Two years after the Laie Hawaii Temple was dedicated, Elder David O. McKay, a member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, set Laie's educational milestone in place when he visited the small town during a worldwide tour of LDS missions. While here on February 7, 1921, he observed the multiethnic children in the mission school raising the U.S. flag., and recorded the following in his journal:
As I looked at that motley group of youngsters, and realized how far apart their parents are in hopes, aspirations, and ideals, and then thought of these boys and girls, the first generation of their children...my bosom swelled with emotion and tears came to my eyes, and I felt like bowing in prayer and thanksgiving.... When I realize that these same boys and girls have the opportunity of participating in all the blessings of the Gospel...I feel to praise His name for the glorious privileges vouchsafed to this generation. We held short services in the schoolroom in which all — American, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino — participated as though they had belonged to one nation, one country, one tongue.
The next day, while on Maui, Elder McKay re-emphasized his feelings to his companions and told them he was impressed that a college should some day be built in Laie for the benefit of the young people. Today, the flag-raising scene President McKay witnessed in 1921 is reproduced in a spectacular mosaic mural above the main entrance to the BYU-Hawaii McKay Building.
