BYU Special Collections houses unique treasures

By Tanner Taguchi (18)

PROVO -- The Harold B. Lee library is 665,000 square feet. Not many students have seen every nook and cranny it has to offer. Far below the library you see when you walk through the doors lies a cave of wonders, L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Within its halls are endless corridors filled with treasures beyond imagination. Books, manuscripts, and photos unlock a whole new level of discovery.

Curator of rare books at the library, Maggie Kopp, explained the advantages of using the relics found in special collections.
“You get a feel of reality… there are certain things you can see from an original that you can’t see from Wikipedia," she said.

“Special collections” originated in the late 1950s and has not stopped growing since. It grows by buying antiques from book dealers and receiving donations from others. It has grown to more than 300,000 antique books and letters from all parts of the world. All kinds of books from America and Arabia to China and Scandinavia are kept within the long hallways of special collections. The variety of the artifacts is not limited to geography, but also the vast space of time. The oldest artifacts kept in special collections are cuneiform tablets from ancient Mesopotamia.

All artifacts not on public display in the lobby are kept in a temperature-controlled, fire- protected, off-limits safe room. No gem of history should be lost because of crime or accident. That is why BYU has an endowment fund in place to purchase new books and other equipment. The income of this fund changes from year to year and has been classified as sensitive information. However, we do know one artifact can cost anywhere from $5 to $500,000. Very expensive pieces are bought sparingly as to keep within the budget. With some much time and money going into getting these books the department wants as many students to read them as possible.

Maggie Kopp said, “ We want to encourage anyone to come read here [Special Collections]… with the books in the normal library there are thousands of copies, but here our books are one of a kind.”

The current public displays include “Literary worlds: Illumination of the mind” which celebrates great writers through out history. Highlighting the works of famous authors such as Dickenson, Stevenson, Carol, Alcott, and many others. The most famous antiques are an ancient Egyptian papyrus, an original Gutenberg bible, a first edition of many famous books, and the original scores to “Gone with the Wind” and “KING KONG”

“We must never forget the lessons of history for if we do we must remain as a little child forever.” -Aristotle

American and Taiwanese students get cross-cultural experience

Emma Miller

PROVO -- As Joy Su and 29 other jet lagged Taiwanese students staggered off the plane at Salt Lake City International Airport, she couldn’t have imagined the challenges she would soon be facing. Instead, weary from 15 hours on a plane (Taoyuan to LA then LA to Salt Lake), she climbed on a school bus and made her way to Provo where she would stay for the next two weeks.

That first day she met her host family (which she admits was initially scary, though now she likes them very much), and settled in for the beginning of a 28-day stay in America.

Before she and her Chung-Hsin High School classmates arrived in the United States for the first time, their teacher told them that in America they would learn English, and go on a “culture tour,” says Annie Huang, a student on the trip. She added that the students expected the new experience would be both challenging and fun.

What they didn’t expect was that, just one week into their trip, they would be taking college honors classes at a university they knew hardly a thing about. The BYU Summer Scholars program is a summer camp designed for high school students interested in getting a feel for the university’s prestigious honors program.

“The goal is to offer students a college experience while they’re in high school,” says Rory Scanlon, associate dean of undergraduate education and director of the Honors Program.

It’s an academically challenging program – and the only BYU summer camp with a scholastic focus – and year after year, students and professors alike find themselves encountering new schools of thought and overcoming new challenges. But never before have such challenges taken the form of a language barrier.

“[The] teacher speaks too quickly and we don’t understand what should we do,” admits Joy Su. She then tucks her thick black hair behind her ear and stares at the floor, self-conscious about her English skills.

But this sheepishness is unwarranted; her English is very good. In fact, this is true of all 30 Taiwanese home stay students. They’ve studied for years, and speak the language at a level superior to that of most of their peers. But the simple fact remains that it is incredibly difficult – even for native speakers – to understand the heightened academic language of Summer Scholars.

“We’ve decided this probably wasn’t the best summer camp blend for them … They’re advanced in their own classroom, but they need a mix that’s a little bit different,” says Scanlon, after a conversation with Chung-Hsin’s principal, who visited campus this Thursday.

In many ways, the program has adapted to accommodate the students, just as they have adapted to the unexpected and entirely different world they have been thrown in. Translators have appeared both in the classroom and on the field trip to Temple Square. International students have been transferred out of the college level writing course and into more suitable classes. And sitting together in the Maeser Building, English and Mandarin speakers alike communicate enthusiastically with smiles and laughter, including a mutual obsession of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story”. Taiwanese students Alice and Cindy belted the song at the camp talent show, much to the delight of a screaming crowd.

So while this years’ Summer Scholars have not had the educational experience they initially expected, they still have had an important and genuinely good one. And given his philosophy on education, Scanlon agrees.

“To me, the reason we want to learn is because we want to get out of ourselves and learn about someone else. That’s what education is, right? How can you learn about someone else without them kinda sorta in the room? You can’t really walk in their shoes if you don’t have access to their shoes.”

Summer Scholars has been a surprise, but not a bad one. Instead, it has been a positive adventure for all – a sort of shoe-swapping palooza. Taiwanese students have learned more English than they ever imagined, and in the end, have been able to get the cultural education they were after, learning about LDS culture.

“You pray everywhere,” says Joy Su of what she has learned since her arrival. For a moment she contemplates that, surely thinking back to the prayers at the dinner table, in the 12-passenger van, on the hard floor of Penrose dorm. Then, eyes lighting up, she adds that she has also learned “how to make a lot of friends.”

Counselors

Our friends-counselor
Interviewing three special friends in BYU today. They are Annie, Whitney and Amada. They lead summer camp’s student in BYU. First, Annie comes from Mexico and she has been a counselor for six years. She thinks most difficult problem is hard to control somebody go where and confused by people’s name on her job, and she is glad to be a counselor because it’s her first time to lead BYU’s students. Then, Amada has been a counselor for long time. In her experience, she has lead 10 school students. She says “If I have a chance I want to lead Africa’s students in my life.“ About her job‘s problem, she thinks it is perplexity to remember everyone name. Finally the most energetic counselor – Whitney, she is a sophomore. She likes to lead teenager team. She had been to Chili and Newland to be a counselor.

They have one common point- they all love BYU and their jobs. In the end, they want to be a better counselor in their future and bring more beautiful memories to everyone!



Written by April and Tanya/On July 1. 2011

Erin's homestay

Each person just has a family. There are three sisters and one brother. Mom and dad are kind people. By the way…. they are my home stay.

Forensics in high school translation

法醫在高中？

通過 Jennica彼得森和娜塔莉博思韋爾

通過一年一度的暑期學院學者研討會，一群高中學生有機會盡一切從測試的DNA不斷增長的細菌，而學習取證。
R.保羅埃文斯教授楊百翰大學的分子和微觀生物學，帶領學生通過取證，證據的研究發現在犯罪現場，並在法庭上使用的法律。在一周的學生能夠應用此定義，以生命為他們解決了“神秘博士斯坎倫的抨擊。”其中最嫌疑人麥克斯韋爾學院院長愛丁頓 III以及科斯莫美洲獅。
學生註冊了這個特殊的類從多種選擇的各種原因。
學生克麗斯塔說，“遺傳學是迷人的，它讓我擴大我的知識。”
另一個振作這個為期一周的夏令營，要根據學生的阿什利，是希望看到很多有吸引力的摩門教的男子在校園。
學生 Demetri說：“實驗室的實驗讓你做一些事情，”他們肯定沒有為一些動手實驗的學生參加了細菌生長，隔離自己的DNA，轉基因食品的檢驗，並計算金額蛋白質在某些食物。
埃文斯被描述為一個“真棒，悠閒”“老師。他掌握了多任務，他都不停的類會在步伐一致，並幫助那些誰不明白轉讓沿途。
埃文斯把它作為有關孩子在班上，“我不是說他們是最好的課我曾經有過，但如果最好的類被確定他們會等於給他們。”

Forensics in high school?

By Jennica Petersen and Natalie Bothwell

Through the annual Summer Scholars Academy workshop, a group of high school students had the opportunity to do everything from testing their DNA to growing bacteria while studying forensics.

 R. Paul Evans,  a BYU professor of molecular and micro biology, lead students through forensics, the study of evidence discovered at a crime scene and used in the court of law. During the week the students were able to apply this definition to life as they solved the “Mystery of Dr. Scanlon’s Mauling.” Among the top suspects were Maxwell Dean Eddington III as well as Cosmo the Cougar.  

 Students signed up for this particular class from a variety of options for various reasons.

Student Christa said, “Genetics are fascinating and it allowed me to expand my knowledge.”

Another perk of this week-long camp, according to student Ashley, was the hope of seeing many attractive Mormon men around campus.    

Student Demetri said, “Lab experiments allow you to do something.” They certainly did as some of the hands-on experiments the students participated in were to grow bacteria, isolate their own DNA, test foods for genetic modification, and calculate the amount of protein in certain foods.

Evans was described as being an “awesome and laid-back’” teacher. He mastered multi-tasking as he both kept the class going at a consistent pace and helped those who didn’t quite understand the assignment along the way.

As Evans put it concerning the kids in the class, “I’m not saying they’re the best class I’ve ever had, but if the best class were identified they’d be equal to them.”   

Mark's Homestay

According to Mark’s message, his home-stay members have 8 persons. At first is Conrad Valdez, Kellie Valdez, Debie Valdez, John Valdez, Wesley Valdez, Emmanuel Valdez, Catalina Valdez and Sammy Heaton. They have lived the house 9 years. They believed in Mormon.

Chinese translation of this blog

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=en&tl=zh-TW&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbyujournalism.blogspot.com%2F

His name is Peter Lin

His name is Peter Lin . He will stay here for 28 days . He study in  Chung-Hsin High School is in Hsinchu in Taiwan . He came here is because he wany to learn more American culture . He live in homestay . And there are six people in their family . He learn how to buy something in the U.S ,  how to use mowing machine , how to take care of children , how to make food  , how to clean the house and listening .  He think American people are very  friendly  

Interview with Tanner Taguchi

The American Student In This Summer Camp

We interview an American student . His name is Tanner and he is 15 years old . He is a Boy Scout and he is a Mormon . He is from San Diego. He is half Japanese and half American . He wants to go to Japan but he has never been to Japan . He can speak a little Japanese . And he teach us a little Japanese . His favorite food is Japanese food like sushi and his favorite drink is red cream soda . His favorite movie is Tangled and he likes Ilaysickbeat . He likes to play volley ball . His favorite subject is history and he wants to be a history teacher in BYU . He comes to BYU every summer vacation because he likes this camp . He has come to this camp five times . He likes journalism because he think he can learn more things in this class .

Annie and Jeni

Willy, Sid and Cindy’s film class interview

Willy, Sid and Cindy’s film class interview

Q. Why are you choose the film class?

A. I think it is the only one that I really interested in. In fact, I think the film class is very fun. I learned a lot of nouns and verbs in film-making.

Q. What are you doing in the film class?

A. We not only watch the foreign movie but also learned the film-making skill in other country.

Q. What kind of film do you like?

A. I think I would love to see the movie about the sci-fi. Because I love the unreal things in the world. Something like UFO, Avantar and extraterrestrial.

Peter Lin's Homestay photos

CHHS had been hold 20 years. Their family has six members.  My home dad name is Mark, home mom Name is Lyz . Mark is a designer, Lyz is studying now . They live here of half. I feel their family are very friendly. Mark said they were very intresting in Chinese, so they want exchance to interact with Chinese people in their home, and they glad known ours. He feels that we like their guys and we like good people.

We cooked some Chinese food to them, and we watched movie with them. 

Home site for Journalism 2011

This the home site for the Journalism 2011 Summer Scholars group. We will post photos and articles here.