Homecoming Everywhere đź’™
By Study and By Faith | October 8-12 BYU Homecoming

Homecoming Is Here

This year’s theme (above) echoes BYU President C. Shane Reese’s “Becoming BYU” vision and initiatives, embracing the university’s “double heritage,” where academic excellence and spiritual growth go hand in hand. Events this week range from Wednesday’s free men’s basketball blue vs. white game to Thursday’s Alumni Achievement Award recipient lectures, women’s volleyball vs. Baylor, and a BRAVO! event with double bassist Dominik Wagner. On Friday, there is free admission and fireworks at BYU softball and baseball games. Finally, Saturday brings the Cougar Run 5K, the BYU football game vs. Arizona, and women’s volleyball against TCU. Review the full schedule of events at homecoming.byu.edu.

BYU Alumni Homecoming from Home with blue houses, balloons, and banners

Homecoming in Your Own Cougar Cave

Not in Provo this week? No worries—you can rise and shout right where you are. Celebrate now by participating with your family and friends in BYU’s Homecoming from Home activities, including hosting a football game watch party, making BYU mint brownies, or taking a BYU trivia quiz. Get details and join the fun.

BYU | For the benefit of the world | See how BYU partners with local communities at football tailgates
In a hospital kidney donor Krissy Miller and recipient Shiller Joseph form a heart with their hands

KidneY Mountain

BYU alumna Krissy Miller, a 49-year-old mother of four from Provo, felt a strong connection with Shiller Joseph when they crossed paths on the Y Mountain Trail back in fall 2023. As they hiked together Miller asked the Florida pastor, “What do you like about Utah?” Shiller responded that he had needed a kidney and moving to Utah allowed him to move up on the transplant list. Right there on the trail, Miller offered to give him one of her kidneys. Learn more about her unselfish act of service.

The word and font Futura in white on a black background

Font Finding

Over the past 97 years, the font Futura and its knockoffs have appeared in campaign materials, fashion magazines, and Volkswagen ads. Futura has even gone to the moon on a NASA placard. BYU design professor and type historian Doug Thomas literally wrote the book on Futura. “I’ve loved typography from a very young age,” he says. “Some of my earliest memories are getting to type documents on my parents’ early computers and enjoying the thrill of changing the fonts.” Join Thomas on a font-finding safari in downtown Salt Lake City.

BYU Online High School | spring 2025 semester enrollment now open! | highschool.byu.edu

Helping Her People Breathe

Since moving from Nepal to the United States at age 8, Sabina Magar always wanted to return to her home country. When she learned about BYU’s Nepal Global Health international-study program that researches the air quality near brick kilns, she saw it as the perfect opportunity. In this episode of the Y Magazine podcast, Magar shares her experience of returning to Nepal, while BYU public-health professor Steven Thygerson talks about starting the study program that got her there. This episode is based on the article “Life and Breath” in the spring 2024 issue of Y Magazine.

Four students holding signs that say 3000 and the words Let's Go Big

Be a Big Giver on Cougsday

It’s time to rise and shout for BYU football, homecoming events, Cosmo’s antics—and Giving Cougsday! On Oct. 15–16, it’s your chance to join in and make a gift of any size. You decide where your dollars go; whether it is inspiring learning, athletics, alumni chapter scholarships, or investing in a specific college. All Giving Cougsday donations directly support students. Remember, it’s participation that matters; every gift gets us closer to this year’s 3,000-donor goal. Go Cougs!

You can teach in China | Singles and couples mid-career through retirement | Click for more information | BYU Kennedy Center China Teachers Program

Gold STARS for BYU

BYU has earned a STARS gold rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) for its comprehensive sustainability efforts across academics, engagement, operations, and planning. Find out what it takes to get a gold rating.

Winning Without the Gamble

The assignment: create an ad campaign supporting pro-sports-betting legislation. Faced with a task that did not align with their personal values, BYU ad-strategy students Shelby Moore and Abby Jensen asked the Washington Media Scholars Foundation for an alternative option. The generous competition organizers provided an additional option for all competitors—a case supporting anti-sports-betting legislation. Roughly half of the students chose the alternative option. In the end Moore and Jensen took first place in the annual competition.

A BYU football player all in white runs with the ball, a Baylor defender in pursuit

A Cut Above

BYU football is undefeated (5-0) this season, including the last game against Baylor—BYU’s first-ever Big 12 road victory. Watch this cinematic recap of behind-the-scenes antics and on-field action as BYU held on to win an exciting contest in Waco, Texas. Up next is Homecoming: No. 14 BYU vs. Arizona, Saturday at 2 p.m. MT on FOX.

Find a mentor | Be a mentor | BYU Connect | Click to connect
BYU mascot Cosmo lifts a heavy flaming barbell

Old Cat, New Tricks

Just when you think Cosmo has done every possible stunt, he pulls out a new one—and sets it on fire! Not long after pushing through an on-stage dance routine with Living Legends, BYU’s 70-year-old mascot took to the football field to perform a hot new take on backflips.

The cover image for the BYU SIngers' recent performance of Amarraditos features a well-dressed couple walking down a city street

Clapping in Cork

Enjoy this lively new arrangement of “Amarraditos” by Ernesto Herrera from the BYU Singers’ recent tour to Cork, Ireland, where they took first place at the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition. You can also read the choir’s tour blog for more details about the tour and festival.