After the Storm

The Kulanui Competition was a great success. After hitting just about every bump in the road, our team was able to do it! While creating this event, we never thought that it would become as big as it did. We debated between a couple events, but ultimately decided on having a Mr. BYUH competition for the university. We assumed that people would show some interest in our event, depending on the contestants we found to participate. So, our team worked vigorously to recruit people to apply to compete. This included begging our friends, posting about it, and telling random strangers to apply. At the end of this lengthy process we actually found ourselves with more guys than the event needed! After determining who would have the potential to participate, we realized just how big this event could get. People with friends in the show would be willing to show up to this event as well as those who knew no one in the event.

Brigham Young University Hawaii has a large population of single people. Specifically women. When determining how to target a large audience we decided to take that single population and work with it. This is what ultimately lead to our success. Had we chose a different audience, we would not have gotten such a turn out.

Before we talk about the contestants themselves, we want to take the time to recognize all of the people who helped us with the set up alone. So many people came together to get us the things we needed for this event. Chairs, a stage, plants, changing areas, lights, tables, and trash cans were all donated for use at the event. None of these people charged us to borrow their equipment. Everyone was very generous in what they gave us. It warmed our team's heart to see such willing people helping the students of this university,

The contestants who participated in the event were hand picked first by our team, and second by our audience. Our audience participated in the picking of contestants by voting for their favorite people through our social media pages, Facebook and Instagram. This allowed our team to see what individuals would bring the most traffic to our event and to our social media pages. We ran into a few bumps having to do with contestants chosen by our team, but having people vote eliminated that.

Our audience was very lucky to have the contestants they had. Every contestant brought their best selves out to compete. We had contestants dancing, singing, making Kleenex flowers for lucky ladies in the audience, and even fire knife dancing. Each contestant answered their question perfectly leaving the audience and some of the judges with throbbing hearts. This section of the competition showed the serious side of the contestants. Along with all the the things the contestants did right, they also performed amazing walk-ins with creative moves to accompany that song. The judges had a hard time determining a winner because of it.

Although our judges had a rough time scoring the contestants, they were the perfect fit for this competition. Each brought their amazing personalities that showed off the diversity and fun of Laie. They all knew exactly how to have a good time with the event. Some of them cracked jokes, and one of our judges even brought his adorable daughter along with him. They brought a light to the event that we needed! We were very lucky to have them participate in the event.

Although this event was successful in the end, leading up to this event was no walk in the park. We almost got shut down by the president of the school and his counsel, we had to change our name from Mr.BYUH to The Kulanui Competition, change our location from the flag circle to the pavilion, and so much more. It seemed as if someone was out to get us! All of that aside, the event worked out for the better. We had a great turnout, talented contestants, and encouraging fans in the audience.

The success of this event was a sight for sore eyes. After working hard on this event, it was so good to see the audience, the contestants, and the judges having a good time. Like said earlier, when we started this event we never imagined that it would turn into a campus-wide-known event, but we are so glad that it did and hope that this event becomes a fun tradition for the campus for years to come.

As the Kulanui Competition comes to a close, we would like to take the time to thank the people who supported us throughout this event. The faculty of the school, our roommates, the contestants, family, and the students of this university came together to help us through the struggles and successes of the Kulanui Competition.We take great pride in what we all did with this event!

Again, mahalo nui to all of those who made the Kulanui Competition a reality. Our team would not have been able to do it without you.