The 59th Annual Lū`au is Here!

Students performing a "hula dance" routine.

This year, Pacific Univeristy’s Nā Haumāna O Hawai'i (NHOH; the Hawaii Club) is going to be putting on the 59th Annual Lū`au on April 13<sup>th</sup>! NHOH, founded back in 1959, has drastically grown and has become a staple at Pacific University Oregon. Every year in the spring, our basketball gym goes through a major transformation. The campus is taken over by the hundreds of family members of the Hawaii students who fly in to volunteer the whole week leading up to the Lū`au. This is truly what makes the event so special. Some are cooking food, some are making decorations, some are setting up the gift stores, and all are happy and excited to be here. The ties to family, reverence to culture, and willingness to share with an outside community of people is the driving force for the popularity, support, and overall success of the Lū`au year in and year out. The Lū`au is filled with beautiful classic and modern dances and performances that are led, choreographed, and performed by students. The music is always run by a band of students who write, orchestrate, and play throughout the event. This event is not exclusive, in fact, there is always a place for not only students from Hawaii, but also students from the mainland. With the Lū`au being the biggest non-sports related event on-campus, it is always heavily anticipated by the entire Pacific University community whether they are participating in the Lū`au or just watching. Traditionally, tickets for the show will sell out in less than a week. This is crazy once one realizes that the basketball gym, where the Lū`au takes place, consists of two large bleachers and six sections of seating on the floor around the stage. The Lū`au is so popular and anticipated that we even sell out the tickets to the dress rehearsal the evening before the actual show! Another great part about the Lū`au is the traditional Hawaiian food that is served. People have the option to buy a ticket that covers just the show, or dinner and the show. All of the traditional fan favorites are served at the Lū`au: plenty of white rice, mac salad, laulau, poi, poke, katsu chicken, and best of all, kalua pork. The week prior, some of the volunteer parents are digging an imu near our sand volleyball court. An imu is a Hawaiian underground oven or a cooking pit. The volunteers literally stay up all night in a tent, cooking whole pigs in the imu. There is plenty of absolutely delicious food every single year. Even though it seems like the Lū`au all takes place in one busy week, there are months and months of planning that go into this event. The parent volunteers, student performers and instructors, the talented musicians, and dedicated overall coordinators put in hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears to bring a little bit of Hawaii to Forest Grove every single spring. Come to Pacific University and experience our amazing Lū`au!

Student performing a "fire knife" routine.

Repeated National Champion Handball Team

2018-19 handball team at the United States Handball Association National Collegiate Championships

Here at Pacific University, we have many things we can be proud of. One of the more random, yet awesome accomplishments we proudly claim is our amazing handball team! Men’s and women’s handball is a club team sport that has stood the test of time here at Pacific University, and across the nation. Starting back in 1977, the team has been a dominant force in the world of collegiate handball.  In the last 39 years, the handball team has not missed the national tournament, and has collected a total of 36 national championship titles. In late February of this year, Pacific’s handball team flew out to Minnesota to defend their national title for the 3^rd year in a row. On this trip they were able to clean shop and collectively win their 4^th consecutive national championship with 4 individual and doubles titles. Even the coaches are getting awards here at Pacific! Our head handball coach, David Steinberg, was named the College Coach of the Year for 2019 by other coaches around the nation.  An interesting aspect of the team is that most of our athletes are not lifelong handball players or veterans to the sport. Actually, many, including three individuals who won national titles this year, have played handball for as little as two months. Often students who play fall sports here at Pacific, were good high school athletes that did not initially want to play a sport in college, or are just people who want to try something different are the students you see suiting up in red and black for the Pacific University handball team. There are several players on the team who are going to be returning next year, and the University is excited to add more championships to the long list of national titles. The team is always growing, evolving, and chasing greatness!