. It is actually really accurate and it helps me out a lot. I found a lot of cool music on there and I use it a lot.”

How much time do you think you spend listening to music?

“It depends day to day. If I am at school, I will listen to music the whole time I am at the library. But on average, I listen to at least 1-2 hours.”

Who is your favorite artist?“All around, Radiohead.”

Do you share your playlists?“Yeah, sometimes I will send them to people that I know if they like that kind of music. I would be like, ‘Hey you might like this. This playlist is for relaxing, this one if for blah blah…’ I don’t really post it on social media that much. I just share it with some friends.”

What are on your private playlists?“I think some of my playlists are just all one artist. I think there is one where it is just songs I want to learn on guitar, so I put it on private because it is all over the place. There’s just a bunch of random things.”

Blake Sarnowski, a sophomore majoring in biomedical sciences from California, shared

some insight into the creation of his

playlists.

Blake Sarnowski jamming to his new playlist while studying.

Photo by Emily Thompson.

BY ALYSSA TROYANEK

KE ALAKA‘I12

13MAY 21, 2015

KARINA KING Q&A

ARTSCULPTURE CERAMICS

BYUH TALENT SPOTLIGHT

L INDSEY FERR IN

Q. How did you get into sculpting?A: When I was in high school, I went to an art exhibit featuring some of Pixar’s concept art for their past movies. I loved seeing where all of the characters had started out and how many drafts the artists went through before they de-cided on a final look. There were many different mediums used, the most memorable of which were the color scripts and the few sculptures. There is something special about 3D art that can’t be achieved in 2D.

Q. What is your favorite work you have ever done?A: My favorite piece that I have done is one of my first pieces. This was the one where everything just clicked. It wasn’t just a lump of clay, or later, plaster. This piece was the first time that I let my frustrations go while I was work-ing. It may sound crazy but I think that is what made the difference.

Q. How has the gospel influenced you in your art?A: I look at it in a more creative way. With art, I have to look out of the box, so this has helped me while reading the scriptures. I gain a deeper knowledge and a greater ap-preciation of the gospel.

Q. Is your family artistic? How have they supported you?A: My family is kind of artistic. My great grandfather was a wood worker. He made tables, chess sets and everything in between. My mother and aunt are big into crafting and scrapbooking. My grandma painted and sold her stuff at boutiques. They have always supported me. My mom has always provided me with the art supplies I’ve needed, and they encouraged me to come to BYU-Hawaii.

Q. How does your personality shine through in your art?A: I think a different piece of art shows a different piece of the artist’s personality in addition to what emotion they are trying to portray.

Q. What are your plans for your art after you’re done at BYUH?A: I’m planning on getting a studio in the Bay Area in a couple years, after I get back from my mission. Eventually I want to work as a concept artist for Pixar and teach art.

Karina King, a senior from California studying art with a sculpture/ceramics emphasis, feels her art is unlike any other.

Karina King’s sculpture projects over the years. Photos by Hector Periquin

KE ALAKA‘I14

Q: How do you believe BYUH has most influenced you?

A: I think that being in an international environment. It’s so cool to be in a place like this where we’re surrounded with stu-dents from 70 different countries across the world, and we’re in a place where the arts and culture are important to the people here... It’s actually something students can’t really get at other universities, having casts filled with people from all around the world each bringing their own perspectives to roles and stories. It’s great being able to learn from all the other students from all across the world.

Q: Good improv! Has there been a most challenging part?

A: I’d say the most challenging part I’ve played here was Fall 2014. I was playing Blaine Yorgason in the primer of ‘One Tattered Angel.” One, I had to play a person who was significantly older than me. Blaine in the show is in about his mid 40s or early 50s and he continues getting older as the play goes along. Not only that, but I’m playing a real life person… Also just try-ing to get a grasp on the show itself. It’s an extremely spiritual show. So handling different aspects in the play when it’s spiritually based, because you have to be sure that you’re acting with the Spirit.

Q&AActor and singer Cameron Abaroa

Q: How have you been involved in the arts here at BYUH?

A: I’ve tried to be as involved as I can in terms of audi-tioning. Auditioning for the choir, plays, and auditioning for basically anything I can. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take as many art classes as I would have hoped. But that was just the nature of my own academic journey here, but I was able to perform which has been a huge blessing.

BY ZOE SAFEER

Q: Would you give a little introduction to yourself?

A: I’m Cameron Abaroa. I come from Gilbert, Arizona. I’m Hispanic. I served my mission in Argentina, and I’m a Mormon.

KE ALAKA‘I14

Laughter is one of the bestmedicines, so it’s great to perform because it’s

an act of service.”

BYUH performing arts student Cameron Abaroa smiles at the camera standing in the McKay Auditorium. Photo by Mason Golden

15MAY 21, 2015

Q: What do you want people to know about you?

A: I value the arts completely. The arts are one of the most valuable aspects of our educational experience.

Q: So what’s your major exactly?

A: My official title is a bachelor of arts in inter-disciplinary studies with a primary emphasis in communications and a secondary emphasis in the performing arts.

Q: What’s been your favorite part about all of your involvement here at BYU-Hawaii?

A: The performance aspect really. It’s a great thrill to be able to perform in front of people and it’s great because as performers we get to provide a service. Through music we can help people learn the gospel and through theatre we can teach life lessons. I was also involved in the Seasider Jester Comedy Club where we’d just get people to laugh. Laughter is one of the best medicines, so it’s great to perform because it’s an act of service.

Q: Do you have a favorite part or most memorable moment from your BYU-Hawaii career?

A: I would actually say it was in a production of “Mary Poppins.” It was this last semester (Winter 2015) and I was playing Mr. Banks and one of the essential plot elements that they put in the show was this idea of this vase. The vase is supposed to break in the second act. It’s supposed to fall off the shelf and break in the second act. It was the second night of performance and something happened and someone accidentally knocked one of the walls and the vase fell in the middle of the first scene. Trying to figure out how to cover that was a big challenge. It actually led up to some funny moments later in the show as we were like, “Oh the vase broke. When did it break?.. Already!

Q: How did you begin getting interested in the arts?

A: My dad teaches theatre at the high school level and he’s always been involved in theatre his whole life, so I was kind of raised in it. My first show that I was ever in was a production of “Annie” when I was 3. I played a little, miniature newsboy. From there I’ve been in shows, go to shows… I was raised in it, basically.

Q: What are your future plans?

A: Uggggg. I love being an adult. I hate be-ing an adult. The plan right now – and that could change at any moment – is to take about a year off, work, build up income (‘cause I’m totally poor), and from there go to grad school in theatre. Either in general theatre or in acting. I’m not quite sure yet. Then take that in both the performance as-pect, but also teach. I’d love to go to teach theatre at the university level.

15MAY 21, 2015

The arts are one of the most valuable aspects

of our educational experience.”

Laughter is one of the bestmedicines, so it’s great to perform because it’s

an act of service.”

KE ALAKA‘I16

CAMPUS COMMENTWHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE LYRICS?

Skyler Sitton, a senior majoring in international cultural studies from Arizona, said, “Hurry up with my dang croissant.” Kanye West: I am God

Stephanie Gariby, a senior ma-joring in EXS from Texas, said, “Now watch me whip, watch me nae nae.” Silento: Watch Me.

Ikaika Fowlke, a senior majoring in history from Wyoming, said, “Can’t nothing bring me down because I’m

happy.” Pharrell Williams: Happy

Kekoa Dalit, a fresh-man majoring in elementary education from Kauai, said,

“Everybody cries, but not today, not today ‘cause I won’t let ya. Everybody dies but not today, not me because I have never been better.” Olly Murs: Never Been Better

Kenzie Gilbert, a sophomore majoring in EXS from Utah, said, “Love that will not betray you, dismay

or enslave you, it will set you free.” Mumford & Sons: Sigh No More

Jude Goodwin, a junior majoring in biology from Samoa, said, “In every life we have some trouble, When you worry, you make it double.” Bobby McFerrin: Don’t Worry Be Happy

Photos by Emily HallsBY ALYSSA TROYANEK