On the surface, Erika Kuta (pictured at left), a BYU-Hawaii interdisciplinary major from Minnesota might seem like your typical college senior. Like many of her peers, she balances her schoolwork, job and numerous extracurricular activities while still maintaining a much-deserved social life. Yet, just underneath her clever intellect and contagious smile, Kuta offers an eclectic past that puts a whole new spotlight on her own compelling journey to BYU-Hawaii.
Although born in California, Kuta developed a knack for traveling quite early in life. Her first move was to the heartland of the northern Midwest. In a small town in Minnesota, she attended elementary and middle school, but when the time came to begin high school, instead of joining the rest of her classmates at the local high school, Kuta found herself boarding a 14 hour flight to New Zealand.
“My mum’s from New Zealand,” Kuta explains, “And so when it came time for high school, it was as simple as realizing that it was time to experience that half of my background and culture. And so I got on a plane and flew to New Zealand to live with my aunt and go to high school.” For four years, Kuta was the only full-time American student attending the LDS-sponsored Church College of New Zealand. While she graduated in 2001, Kuta’s memories of New Zealand will hold a special place in her heart for many years to come, and it was an experience she would not trade for the world. “The school is actually closing next year in 2009. The First Presidency feels it has served its purpose, and I was so grateful to be apart of it,” Kuta recounts.
As the prospects of higher education came nearer, BYU-Hawaii soon became the forefront in Kuta’s mind. “I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to do, but I knew BYUH was the right place for me,” Kuta remembers, “It’s where I needed to be, and because of that, it was really the only place I applied. I applied, and I was accepted, and I knew this is where I would come to study.”
Kuta’s family had lived in Hawaii, and with family, friends, and connections to the islands, Kuta’s arrival at BYUH would be met with familiar reception. “There was even a group of us girls in New Zealand that all planned to come here,” Kuta explains, “And some of us followed through all the way and made it and some went down other paths, but it was interesting to see where life took us.”
Kuta declared herself as an English major when she arrived and began working hard towards her degree, despite some subconscious uncertainty about what it was exactly she intended to do. “I wasn’t sure exactly, but I loved photography, so I got involved as an assistant with the photography department,” Kuta says, “And when one of my friends suggested I go to work for the production studio, I volunteered there as well, eventually took on a job, and I have really thrived as I have found what I want to do with my life and now parallel my major to my career.” As she pressed on in her work and school, she desired to parallel her strengths and aspirations. The catch: there wasn’t a major that quite fit her interests. That didn’t stop her, however, and her passion for production and theater ignited her interests to create a major of her own. She opted for an interdisciplinary major, and with the help of her advisor, created a major that parallels English and theater with a video focus. “People often think theater is automatically associated with just acting,” Kuta asserts, “But in reality, there is so much more to it. It entails production, directing, lighting, staging, scripting, and so much more.”
Despite obvious talent and a determined motivational drive, Kuta attributes her success in part to the wealth of friends she has made at BYUH. When the time came to consider serving a mission, Kuta reminisces, “I had always wanted to go on a mission, and my friends really encouraged me to go, and I felt like it would be the right move for me.” So she filled out her papers and awaited the call. When it arrived home, Kuta’s younger sister read her the call: “And she read where I was going: the Fiji Suva Mission,” Kuta explains, “And I thought, ‘Great! I must be speaking Fijian!’ but instead it said I would be speaking English, and I thought, ‘OK...How can that be?’”
A wise friend counseled Kuta that with a call like hers, she would be quite likely serving far away from the Fijian islands. “Come to find out,” Kuta retells, “I would be actually be serving in Vanuatu, which is one of the three countries (Fiji, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu) that make up the mission.” Yet fate still held a surprise for Kuta. Kuta arrived in Vanuatu and discovered a vibrant mix of what is called a mutating language – one that, in her case, infused English and French colonial influences and changes over time with influences the island encounters. She explains, “In Vanuatu the Melanesian people have, in effect, invented their own dialect of English, called Bislama; and it’s not something you can learn in the Missionary Training Center.”
Serving in Vanuatu offered profound insight into the world that Kuta demonstrates in her daily life. Wise, sensitive, and aware to the diversified mix of the world around her, Kuta proves an asset to everyone around her. When she returned, Kuta continued on in her IDS degree.
Today, and now engaged to be married on November 14, 2008 at the Laie, Hawaii LDS Temple to Jonathan Marler, Kuta works with BYU-Hawaii’s production department, helping to produce and present university promotional material, devotionals, and campus-wide student activities. Her major and career goals go hand in hand, a benefit Kuta has found to be a priceless advantage. “I am doing what I want to do for the rest of my life, now," Kuta explains. Her talents have provided her with incredible experience and a real-world snapshot of genuinely golden opportunities awaiting her down the road. Kuta will graduate BYU-Hawaii in December 2008 and will truly be a noble tribute to BYU-Hawaii’s mission “Enter to Learn; Go Forth to Serve.”