Teaches Students to Take the Lead and Put God First
Staff Writer, Kealaka'i, BYU-Hawaii
Kara “Kai” Sanders, BYU-Hawaii freshman in exercise and international cultural studies from Connecticut, was taught by missionaries and baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 15. She is currently one of the several BYU-Hawaii students who volunteer-teaches early-morning seminary.Sanders said she volunteered to teach seminary because “I love the youth of the Church, and I have the ability to teach how to lead and teach the gospel.”
“For the last five years, I have wanted to teach seminary,” she said.
Sanders said she taught ninth-graders last year, and this year—her second year of teaching—there are close to 15 students in the eleventh and twelfth grades in her class.
Sanders said she enjoys “watching [her] students grow in the gospel and to see them awake in [her] class.”
Sanders said she prepares her seminary lessons by reading the introduction in manuals. She added, “I highlight things that are applicable to students in the scriptures, and if there’s anything I don’t understand, I look in the manual.” She also finds activities in the manuals.
Sanders said she has a unique style of teaching: it’s modeled after the full-time missions of the Church.
“There are zones and each zone has its own leader. I also have two assistants to the teacher (AT). Each morning, the zone leader or the AT conducts opening exercises and closing devotional, and they use people in their zones to do that,” she said.
From doing this, Sanders said the students practice how to lead in front of their peers. “I want to see my students succeed in their lives," she said.
Besides teaching and earning her bachelor’s degree, Sanders is also in the process of establishing a massage therapy business and is involved in many volunteer opportunities.
Sanders said she is able to manage her time by “putting God first.” She quoted President Ezra Taft Benson, who said, “When we put God first, all other things fall into their proper place, or drop out of our lives.”
“My family and I come second and everything else comes third,” she added.
When asked where her classes and grades at BYUH rate, Sanders laughed and said they would fall between number two and three.
Sanders added about her seminary class, “I enjoy teaching students in my ward because we get to see each other live the gospel and we become friends.”