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Under the watchful eye of Dr. Ronald Miller – BYUH psychology professor, 10 BYU-Hawaii students spent their summer studying and researching the lifestyles of nearly 700 returned missionaries living in the Philippines archipelago. One of them is a Filipino BYUH alumnus who have returned in order to live in his homeland.

The interns agreed that this was their chance for them to do good to others. They were not only experienced the real world but they provide support as well by helping Filipino community in uplifting their lives.

“Peace, to spread peace internationally and doing good throughout the world is hwat this project aims, ”said Nathan Fordham, senior in psychology from South Carolina.
“Being here and able to help the Filipinos has been a great opportunity,” Carlyn Hubner, a sophomore majoring in accounting said.

“ It is really an experience to come here in the Philippines and be involved with a non-profit org. I really like the mission of the Academy. They’re trying to help Church members get out of poverty through entrepreneurial training. This is a better way to spend my summer.” Justin Benson, BYUH alumnus in math and computer science.

“We are doing research,” Benson said, “that we believe will help improve the Academy. We are using our skills to make the Academy better so more Filipino returned-missionaries will benefit from the curriculum.”

Most of the 10 students are psychology majors and all were chosen by Miller because of academic strength and their performance in his statistics classes. Other majors represented are computer science, accounting, math and English.

They carefully examined the data to find out differences in lifestyles, Church activity, economic income, entrepreneurial careers and opportunity identification skills among the three groups.

Taylor Snarr was responsible for managing the workload among the students and dividing them into different groups. Under his direction and Miller’s guidance, after they have finished collecting the data and they interviewing process, they moved on to the second stage which is the analysis.

Many of BYUH researchers grew very close to the ACE students, they said, and it was bittersweet to watch them graduate and leave the Academy; bitter because they were losing friends, but sweet because the ACE graduates would go on to be entrepreneurs and help their families and loved ones break the chains of family poverty.

2 of the 10 BYUH students on the trip have Filipino ancestry. Michelle Bautista, senior in psychology from Las Vegas, was born in the Philippines to Filipino parents, but moved to the United States when she was young. She came on the trip out of desire to help the Filipino people. “When Miller told me about this trip, I said yes right away. I’ve always wanted to do something like this, something to help the Filipino people.”

JoLyn Brant, recent graduate in psychology from Utah, is half Filipino. Brant never lived in the Philippines, but she said the trip has made her gain more respect for her mother, who lived in the Philippines before coming to the United States. Brant also learned she was related to one of the Academy employees.

On a related note, the Academy and the BYUH School of Business have been working together to host the first ever Filipino Entrepreneur Academy Awards in Cebu City. Awards will be given to top entrepreneurs in seven different categories, with prize money donated by the Yamagata Foundation. One million pesos, or roughly twenty-five thousand U.S. dollars, were donated by the Yamagatas to help Filipino entrepreneurs strengthen businesses they have already started.

Andy Barfuss, the Academy’s Chief Operating Officer said that the main point of the competition is to excite the Filipino people about entrepreneurship, which many feel to be one of the only ways for the people of the Philippines to escape poverty. The team hopes to make the competition a yearly event.