2. In April, at age 84, Pope John Paul II died in his apartment in the Vatican after weeks of deteriorating health. He served as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church for 26 years. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected to succeed him, becoming Pope Benedict XVI.

3. Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi coast in August, devastating the city of New Orleans and nearby areas. Katrina, one of four major hurricanes to hit land in the United States, was one of the most expensive tropical storm in history. In September, Hurricane Rita followed a track similar to Katrina through the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall a little further west at the Texas-Louisiana border. After lingering off the edge of the Yucatan Peninsula, Hurricane Wilma sped across Florida in October, also causing significant damage as a Category 3 storm.

4. In June, President Gordon B. Hinckley announced that Dr. Kim B. Clark, who at the time was serving as the dean of the Harvard Business School, would be named the new president of BYU-Idaho. President Clark replaced Robert M. Wilkes, who served for seven months as interim president after Elder David A. Bednar was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Bednar served as BYU-I president for seven years.

5. In July, Sandra Day O’Connor announced she would retire as a justice in the U.S. Supreme Court. Shortly after, President Bush nominated John Roberts as her replacement. When Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died in September, President Bush moved Roberts in as his pick for chief justice. Congress approved the nomination and Roberts was sworn in as the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court on Sept. 29. President Bush then nominated Harriet Miers as O’Connor’s replacement, but she later had him withdraw that nomination. President Bush then nominated Samuel Alito, whose confirmation hearings just began.

6. On July 30, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints authorities held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Rexburg Idaho Temple at the corner of 2nd East and 7th South in Rexburg. Elder John H. Groberg of the First Quorum of the Seventy presided at the ceremony that officially began the construction of the temple. Church officials announced in December 2003 that a temple would be built in Rexburg.

7. In October, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake hit the Kashmir region of northern Pakistan, near the Indian border. The earthquake killed more than 73,000 people, as landslides and cold temperature hampered relief efforts in the mountainous region.

8. Also in October, the BYU-Idaho campus received a remarkable number of distinguished guests who came to attend President Clark’s inauguration. President Hinckley presided at the ceremony, accompanied by both counselors in the First Presidency. Four members of the Quorum of the Twelve attended the proceedings, including former BYU-I presidents Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Henry B. Eyring. Several other general authorities of the Church were present. Harvard University President Lawrence Summers attended and spoke at the inauguration ceremony.

9. For more than two weeks, beginning in October and stretching into mid-November, widespread riots rocked French cities on a nightly basis. The riots reportedly stemmed from the mistreatment of immigrants by native-born French citizens. The riots began on Oct. 27 in response to the accidental death of two immigrant youth who were allegedly hiding from police, according to www.npr.org.

10. In December, the Clarke Testing Center opened just in time for finals. The opening was well attended by students, many of whom waited two or three hours in line for the opportunity. The center was moved to the John L. Clarke Building from the David O. McKay Library basement as part of a remodeling project in the Clarke Building.