My BYU Education
How do you convey a feeling to a logical, secular audience? How do you convey the intangible to those who only know what’s tangible?
Of course, I wouldn’t dare call my audience unfeeling or unknowing of intangible things. All humans are able to comprehend emotions unique to our species. But what do you do when the medium and audience normally don’t discuss this topic.
My education at BYU was amazing. But it was amazing because of these normally unspoken factors that a potential employee would never share with their potential employers.
Yet here we are, and I relish the challenge.
For those of you who don’t know, BYU is a private university located in Provo, UT. Two things that its known for is it’s great ice cream and is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
That ownership comes with some stellar benefits such as subsidized tuition for those who are a member of the church. There are others, but for those who are not members, it would be harder to see and harder still to appreciate. These qualities are what I will try to explain in this post.
One thing I was determined to never do, was to go into debt to graduate from college. I’ve heard so many horror stories, that I never wanted to. This led me to take a couple of jobs so that I was working going to school full time while working part-time (and sometimes full-time.)
If there was one characteristic of all of the various jobs that I had, it was that they saw their employees and their customers as consumable assets. They would use up their employees and then threw them away. I hated it. I worked in a higher position in one company and had my superior ask me how a new employee was panning out. When I told her that the new employee was struggling and wasn’t the best, she looked me in the eyes and said, oh that’s all right, just find a reason to fire him and let him go.
BYU culture can be had for good or for bad. But, unlike my previous job, it has taught me something about belonging and improving. Just as a good company, with a good culture can take your professional careers to higher places. So can a university, built with the same precepts, guidelines, and beliefs build me higher.
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That’s not to say the school is perfect in this regard. Indeed, I would say that I am disappointed that the deeper I get into my professional classes, the less of my faiths precepts and doctrines can you find being talked about there. The reason why I miss this is because it takes what I’m doing professionally and ties it to what I feel emotionally. I would love to have what I do everyday tied into something that I believe in deeply, rather than have it just be a job.
Indeed, the classes the where I have felt this connection, have inspired me to be better, to learn more on my own, and help bring greater insight into my work. Its an invaluable experience to me and has taught me to look for a company that has a culture that I too can jive with. Not religiously, but conceptually and culturally.
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The other joy that can not be expressed normally, is the feeling of what people would call the “Holy Spirit.” Now hear me out before you leave. As members of the church, we believe education is crucial if not imperative to our eternal progression. As such, we desire to have the spirit to be with us, In order to help us learn. This sprit feeds us with questions, insights, epiphanies, and encouragement.
I felt this feeling by just walking onto the campus. But that feeling is great, and I want to seek it more in my work life as it brings my work to better heights.
This concept is by far the hardest to discuss in such a secular manner. The only way I could describe it differently than I have is that it’s a feeling of inspiration. A feeling of being somewhere where It seems like something greater than yourself is giving you answers.
The last, and certainly not least, the point is being around people that believe as you believe. I am no ignorant to normal, everyday interactions. I have lived in England for two years, and have served in many job positions. In all of those jobs, there was always a great moment when I found someone who believes in something as I do. It can be a concept that we both want to be implemented or a love of the same sports team. All of these things are quite wonderful to find.
Likewise, at BYU, it is wonderful to be with other students who believe as I believe. Who want to take their faith and apply it to secular topics. Who want to do as BYU’s slogan suggests, and “Enter to Learn, Go Forth to Serve.”
We’re ready.