I am deeply grateful for the experience that I’ve been able to have here at Brigham Young University-Idaho. The norms that we are encouraged to follow known as the honor code as constantly blessed my life as I uphold it. I feel sad sometimes that students have accepted to abide by the honor code, but get upset when they have to live by it. There are things in our life that we can either look at as a blessing or a trial. That is how I feel about the honor code. If we strive to live it and understand it, then we will be able to see how it is a blessing in our lives and for our good. When I have done certain things to not live by these norms, then I find myself struggling to be guided by the Spirit and feel its influence in my life.
I am also grateful for the teachers here at this university. I know that these are wise people that have taken considerable losses in income to teach here when they could be at a non-CES university and get paid more. I spoke with an architecture professor that was a well-known architect and had a sizable income, but he was invited to visit the school and apply for a job here at BYU-Idaho. This teacher prayed about it and decided to come here even though he would be making about half of what he did as an architect. He did this because he was guided by the Spirit to come here. I am thankful that the teachers are so in tune with the Spirit and include doctrinal teachings in subjects that seem non-doctrinal based. They allow for us to grow in spirit and knowledge.