Building peace anywhere in the world is a worthy effort most humans would engage in, given the opportunity. One such effort is being pioneered by the David O. Mckay Center for Intercultural Understanding at BYU-Hawaii located in Laie, Hawaii, in collaboration with schools in the South Pacific . The school has developed a new internship program teaching peer mediation and conflict resolution to students attending latter-day Saint schools in the South Pacific. Four students led the way this summer in Fiji and Kiribati.
According to David Whippy, a lecturer at BYU-Hawaii, interns work mainly with student leaders in teaching them peer mediation skills so that they would be able to address the conflicts that come to them on a daily basis.
“ I feel that highlighting this work would allow for more of our Pacific Island students here the chance to return and help in their homeland while also showing the partnerships between LDS institutions of learning.”
Read more about the school’s internship program here
Former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, David O. McKay, said to the students and faculty at BYU-Hawaii in 1955: "You mark that word, and from this school, I’ll tell you, will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally.”
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