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Genuine Gold Alumni, Another Student Resource

Within the past couple of years, the BYU-Hawaii Alumni Association and President’s Council have presented a number of alumni with Genuine Gold Awards as a result of their achievements and service after graduation. The Alumni Association believes these special alumni personify the role models President David O. McKay foresaw when he coined the description in 1955.

One of the 2008 award recipients, Pita Hopoate, a 1973 graduate in Elementary Education from Tonga and currently the Church Education System Country director for Tonga, Guam and Micronesia, believes the role of a Genuine Gold alumnus is to motivate current students to be the best they can. Looking to a Genuine Gold representative “will help the students to seriously and sincerely strive to live up to the expectations of the Lord and the purpose of His school — to be successful in their studies and in their professions after gaining their education and to be an influence for good worldwide,” he said.

Another Genuine Gold alumnus, Will Swain, a 1986 graduate in history from the Marshall Islands who now lives in Waipahu, is a diplomat-turned Church interpreter. He has held positions for the Republic of the Marshall Islands, including Assistant to the President and Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations.

He and his wife were the first Marshallese couple to be married in the Laie Temple. He also translated the Book of Mormon into Marshallese, was the first Marshallese Branch President in the Waipahu Stake, and is currently translating the Doctrine and Covenants. But after all of this, he remains humble, saying, “If anything, this award has meant humility, really.”

As a Genuine Gold alumnus, he warned students that they “will be challenged on several fronts,” because of the size of BYUH, their individual accomplishments and on their knowledge, especially from co-workers who share different beliefs. However, “They need to stay true to [their values].”

Rowena Reid, BYU-Hawaii Executive Director of Alumni Relations, has been involved with the Genuine Gold Alumni awards since its creation. She thinks they are an important part of the college process, because “students need to see more success stories of the alumni to give them hope, motivation, and to encourage a better return from the alumni.” She also said the alumni want to be better connected with the students, by helping to “bring in new students, and motivate them to stay in school.” Reid believes they can reach this objective, and added, “People underestimate the value of the alumni.”

For many students on campus, the Genuine Gold alumni are considered a great asset, especially as guides to the graduates with inconclusive futures. Ane Vea, a junior in International Business Management from Hauula, said they have importance as role models. “They have finished school and have done something with what they learned here [at BYUH], something that allows them to positively contribute to society.”

April Sunshine Sanchez, a junior in International Cultural Studies from Mesa, Arizona, attended the awards ceremony for the alumni during this past Student Alumni Week. She enjoyed the experience, and felt the alumni had a positive impact on her college career because “it was good to see how many people from different countries have come to BYU-Hawaii and what they have done after graduating,” she said. She also talked about how the hardest part of being a college student is figuring out how to apply the knowledge learned in the four years at the university. “I wish I could have had more in-depth information and more time to talk with them and get advice about how they translated their education into real life.” She also said she was interested in being able to directly contact the alumni, through email or another form, in addition to the Student Alumni Week events.

Since the Genuine Gold Awards program began during BYU-Hawaii’s 50th anniversary in 2005, 33 individuals have been selected as representing those “alumni who have given outstanding service to their professions, community, nation or church, and who have graduated from CCH/BYUH.” The same page also says that it is “the most prestigious award that a BYUH graduate can receive.”

The easiest way to learn from one of these alumni, according to Reid, centers around BYUH’s Founder’s Day Ceremonies, when the Alumni Association Office also holds its Student Alumni Week. It is designed to enable students to meet and network with the alumni and the alumni chapter chairs.  

More information on individual Genuine Gold Alumni for this year can be found in the January-February 2008 Alumni eNewsletter. Information on past awardees, as well as the requirements and applications for nominations, are on the Alumni web site.

  — Photo by Monique Saenz