The light of the Y is shining on Provo this week as BYU alumni and students are celebrating Homecoming 2022. Get ready for a spirited week of activities on campus, including the hike to light the Y on Tuesday, noonday activities on Wednesday, Alumni Achievement Award lectures on Thursday, baseball and softball games and a free fan jam—music, dancing, photo booths—in the stadium parking lot on Friday, and, of course, the BYU-Arkansas football game on Saturday.

Living Legends, one of BYU’s top performing groups for more than 50 years, helped kick off Homecoming Week in today’s opening ceremony. Watch this new behind-the-stories video to see how director Jamie Kalama Wood works to keep Living Legends’ cultural traditions alive while bringing a fresh perspective to the show with the help of multicultural students.

Not in Provo? You can still celebrate BYU Homecoming from afar with one or more of these fun ideas: 1. Test how blue you bleed with this trivia game. 2. You don’t have to be in Provo to “hike the Y.” Just walk the same distance as the Y trail (2.2 miles) with your family and send BYU Alumni an email or DM on social media to get “I Hiked the Y” stickers in the mail. (If you are in Utah County, you can swing by the Hinckley Center during Homecoming to get your stickers.) 3. Treat yourself to a BYU mint brownie using this recipe and step-by-step video from Cosmo. 4. Learn a Cosmo TikTok dance with your family or sing the Cougar Song. Send in a photo or video, and you could be featured on BYU Alumni’s Facebook or Instagram.

When should we conform and when should we hold tight to our convictions? English grad student Isaac Richards comes to grips with this question in his contest-winning essay, which honors BYU founder James E. Talmage, a Brigham Young Academy alumnus and professor, past member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and a powerful influence for good in the BYU community and around the world.

From medical devices to a folding bullet-proof shield to a solar array designed for NASA, BYU mechanical engineers are using origami as inspiration for innovative new designs. To date, BYU’s Compliant Mechanisms Research Group has patents (or patents pending) on 77 new products inspired by origami.

BYU football’s custom helmets for the Homecoming game against Arkansas on Saturday will display a roaring cougar on one side and a Y logo and a mountain on the other. See photos of the new helmets and uniforms on Twitter and read the details and commentary in this Deseret News article. In addition, here is everything related to the game leading up to kickoff, including broadcast plans, news, and game notes.

When facing challenges we may be tempted to pray away our problems or question Heavenly Father’s plan for us. But we can find hope in these soul-stretching moments. Watch a new inspiring short from Elder Neal A. Maxwell’s 1974 talk “But for a Small Moment” to better understand how God, because He loves us, delivers customized challenges that help us grow and progress.

BYU professor and nuclear-engineering expert Matthew Memmott and his colleagues have designed a new system for nuclear-energy production: a molten-salt micro-nuclear reactor that may solve meltdown risks. “For the last 60 years, people have had the gut reaction that nuclear is bad, it’s big, it’s dangerous,” Memmott says. “We can have smaller, safer, cheaper reactors and get rid of those problems.”

This short-but-sweet look at what it takes to serve up 8,500 of BYU’s 15-inch fan-favorite treats on game day has racked up more than 770,000 views on Instagram. But will the annual cry for chocolate glaze be granted at Saturday’s Homecoming game? Follow Y Magazine for that Cougar Tail update and to stay connected to all things BYU.

You’ve likely marveled at the detail of the virtual campus model created by BYU civil engineers, but have you seen the clean architectural imaginings of these LEGO brick builders? See how dozens of BYU engineering students met the challenge of designing LEGO models of beloved BYU buildings. Don’t worry, the BYU Testing Center was intentionally excluded.