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The Collegiate Bountiful Chorale from Accra, Ghana, prepares to share their talents in a live broadcast musical number to a BYU-Idaho Devotional on April 25.
Pathway student choir touches hearts across the world Thousands watched as the Collegiate Bountiful Chorale from Accra, Ghana sang “The Lord is my Shepherd” in the BYU-Idaho Devotional on April 25. More than 65,000 others saw the performance on Facebook. A few days after the performance, student Mikelle Pouwer shared on the BYU-Idaho Facebook page, “Never have I felt so united as a church as I did this past Tuesday when a young adult choir from Ghana sang live at our devotional. So cool!” For the first time, the BYU-Idaho Center broadcast a live video transmission from the other side of the globe. More importantly, it was the effort and preparation done prior to the broadcast that made the experience even more meaningful for all who participated. “I had an amazing experience watching the students come together through music,” said Pathway Managing Director JD Griffith. “For the choir members, I’m sure it was purely motivated by the feeling that they wanted to give back to BYU-Idaho.”
Griffith visited Ghana at the same time as the BYU-Idaho Collegiate Singers in 2013, when the choir invited Pathway students to prepare a few songs to perform during their tour performance. As a result of that experience, the Pathway students in Ghana have continued the choir ever since.
“You could just see on their faces that they put everything they had into getting there and performing for us.” —BRE T BAR TON, AV VIDEO DIREC TOR
They felt like BYU-Idaho and Pathway had been a true blessing to them.” This time, four years after Griffith’s original visit to Ghana, he decided to take the special opportunity to watch the students perform from a seat in the I-Center. “It was amazing to sit in the congregation,” Griffith said. “Even though I don’t think I recognized any of them from when I was there, I felt a great love for them and a gratitude for their willingness to share their talents.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 7
A year later, Griffith was asked to give a devotional address and had the thought of having the choir from Ghana perform the musical number. But without the technical resources, the opportunity wasn’t logistically possible at the time. “Living conditions are very rough, and the economy of Ghana is very suppressed,” Griffith said. “But the Ghanaian people are some of the most loving and Christlike people that I’d met.
IN THIS ISSUE NE W MUSIC COURSE.................................2 NE W DE VOTIONAL FORMAT DISCUSSED.................................................3 MEE T NE W VICE PRESIDENT....................4 AUTOMOTIVE PROGR AM EXPERIENCES GROW TH.....................................................6 M AY 2 0 1 7
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Music 130 teaches students how to learn and teach basic music skills like how to read and conduct music.
New music course created for all students A new music course launched Winter Semester 2017 is inspiring faculty and students to teach the importance of learning basic music skills to build their careers and the kingdom of God. Practical Musicianship (MUSIC 130) is a course designed to teach basic music skills to students from all majors who have little or no musical knowledge. Matt Moore, a Music Department faculty member who helped develop the course, shared that it was created for a few different reasons. “We’re trying to reach a few different types of students,” Moore said. “In a music major’s first musicianship class, if they fail to pass the preliminary exam, they are sent to this course instead, in order to prepare them to continue moving forward with a music degree.” Moore said the course also aims to benefit students who choose not to pursue a music degree, leaving them with the skills they need to fulfill other responsibilities. “If this is the only music course a student takes, they’ll still have the basic skills to
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serve in a music position wherever they’re asked,” Moore said. “This will allow them to gain basic skills to teach music to other people, serve in their church callings, or organize a musical group or performance whenever they want.”
“We want to help people feel confident that they can fulfill any musical assignment in the church, from primary chorister to ward choir director.” —MAT T MOORE, MUSIC FACULT Y
Music 130 was created by a team of Music Department faculty members from different disciplines of music. No prior musical experience is necessary to take the course, and it is offered entirely online. The only cost for the course includes purchasing the online musicteaching program that helps students learn simple piano and voice skills, along with learning how to read and conduct music. Moore also shared that students will have opportunities to demonstrate leadership and problem-solving skills that will help members of the Church around the world.
“I hope this will make music in the Church better overall,” Moore said. “We want to help people feel confident that they can fulfill any musical assignment in the church, from primary chorister to ward choir director.” Holleah LeBaron, a sophomore studying music composition who took the class last semester, said that she was able to apply what she was learning in a very practical way. “I learned how to memorize a lot better. I also started incorporating what I was learning in my other classes, so that helped a lot, too,” LeBaron said. LeBaron hopes other students will take advantage of the unique learning opportunities it has to offer. “I think that everyone should have some sort of concept of music,” LeBaron said. “The class is perfect for beginners, so you can’t get lost. And if you do, you have all the tools and resources you need to catch up. I think that everyone should take it because it opens your eyes to a whole new understanding of what music and creating music has to offer.” &
New devotional format implements Learning Model A new format for BYU-Idaho devotionals opens up innovative potential for speakers to use a more dynamic approach to their address, stimulating increased audience participation and application of the principles they teach. Devotional speakers can now freely bring in the elements of dialogue for audience engagement from the thousands of campus and online students. “We are trying to get away from the ‘sage on the stage,’ lecture-type environment,” said Trish Gannaway, guest hosting & institutional events coordinator. As devotional has typically been focused on the speaker’s message, there has not been as much of a focus on audience participation. Gannaway continued, “What can we do to make people feel more involved, and hopefully get something more out of it by having a personal experience?” Changing the way devotional is presented has the potential to add value to students’ experience and increase their immersion in disciple preparation. The idea to change the format came from President Henry J. Eyring. In particular, Eyring desires to integrate the Learning Model into devotional including preparation, involvement, discussion boards and follow-up. “It’s important for us to have the learning
model experience, things stick better when we are involved,” said Eyring in an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio. “The discussion board helps get people involved even before devotional begins.”
“It’s important for us to have the Learning Model experience, things stick better when we are involved.” —HENRY J. EYRING, PRESIDENT
noticed—something they can do to improve themselves,” Gannaway said. During the actual devotional, speakers may choose to have a student or two join them on the stand for a short discussion. Then the speaker might open it up to the audience to converse with their neighbor regarding the question the speaker poses for them. Those who are watching the live broadcast online can also participate. The questions or comments made on the discussion board are displayed for the livestream.
During the first devotional of the semester, “During those times when everybody the Eyrings invited the audience to in the audience is chatting among participate with them in what is called the “pair and share” portion of devotional. themselves about the question that has been asked, we want the people who are This is the time when the devotional watching that aren’t in the BYU-Idaho speaker opens topics or questions for Center to feel a part of that.” Gannaway discussion among audience members. said. “If you’re sitting at your computer and you don’t have anyone to pair and Students are given the chance to respond share with, you can at least still be to activities and/or questions provided by involved by reading the comments.” the next week’s speaker on the I-Learn discussion board. They can share their Even those listening on BYU-Idaho experiences and answer questions to one Radio have been considered. Student another about what they do currently employees at the radio station will or what they plan to do in the future either read comments selected from to apply the principles discussed. the discussion board or share their own thoughts live on the radio. “The hope is that students prepare before they come to the devotional. Do a CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 small assignment, then share how that experience changed them or what they’ve
DEVOTIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
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Meet the new vice president
On the Blog Leadership Transcript Charter A Leadership Development Transcript Governance Council, established by President’s Council earlier this year, is identifying the framework for students to represent their personal development both in and out of the classroom.
New Standardized IT Projects Summary Report In an effort to improve the timeliness and clarity on IT project reporting, a new standardized IT projects summary report has been created.
Testing Center Improves Wait Times The Testing Center implemented four changes during finals week of Winter Semester 2017. See how it improved the student experience.
When Henry J. Eyring assumed his role as president of Brigham Young University-Idaho, the academic vice president position needed to be filled. On April 12, Eyring announced Kelly Burgener would fill his former position.
member, teaching graphic design. He directed the university’s graphic services for a time while continuing to teach. He also served as the dean of Performing and Visual Arts and the associate vice president prior to his new position.
“It is a really “I am very blessed interesting and to get to work in exciting time to those roles. These “It is a really interesting work at BYUare great colleagues and exciting time to work Idaho because we I get to work with,” have had a string Burgener said. “I at BYU-Idaho because we of wonderful love the students, I have had a string of wonpresidents who love teaching, and derful presidents who have I love working have guided us,” guided us.” Burgener said. with the faculty.” “Most recently with —KELLY BURGENER, ACADEMIC VICE PRESIDENT President Gilbert, Burgener said he and now with is excited about President Eyring, serving all students we have developed and helping them a mindful focus of being the very best succeed in fulfilling President Henry teaching institution we can become.” B. Eyring’s prophecy—that they will rise up and become natural leaders Burgener grew up in Rexburg and has in all of their spheres of influence. lived most of his adult life here. He and his wife, Elizabeth, both have strong “I just feel privileged to get to be a roots in the community and the school. part of this,” Burgener said. “The Burgener began his employment at goal is to continue to make that Ricks College in 1990 as an art faculty prophecy a reality.” &
Institutional Data Management Council President’s Council has approved the restructuring of the Institutional Data Management Council into strategy, standards, and risk areas to bring better focus and direction to data management at BYU-Idaho.
For these articles and more, scan this QR code or visit bit.ly/BYUIBlog Kelly Burgener, the new academic vice president, teaches students a course on three-dimensional graphic design.
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Engineering students compete in aerospace design competition Students in the Department of Mechanical Engineering recently took an opportunity to not only show their passion for aerospace design but also for their faith. In April, eleven students, accompanied by faculty member David Johnson, joined groups from all over the world in an annual competition put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers in Lakeland, Florida. The competition involved designing, building, and flying an airplane, with the goal of carrying as much weight as possible, comparative to the weight of the plane. “The entire aircraft must fit inside a 6-inch diameter tube. The shorter the tube is, the more points you get,” Johnson said. “Not only are we judged on the length of the tube, but on a design report that is submitted before the competition, an oral presentation at the competition, and obviously how much the plane carries proportionate to its weight.” The group had a goal carrying four pounds with their airplane—which weighed slightly more than half a pound. Out of twenty entries, BYU-Idaho took fifth place after carrying a weight of three and a half pounds. “It was respectable but not as good as we had hoped to do,” said Johnson. “We
ended up carrying less than we expected, due to some weird problems that we didn’t expect. We had flown it here in Rexburg and it did fine, but something happened in Florida that we didn’t anticipate.”
The competition presented challenges beyond flying for the team of students. The competition, which took place from April 21-23, had groups scheduled to fly their planes on Sunday.
While the students encountered issues, Spencer Ochsner, a senior who was part of the team, said that the learning that took place throughout the process made their final product better.
“Our guys have chosen not to fly Sunday, so they usually take a hit on their points because of this,” Johnson said. “But they also get to talk to students and officials at the competition about why they make this choice.”
“We created about four or five prototypes throughout the year, which we tested and then took back to the design board each time and made different design decisions based on how it went,” Ochsner said. “This process brought us to our final iteration and we were confident that that was our very best product.” Students also found that this competition provided them with opportunities to meet with professionals in their industry. “This competition also connects us with professionals in the field,” Ochsner said. “One of the sponsors for the competition is Lockheed Martin, one of the prominent defense contractors for the United States government. We were able to meet their recruiters and hand out resumes. In fact, after the competition, we went out to dinner with a handful of Lockheed Martin employees to socialize and network with them.”
While this choice impacted the points the team received, they still managed to perform well enough to place fifth overall and second in the design report. They look forward to next year’s competition and have already made some changes to increase their chances to win. “We learned that this time around we need to distribute leadership better throughout our team,” Johnson said. “Now we are going to have teams that are in charge of certain aspects of the project, and the leaders will coordinate with one another, but for the most part, smaller groups will work on more focused tasks.” Despite the challenges the team encountered, their experience provided learning that they can now build off of and strive to better next year. &
Ardella Hopman, Kevin Almeida, Ryan Tuckett, Kalan Hirschi, Rachel Basko, Michael Peterson, Spencer Ochsner, Justin Gorevin, Trevor Hanks, Bailey Sorensen, and Tray Sorensen at the SAE competition in Lakeland, Florida. They placed 5th out of 20 competitors. M AY 2 0 1 7
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Students in the Automotive Program learn hard skills, such as car maintainence techniques.
While many students in the Automotive Program work on cars directly, others learn skills that help them test engines or software and improve them.
Automotive industry seeks BYU-Idaho students Brigham Young University-Idaho now offers the largest automotive bachelor degree program in the country, and employers such as Ford, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler are eager to hire BYU-Idaho interns and graduates. Justin Miller, a faculty member in the Automotive Program, explained how these large automotive companies discovered BYU-Idaho. “It begins with our students. When they obtain employment within the industry and impress their employers, those companies become very interested in hiring more students like them.” Miller said. “BYU-Idaho graduates have developed a great reputation throughout the automotive industry in recent years.” Additionally, the National Association of Automotive Universities recently added BYU-Idaho as a member, which allows the university to be discovered by major automotive companies more easily. “It is exciting because these companies only recruit from about four or five universities in the nation, and we made that list,” Miller said. “We are actually the largest source of new employees and interns for some of these companies.” According to Miller, the success of the program in placing students in these companies comes partially from the passion of faculty members to help their students succeed. “All of the faculty members I work with really care about the students they work with,” Miller said.
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Shawn Wible, a BYU-Idaho alumnus who graduated from the Automotive Program in December 2016, agrees that good faculty mentors lead to student success. “They go above and beyond to make sure you get the career that you want,” Wible said. “From what I have seen they are the most invested professors at the university and give hours and hours of their own time to make sure their students are getting the connections they need to.” This dedication has paid off—nearly 100 percent of students in the Automotive Program secure a job in the industry after graduation. Many of these students are getting hired at major automotive companies.
soft skills that develop students into valuable assets for future employers. “Everybody wants a good communicator and someone who works well with other people. These companies are looking for employees who can communicate both in writing and orally,” Miller said. “They want someone who is dependable, not someone who is going to show up late to work. We teach our students to go the extra mile and work hard.” According to Miguel Lopez, a senior studying automotive engineering twechnology, the real-world experience offered by the Automotive Program creates amazing learning opportunities. These opportunities have led to multiple job offers for him as he prepares to graduate this spring.
To help students understand how to market themselves in the automotive industry, the faculty have developed a course that “One thing I like the most about the teaches students to network and plan Automotive Program is that we get their careers. In this course, students to learn and expand our interpersonal have weekly meetings with automotive and communication skills as we industry professionals and hear real-world interact with customers to figure out insights from recent graduates about vehicle diagnostics,” Lopez said. how they should be preparing in order to be successful in their future careers. The Automotive Program, according to Lopez, teaches students more than Miller noted that many students are just good practices when it comes to getting jobs in three main areas: test the automotive industry. It teaches them engineering, service engineering, and how to innovate in a way that makes the management roles within the automotive students valuable to future employers. industry. This means that BYU-Idaho graduates are helping to create the “I believe that anybody can eventually cars of the future, improve today’s figure out any issue with vehicles,” Lopez automobiles, and find better ways of said. “There are a lot of people out conducting business within the industry. there that guess their way to a solution. Our program teaches us to be problem The program endeavors to teach solvers, not problem guessers. Being not only hard skills such as car able to solve a problem, and do it right maintenance and repair, but also the first time, that’s priceless.” &
Continued: Ghana Chorale Great sacrifices were made and challenges were faced in order to make Griffith’s idea possible. AV Productions Video Director Bret Barton was among the small video team that traveled to Ghana to record the performance. Though all the paperwork was filled out prior to boarding the plane to travel to Ghana, customs officers held their equipment when they arrived. Without success in pleading their case, the AV team was expecting to be without any of their camera equipment. “Over the weekend, we managed to create a plan B using local equipment of lower quality,” Barton said. “But we were glad it all worked out.” The day before the devotional, with the help of Church employees in Ghana, Barton and his team were able to retrieve their original equipment, and move forward with the performance. In addition to the technical difficulties that arose, the choir members also went to great lengths to attend the performance. “The night of the event, we actually had a rainstorm with thunder and lightning roll through,” Barton said.
“So a lot of the choir members were slow getting there, and some were worried they wouldn’t make it.” Because of congested roads and high population in Ghana, it normally takes hours to travel from one end of the city to the other. “Some of them had to show up early after work or school,” Barton said. “Rather than going home because of the far commute.” The broadcast was a success in the end, but what happened after the performance was a celebration that Barton says he will never forget. “After we gave the choir the sign that we were done, we heard the people behind us start clapping,” Barton said. “The choir cheered and they all started singing in their native tongue.” The experience was unforgettable for so many, but Barton could tell that it meant even more to the Pathway students in Ghana who truly gave it their all. “You could tell that this meant a lot to them,” Barton said. “You could just see on their faces that they put everything they had into getting there and performing for us.” &
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Health & Wellness Have you ever considered focusing on financial wellness for your next Living Healthy Wellness Challenge? Being financially stable has been proven to decrease stress and improve feelings of security. In turn, this can help promote better overall health both emotionally and physically. So what are some ways that you can achieve greater financial well-being?* 1. Understand your spending habits. Keep track of how you spend your money over the course of several days and evaluate areas where you might be able to spend less. 2. Set up a meeting with a financial advisor to talk about their professional opinion about how to move forward with your expenses.
3. Create a family budget. Each month set aside money for your necessary expenses (food, car, home, etc.) and use the rest to build a savings account and for non-essential expenses.
*Information provided by Human Resources
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Make Note BYU-Idaho employees share their experiences and ideas To inspire sharing and learning among employees at BYU-Idaho, employees will be asked a question in the Employee Advisory each month. A selection of your responses will be featured in this employee newsletter. If you have ideas to share, please respond in the Qualtrics survey link in the Employee Advisory. This month’s question: What’s one way you help students to realize their potential in the classroom or the workplace? “Send them personalized messages and try to show them I genuinely care about their development and progress both in the class and in life.” -Joel Galbraith, Online Intruction Director
experiment. Students don’t just have to be the subjects of the experiment, but they can be the experimenters.” -J. Ryan Nielson, Physics Department Faculty Member
“I give students employees significant responsibilities and treat them as if they were in a real-world workplace. I involve them in setting vision, creating goals, and implementing solutions. I even delegate hiring duties and some HR issues.” -Arlen Wilcock, Academic Technology Manager, Online Technical Operations
“On the final day of class I guide my students in starting a list of 100 successes they have had in their lives. The idea is that when they realize they are successful people, they will be more willing to take the risks necessary to succeed in their career pursuits.” -Susanne Robbins, Internships & Career Services
“I trust them with my real objectives often. Any class is automatically an
“‘Fail Forward’ is our motto in my ENG 106 class. Many students come
absolutely terrified to fail. Their hearts are good, and they are paralyzed by the fear of even possible failure. By and large, they want to ‘get it right.’ I share some of my own ‘failures’ (such as getting fired from a job when I was 16, being on academic probation in 1980, etc.) on my first day each semester with them, and then encourage them to ‘Fail Forward’ (see the book by the same title by John C. Maxwell). Many of my students comment on this new motto in their feedback—and, contrary to popular belief, they then go on to great heights without the ‘fear monkey’ on their backs.” -Paulette Kirkham, Academic Support
Continued: New devotional format “It’s just another great medium for people to use. If they are alone listening to the radio, they can get feedback from their peers. If they are with their peers while listening to the radio, they may be inspired to start a conversation from something that was said,” said BYU-Idaho Radio student reporter Nina Janne. “Having the discussion on all these different avenues is just one easy way for students to get talking about it and to be involved.” The university is taking advantage of all these mediums to bring the Learning
Model experience of devotional to more people than just those at the university. “We are very aware of the people who are not present when the talk is given and we want them to feel a part of what is happening in the BYU-Idaho Center,” Gannaway said. The only way students could participate before this new format was simply through an invitation on the devotional’s webpage on byui.edu to study passages of scripture or other resources. “But whether anyone did it or saw it, we
had no idea. There was no reporting or sharing of thoughts,” Gannaway said. With the Learning Model as their guide, devotional speakers will be encouraged to utilize this new format in an effort to increase devotional engagement. “We hope to see more creativity incorporating the Learning Model into the devotionals from faculty members who have been using the Learning Model in their classes,” Gannaway said. “They know what works and what they’re comfortable doing and what they can do to have more participation.” &
News & Notes A monthly publication of University Relations A D V I S O R Brett Crandall W R I T E R S Dain Knudson, Erin McMahon, Phillip Price, & Spencer Williams PH OTO G R A PHERS Michael Lewis, Emily Gottfredson, Courtney Thomas & Garrett Blanchard
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