Mormon Life - BYU tag

Professor discusses repentance and the miracle of forgiveness at BYU Devotional

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

Michael Dunn, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science, spoke to students Tuesday in the Marriott Center in a heartfelt devotional about repentance and the miracle of forgiveness.

In the New Testament account of the woman who approached Jesus in the house of Simon the Pharisee, as well as the record of Enos, the two experience their sins being forgiven.

Retiring BYU head swim coach Tim Powers featured on 'Morning Swim Show'

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:22:00 -0700

source: http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/

ON today's edition of The Morning Swim Show, we have retiring BYU head coach Tim Powers.

Powers, who has been the head swimming and diving coach at Brigham Young University for 37 seasons, will retire at the end of the season. He and his wife plan on serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church. Be sure to visit SwimmingWorld.TV for more video interviews.

New DVD chronicles 'The Making of Jimmer'

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:39:00 -0700

source: MormonTimes.com

Mormon Life says: Don't forget to read LDS Living's cover story on Jimmer! As a rookie who recently completed his first full month of professional basketball, Jimmer Fredette has some chapters left to write in his basketball career.

But the story has been plenty compelling so far.

"The Making of Jimmer," a new release from Excel Entertainment, chronicles Fredette's journey from scrappy kid on the playground to college basketball icon to NBA lottery pick.

Harvard first, BYU second: Most popular schools in US

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:55:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: The two-year streak of first place is over, but second is still impressive. Brigham Young University is the second most popular national university in the United States, according to 2012 rankings released by U.S. News and World Report, bringing its two-year streak at No. 1 to an end.

The rankings are based mostly on the school's yield — the percentage of applicants accepted who end up enrolling at that institution in the fall, as reported by U.S. News. For fall semester 2011, BYU fell short to Harvard University by .8 percent.

LDS Republicans and Democrats meet at BYU

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:53:00 -0700

source: universe.byu.edu

While the valley of dissent between Republicans and Democrats seems to be getting deeper nationally, there was an interesting gathering in a mid-sized room at the Wilkinson Student Center on Tuesday.

The BYU Political Science Department hosted a panel, “Is Partisanship a Problem: Perspectives for America and Latter-day Saints,” on Jan. 24. Six distinguished speakers active in politics and their LDS faith were invited, including a former Utah governor and former Senate candidates. The room was full of students and local community members.

New BYU Religious Studies Center publications director named

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:38:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Dana Pike, a professor of ancient scripture, has been named the new publications director of the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, effective spring term 2012, according to a news release.

Evangelical speaker: True Christians don’t demonize Mormons

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:31:00 -0700

source: sltrib.com

Mormon Life says: DeMoss, an Evangelical PR man, has been an unpaid adviser to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign for the past five years. Mark DeMoss has a message for his fellow evangelicals: You can’t attack and demean Mormons or President Barack Obama and still consider yourself a follower of Jesus Christ.

It is impossible to abide by Paul’s admonition to regard others as more important than yourself, DeMoss said Tuesday during a Brigham Young University devotional, "and also stand outside [LDS] General Conference hurling insults as [Mormons] walk by to worship with [their] fellow Latter-day Saints."

Just because the First Amendment gives everyone the right to "demonize" others with their speech, he said, "doesn’t make it right."

Up Close with Jimmer Fredette

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:07:00 -0700

by Jamie Lawson
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: Jimmer Fredette has dedicated his life to becoming the best basketball player—and the best person— he can be. Get an inside look of what drives the Jimmer in this excerpt of our January/February cover story.

(Check out photo galleries of Jimmer here and here. You can also watch a video from our photo shoot and read a personal blog post about our managing editor's experience with Jimmer.)

On January 26, 2011, Jimmermania reached fever pitch.

At BYU’s Marriott Center, nearly 23,000 people watched Jimmer Fredette, a small-town boy from upstate New York and the nation’s leading scorer, sink 43 points against the undefeated San Diego State Aztecs. The crowd erupted with increased intensity as he scored shot after shot, breaking the Marriott Center scoring record for three-pointers and leading BYU to a 71–58 victory in what was dubbed the most important game in Mountain West Conference history. After the buzzer, thousands of fans rushed the floor, and security had to protect the 6-foot 2-inch point guard from the tidal wave of people screaming his name.

“I felt like a rock star at that moment,” Fredette recalls. “I’d never experienced that before.”

After that game, Fredette’s name was everywhere. It was a verb. It was an adjective. Phrases like “You got Jimmered” and “scoring from ‘Jimmer range’” became instantly prolific. It was no surprise that after his phenomenal junior and senior years at BYU, Fredette was the number-10 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, landing a spot with the Sacramento Kings. His lifelong goal of becoming an NBA player is now a reality—a goal he had been working toward since he was five years old.

A Little Kid with Big Dreams

James Taft Fredette, a.k.a. Jimmer, was born in Glens Falls, New York, on February 25, 1989. The youngest of three children, he grew up in a tight-knit family with his sister, Lindsay, his brother, TJ, and his parents, Al and Kay. From a very early age, it was clear that Fredette, a chunky, curly-haired kid with chubby cheeks, was blessed with remarkable physical ability and fierce determination.

“I was always around sports, so that’s probably what gave me a really competitive spirit when I was younger,” he explains. “People would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, and I would always tell them I wanted to be an NBA player. A lot of kids say that, but for some reason I feel like I was different. I never saw myself doing anything else.”

Recognizing his talent and passion for basketball, Fredette’s parents allowed him to bounce basketballs throughout the house and even built a dribbling studio for him in their basement. His uncle, Lee Taft, a personal trainer, had him running drills at age five. But perhaps what has given Fredette his greatest athletic advantage is his relationship with his brother, TJ, who is seven years older.

Bond of Brothers

“There was a special bond between us from the beginning,” says TJ Fredette. “I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to be a big brother. I loved his company—just a little guy who was always tagging along.”

Whenever TJ played basketball with his friends, Jimmer was on the court, too. In fact, Jimmer became accustomed to playing against older, more experienced athletes, which helped him hone his skills. Soon he was a real competitor and consistently played up one or two divisions.

“Jimmer had great hand-eye coordination and he was really fast,” TJ recalls. “I thought, ‘If we work with him, he’ll be a monster someday.’”

So TJ did work with him, creating all kinds of unconventional drills to help Jimmer develop a physical and mental edge over his opponents. TJ even made arrangements for them to play basketball with the inmates at a nearby prison. “The games were really intense. We were playing against grown men who were really strong,” he says. “It was a hostile environment, so I figured nothing else would bother Jimmer after playing that crowd. It was a great experience for him.”

“TJ made basketball fun for me,” says Jimmer. “He made me want to practice. I wanted to play because he wanted to play. I wanted to be in the NBA because he did, too. As he got older, he saw that it wasn’t going to happen for him, so he thought that if he worked as hard as he could with me, I could make it into the NBA and a part of him would be there with me.”

By his junior year in high school, Jimmer had become a local celebrity, garnering constant media attention for his outstanding athletic performance. TJ grew concerned about the increasing pressure his younger brother was under, so he devised a way to keep Jimmer focused on his NBA dreams. “I knew the pressure would only get worse,” says TJ. “He’s always been a shy, reserved kid, and I wanted to know if he could handle it. So I wrote a contract for him to sign, where he agreed to do whatever it took to reach his ultimate goal of playing in the NBA.”

On January 27, 2007, at their regular workout, TJ pulled the contract out of his pocket and asked Jimmer to sign it. “When it first happened, I kind of laughed,” says Jimmer. “He had clearly just written it seconds beforehand. We both signed it, though, and I put it above my bed. I saw it every night and every morning. It would remind me to work as hard as I can for my goal. It turned out to be something that was really smart. It’s still hanging there on my wall.”

Despite earning several prestigious accolades in high school, including being ranked among the top 75 shooting guards by ESPN and ranking sixth on New York state’s all-time scoring list, Fredette received little attention from college recruiters. Still, he received offers from 12 schools, including Brigham Young University. So the Glens Falls Indian chose to become a BYU Cougar.

True Blue

Fredette took his place on the BYU team as #32. His freshman year, he was a second-string player but played in every game, becoming the team’s fifth-leading scorer. The next year he started in 32 of 33games and earned first-team all-conference honors—BYU’s first point guard to do so since 1990. It was clear his star was rising quickly, but at home, TJ was suffering from devastating neurological problems, most likely caused by the anesthesia used during a surgery for his torn left ACL.

“It left me with minor brain damage—constant dizziness, migraines, my blood pressure would drop. I was almost too weak to stand,” TJ recalls. “It was a time when I was struggling so much. I had nothing going for me.”

Jimmer was largely unaware of TJ’s condition because “we wanted him to be able to focus,” TJ explains. Little did Jimmer realize that the only thing that brought TJ joy was watching his younger brother excel on the court. “He was everything to me,” says TJ. “To have him doing what he was doing, that was the only thing that pulled me out of my depression. It gave me enough hope and pleasure to make it through.”

During his junior year, Fredette continued to make his brother proud, breaking several records, including the Mountain West Conference (MWC) tournament and tournament single-game scoring records, as well as the record for MWC tournament record for most free throws scored in a single game. He went on to help BYU reach the second round of the NCAA tournament—something that hadn’t been accomplished in 17 years. By the end of the season, Fredette had caught the attention of NBA recruiters, and he seriously considered forgoing his senior year to enter the 2010 NBA Draft. Ultimately, however, he chose to stay at BYU for another season. It was a decision he wouldn’t regret.

Jimmermania

During the 2010–2011 NCAA basketball season, Fredette became a living legend.

“I had three games in a row—against University of Utah, Colorado State, and San Diego State—where I scored over 40 points at each. That’s when everything exploded,” he recalls. “Like on ESPN, you’d see an NBA player like Ray Allen, the best three-point shooter of all time. He’d make a shot from long range and the sportscaster would say, ‘That was from Jimmer range.’ It was crazy.”

But Fredette admits he was unprepared for the sudden fame.

“During my junior year, some people knew who I was, and I’d be asked for an autograph here or there,” he says. But everything changed that last year, after the victory over archrival University of Utah, when he attended a Utah Jazz game with his then-girlfriend (now fiancée), Whitney Wonnacott.

“People began passing things down the row for me to sign. Then more people noticed I was there and it started getting really bad,” he recalls. “Then they announced my name on the megatron and said that the lead scorer of the NCAA was here. Suddenly, the NBA players and all the people in the stands were clapping for me. I didn’t know they were going to do that.” It took four security guards to escort the couple to their car amid the mobs of people clamoring for a glimpse of Fredette.

“From that point on, I’ve had to plan for pictures and autographs,” he says. “One day it was fine and the next day it wasn’t.”

According to Fredette, the hardest part about the fame is trying to do “regular things” like going to the movies or dining at restaurants. “People are going to see me. It’s hard because I don’t want to worry about that and just relax with family and friends,” he says. “Now we have to call ahead and get a private room. We order takeout a lot. It’s weird.”

Wonnacott adds, “Just going out to dinner, I will be completely finished with my meal and he won’t have even started because he is taking pictures and signing autographs, but you get used to it. I try to bring friends so I will have someone to talk to,” she jokes.

Despite the inconveniences, Fredette is grateful for the fans and considers his fame a privilege.

“I reached my goal, and I can be a good role model for kids. I take that very seriously,” he says. “I try to be a good person and make sure they can have someone to look up to who did it the right way. But also, I’m from a small town, not super athletic—just a normal guy who made his dream come true. Hopefully kids will take that to heart and try to make their dreams come true, too.”

To read the rest of this article, including Jimmer's thoughts on his new NBA career and future marriage, pick up a January/February 2012 copy of LDS Living! Click here to purchase.

(Check out photo galleries of Jimmer here and here.)

Breaking down to build up the 'Spirit of the Y'

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:06:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Mormon Life says: It's kind of sad to see some of the buildings and memories go. Ecclesiastes declares that there is "a time to break down, and a time to build up" (Ecclesiastes 3:3).

For Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, the campus is often in such a state, with old buildings being torn down and new ones being built up, all helping to meet emerging needs, retain an inviting atmosphere and keep the "Spirit of the Y" for which the Mormon campus is known.

From the demolition of Deseret Towers to the building of a new broadcasting center, the following is a look at some of the most recent construction projects at BYU:

BYU track and field: Diane Stewart sets an American record in new event, the indoor 400m hurdles

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:41:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Senior Diane Stewart set an American record in the indoor 400-meter hurdles to lead to BYU women’s track and field team at the New Mexico Cherry and Silver Invitational on Saturday.

“This was the first time in history that the indoor 400-meter hurdles has been ever been officially run in the United States,” assistant coach Corey Murdock said. “It was a unique opportunity for our athletes. Diane (Stewart) won the event and will therefore be the American record holder until the race is contested by professionals on this track in a few weeks.”

BYU's Heritage Halls dorms demolished, to be replaced with updated buildings

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:01:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Four of the Heritage Halls, which have been home to thousands of students since 1956 — were turned into a pile of rubble Wednesday.

More of the residence halls will soon be coming down and replaced with new buildings that will give students more electrical capacity and space.

BYU grads' award-nominated film 'River of Victory' features family's triumph over living conditions

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:20:00 -0700

source: MormonTimes.com

Through filming "River of Victory" about a family who lives near a garbage dump in Cambodia, two returned Mormon missionaries found that happiness isn't limited to a location.

“You can find happiness wherever you are,” noted Trevor Wright, director and producer of “River of Victory,” an International Documentary Association award-nominated documentary. “There are people everywhere and they are not defined by their circumstances.”

BYU's Daily Universe to become weekly newspaper

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:40:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: What a sad day! The Daily Universe is where I got my start as a journalist. The BYU Department of Communications announced major changes Thursday to its 57-year-old campus newspaper, the Daily Universe.

By semester’s end, it will only be printed weekly instead of five days a week.

“The Universe will continue to be a daily news organization and will post news digitally as it occurs, but the print edition will be published only one time a week, with special sections also occasionally produced,” Brad Rawlins, chairman of the communications department, said in an email sent to students and alumni.

Made with LOVE

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:29:00 -0700

source: youtube.com

Mormon Life says: A beautiful story of how one BYU grad student has worked with special-ed students to develop marketable skills THEY want to develop - and how they have risen to her high expectations.

President and Sister Samuelson express appreciation for BYU

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:02:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

President Cecil O. Samuelson and his wife, Sharon, addressed students Tuesday morning in the Marriott Center in the winter semester opening devotional. They told students why they appreciate BYU and encouraged them to be stronger in their studies as well as in their commitment to the Honor Code.

“We love the people we meet at BYU,” Sister Samuelson said. “This includes, of course, the students, faculty, staff and administration, but also the many loyal supporters, donors and friends who contribute in such significant and diverse ways.”

Julie B. Beck to speak at BYU devotional Jan. 17

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:36:00 -0700

source: news.byu.edu

Julie B. Beck, general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak Tuesday, Jan. 17, at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center for a Brigham Young University campus devotional.

BYU football ranked 25th in final USA Today Top 25 Poll

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:50:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

The USA Today Top 25 football coaches poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, final records, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, and previous ranking:

Behind the Scenes with Vocal Point

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:05:00 -0700

by Kaela Worthen
source: MormonLife.com

Mormon Life says: The nine-man BYU a cappella group Vocal Point performed for weeks on NBC's The Sing-Off, a national television show with audiences of 4 to 5 million people. But fame wasn’t their ultimate goal.

It started with a handmade flier using a sharpie, posted all around BYU campus 20 years ago: come audition for an all-male a cappella group. “Our hope was to create a group that could continue after we left and that could become a tradition at BYU,” says Bob Ahlander, who founded the group with his friend Dave Boyce. But what started as a small group of BYU students began garnering attention around campus, began getting support from the honors program and music department, and was eventually adopted into the university as a class and an officially endorsed ensemble. This year, the group has grown to more drastic heights as it was accepted onto The Sing-Off, an NBC a cappella singing competition.

Getting Settled
So the group flew to Los Angeles and was immediately immersed in an experience like none they’d ever had before. “Normally we have a semester to put a concert together,” says McKay Crockett, one of the tenors and lead singers of the group, “but with this experience we found out what song we were singing on Saturday [the show was taped on a Friday] and by Monday we had to have it ready for the producers to listen to, and if they didn’t like it they’d give us a new song, then we had to put in choreography, and then we had to try on costumes to make sure they all fit. There was just a very fast-paced, quick-moving tempo.”

Amid all the chaos, though, the group members had another goal in mind: to hold true to their values and “to share joy and happiness through song,” Crockett explains. “We didn’t have to be pushy; we didn’t have to be preachy. People could just feel something was different and they would ask questions.”

Hitting the High the Notes
In the beginning, the group members were able to suggest song ideas and were very involved in deciding what they wanted to sing, but as the show progressed, they lost that flexibility. “[The producers] would assign music to all of the groups and say, ‘This is the song you will be singing, have fun, good luck,’” Crockett recalls.

Even when it got to that point, though, they still held their moral high ground. When the producers handed them a song with lyrics they weren’t comfortable with, they said they couldn’t do it. “They were really, really supportive of our wishes as far as our standards go,” says Jake Hunsaker, another tenor and group front man. “They didn’t even blink . . . they took the piece away and brought us a new one the next day.”

Unfortunately, they were assigned those songs on a Saturday and had to have them ready to show to the producers on Monday. Since they didn’t work on Sundays, that meant they only had one day to get it all figured out.

But taking Sunday off to go to church afforded yet another opportunity to show others what the guys of Vocal Point were really all about. “When you’re on reality TV you don’t own yourself, so we always had a wrangler with us telling us where to be and when to be there and kind of keeping us on a leash,” Hunsaker says. “So we’d take a wrangler to church with us.”

Learning All the Right Moves
After the songs were arranged, there was still choreography to work out. Even though there were professional choreographers to assist the groups, that didn’t mean learning all those moves was easy. Hunsaker’s favorite performance was their dance-intensive “Every Little Step” by Bobby Brown, but they almost didn’t survive it. “None of us know how to move naturally, so when the choreographers brought in the choreography for the piece, we kind of died,” he says. Prayers at the beginning and end of every rehearsal helped them to achieve their best.

And those around them noticed. Near the end of their experience on The Sing-Off, a choreographer approached some of the Vocal Point members and explained, “You’ve helped me to see that I can bring God into my life and into the entertainment business. There’s not a lot of talk about God and faith in this industry, but I feel like I can have them both in my life, and you guys showed me how to do that.”

If all that wasn’t hard enough, part way through the show, the Vocal Point boys all started school. “It was something that you just have to grit your teeth and get through,” says Hunsaker. “You come back from a 15-hour day, and your call time would be at 7:30 in the morning, and you get home sometimes at 11, 12, or 1 a.m., and you have three or four hours of homework on top of that.”

The long hours that everyone was working prompted one producer to ask them, “How on earth do you guys do this without coffee? I think the rest of us would keel over and die if we didn’t have our morning coffee every day. Do you guys have a vitamin that you take?”

Being an Example to Those Around Them
But while it may have been almost impossibly hard work, they also had fun times to balance it out. The members of Vocal Point forged close friendships with many of the other groups on the show. “We’re just a rowdy bunch of kids that want to have fun,” Hunsaker says, “and so between takes or between runs of the show when we’re all just on stage and we all have mics and no one’s really doing anything, out of the blue someone from AfroBlue or the Yellow Jackets would lay down a beat.” Quickly it would turn into an impromptu sing-along with rapping about the people on the show, and “then everyone would join in, and it’d be a big dance party.”

Sometimes their interactions with others on the show were humorous. Once, one of the workers on the show tried to hug one of the guys but stopped herself and said, “Oh, I can’t do that, right?” The guys were quick to put that notion to rest, but when soon after a rumor started circulating that they also got up at 6:30 every morning to study and start rehearsing, they realized someone might have found a missionary handbook in an attempt to learn what these Mormon guys could and could not do. Other interactions became great opportunities: a member of another group began investigating the Church, reading the Book of Mormon, and even attended general conference with them in October.

“I truly believe that God works in mysterious ways, and I truly believe that Vocal Point, in its awkwardly endearing kind of way, was able to bring the Spirit to people who may not have had access to it in another way,” Crockett says. “We just had to be ourselves and the spirit of good and positive living that comes from Jesus Christ and what we are a part of really shines through.”

Bearing Testimony on TV
Their influence wasn’t limited to those with whom they interacted on the set, though. When the show eventually aired on national television, America could see the nine young men praying together before a performance. But one of the most obvious opportunities for missionary work came in a painful way: baritone Ben Murphy missed the first few weeks of the show because his father passed away.

“As far as my dad’s passing, in some ways I feel like the show was a wonderful opportunity to share our beliefs,” Murphy said in an interview with BYU news. “It certainly gave us a great forum for us to be able to share a message that I think Vocal Point is centered around, and that’s not only to bring happiness, but also the message of the gospel and how that’s central to our personal beliefs.” The Vocal Point members were able to sing Puff Daddy’s version of “I’ll Be Missing You,” and Ben was able to bear testimony on national television that “because of my personal beliefs, I know that I can see my father again, that he’s in a better place.”

“It’s not often that you have a national television show as your forum to share your beliefs with people,” Crockett says. “You don’t know why things happen the way they do, but the Lord knows.”

And because of experiences like that, the guys are okay they didn’t end up winning The Sing-Off. “We got to do what we wanted to do, and that was to attempt to share our happiness and joy through music with people,” says Crockett. “Winning it or not, being able to reflect a positive light on the university and on the Church most definitely makes the whole experience worth it. We’ll never know how many people needed to hear a certain song or were interested in the gospel because they saw that happy bunch of Mormon kids on that TV show. . . . Yeah, we didn’t win, but a lot of good was done and we’ll continue to do that good, and because of the show we’ll be able to do that for many more people than we would have before. . . . The Sing-Off was just a springboard for Vocal Point.”

To listen to Vocal Point and see them in action, visit byurecords.com.

BYU Study: 'Grandparents matter' and can be a positive influence

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:10:00 -0700

source: ldschurchnews.com

Mormon Life says: One of the findings is that there is a correlation between grandparent involvement and how their grandchild treats others and, in some cases, how they perform in school. Whether it is sitting around the dining room table, watching a Saturday morning soccer game or video chatting via the Internet, the presence of grandparents in a child's life seems to have huge benefits according to a recent study out of Brigham Young University.

Jeremy Yorgason, lead author of the study and professor at BYU, called the study results significant. "Grandparents influence children in minor, yet important ways. … The influence of parents is very strong, yet above and beyond that, grandparents matter."

BYU coeds hold onto LDS standards on 'The Sing-Off'

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:18:00 -0700

source: deseretnews.com

Mormon Life says: Make sure to read all about Vocal Point and Delilah in LDS Living's Jan/Feb issue! It helped Laina Walker and Amy Whitcomb of Delilah immensely to have BYU's Vocal Point guys just down the hall in the hotel during the taping for NBC's reality show, "The Sing-Off."

They could go with them to church and rely on them for the strength of the priesthood held by faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

When Whitcomb got very sick just before the taping of week six of "The Sing-Off," five of the LDS male singers came together to give her a blessing.