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Students browse internship and job options at a career fair held at BYU-Idaho on Oct. 19. BYU-Idaho has one of the highest internship participation rates in the nation.

Elder Eyring said, “Those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become legendary for their capacity to build the people around them and to add value wherever they serve.”

Elder David A. Bednar echoed Elder Eyring’s prophesy in the devotional on Oct. 31.

“As long as intellectual modesty, humility, gratitude obedience and frugality continue to characterize those who learn and serve at Brigham Young University-Idaho,” Elder Bednar said, “then this university will shine forth ever brighter as a beacon of righteousness and of inspired educational innovation.”

Since 2000 when Ricks became BYU-I, proof of these predictions has been demonstrated. Not only are students being widely accepted to graduate schools said Fenton Broadhead, dean of Business and Communication, undergrads are also receiving wide recognition.

“What we have to do is continue to produce a good product, a good quality student, and the world recognizes the values and knowledge and skills that we bring, but as much as anything, [the world] recognizes the value of honest and hard working people,” Broadhead said. “It was just a matter of time somewhat, that as we started to put them out there, that [the world] would start to recognize these things they have to offer.”

Kevin Twitchell, a professor for the Computer Science and Engineering Department, said BYU-I graduates are gaining a name for themselves throughout the nation. An Idaho Falls based company, Nitro Security, recently hired four BYU-I graduates. The board of directors wanted more information about its new employees.

“Their comments were, ‘Where did you get these students? Where did you get these graduates from?’” Twitchell said, “It was almost exactly what Elder Eyring had said. They know their stuff, they are very intelligent, they know how to figure things out and this is one of the things that we really concentrate on—teaching our students to learn how to learn.”

Hyrum Conrad, a theater professor has had similar experiences with employers of BYU-I theater graduates.

“People that leave here tend to have a little bit more of a balance in their lives. Yes they are interested in performing, but they are trying to also live the standards of the gospel,” Conrad said. “Because of that [employers] say ‘These people have a great work ethic they are a little more emotionally balanced than what some others tend to be, therefore we trust them, we give them responsibilities over and above what other people might.’”

Conrad said graduates are adding value to wherever they work.

“We just get very positive feedback from people that say they are team builders as well as team players. They don’t have to always lead, but they are capable of doing that,” Conrad said.

BYU-I is currently second only to Harvard in the number of internships students participate in, and Broadhead said internships are one of the causes for the continual success of students.

“Elder Bednar was responsible for the heavy emphasis on internships, and as we’ve started to see that take place and move forward,” Broadhead said, “it has expanded faster then we thought it would. You can see that we’ve had the Lord’s help on that, on the opportunities that have come along.”

Elder Bednar said that students and faculty should be wary of the pride that comes from recognition.

“If the day ever were to come that intellectual arrogance, a lack of appreciation and a spirit of demanding entitlement take root on this campus among the students, the faculty, the employees, the administration or within the community of Rexburg,” he said, “Then in that day the spirit of Ricks will be well on the way to being extinguished. And the heavenly influence and blessing that have prospered this institution and the people associated with it will be withdrawn.”

Faculty members agree it is important to not become arrogant or carefree about the success that BYU-I students have had.

“We have to be careful that we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Broadhead said, “The students have to act, and faculty has to continue to improve on acting and facilitating. We are just warming up, but the world is hungry for that type of graduate.”