BYU-Idaho's student employment program prepares students for successful future careers.
One of the most touching things we can learn about the Savior is in three words in the Book of Mormon: “one by one.” Although the most well-recognized story involving this phrase is in 3 Nephi 11, my personal favorite is in the book of Ether.
In the Book of Mormon, the book of Ether follows the story of a family that comes from the Tower of Babel story. For as long as I can remember, I have loved this story. It starts as the family begs the Lord not to confound their language and instead lead them to a promised land. The Lord agrees and guides this family through their high and low points as they turn their hearts to Him and learn to trust Him.
After I had returned home from my mission, I felt a similar way. The shock of not having a meticulously planned daily schedule and, in fact, no routine at all was difficult to cope with. I had high points and low points as I struggled to understand what God had in store for me.
In the scriptures, the Brother of Jared follows the Lord’s instructions, and he and his family build barges to help them get to the promised land. In the process of building, the Brother of Jared realizes that among other problems, the barges will have no light in them. When he prayed and asked the Lord about this problem, the Lord responded, “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?”[1]
The Brother of Jared needed light, so he set to work. He started melting rock to make stones,[2] and when he approached the Lord with his solution in Ether 3, he was carrying an arm full of rocks and an idea.[3]
The scriptures tell us that the Brother of Jared said, “Touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness.”[4] And in response, “Behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger . . . And thus the Lord caused [each of the] stones to shine in darkness.”[5]
In many ways, this is what happened to me. I felt lost, like a compass without a needle, praying and questioning whether I was missing important directions. I needed light, so I set to work. I got a new job and started filling out college applications. I reviewed all my options and said to the Lord, “Okay, I’m going to try BYU-Idaho.”
"Coming to BYU-Idaho helped me shine in the midst of the darkness."
Many times in my life, I have felt like a pile of rocks—especially when I first moved to Rexburg with strangers for roommates and the looming prospect of a new school ahead of me. However, coming to BYU-Idaho helped me shine in the midst of that darkness. When I felt the touch of Christ light up my life at BYUI, suddenly vast oceans seemed manageable to cross.
But how did I find this light? I was studying the BYU-Idaho student job board one day when I found a listing with my name written all over it. The beautiful word “editor” shined up at me from my screen. I applied, and by the end of the week, I had the position.
This job changed everything. To say the least, this has been one of my favorite career experiences.
I have never had a job light up my life as much as this one has and for good reason. The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) wrote, “Institutions can use their on-campus student employment program to provide students with meaningful learning and engagement opportunities that can help with retention and build career-readiness skills.”[6]In my experience, BYU-Idaho has uniquely and expertly embraced this model of reaching students.
Much like the Savior lighted the Brother of Jared’s stones one by one, this university has an incredible student employment program to help students reach their potential one by one. BYU-Idaho students have opportunities to work in an environment that is dedicated to helping them reach their unique career goals, from HR to theatre.
Jason Pannell, a manager on campus, said his student team focuses on finding “the one” during each shift[7]—referring to Jesus’ ninety-and-nine sheep parable[8]—which fosters a work atmosphere that cares about the individual just as Jesus does. This approach lights up students as they learn important career-readiness skills and practice them.
To learn more about this program at BYU-Idaho, I talked to the HR Student Employment Coordinator Brecca Ponce. As we talked, I discovered that Brecca was a student employee herself before she worked in BYUI administration. She told me that she can connect with her student team on a personal level through the perspective she gained when she was a student employee.[9]
Brecca shared with me how BYU-Idaho invests in the success of its students by being involved in helping the managers of these student teams. Following the one-by-one approach of the Savior, managers on campus are encouraged to hold one-on-one meetings with their students, not just for performance reviews but to make connections.
Knowing that students can sometimes feel like dark barges on a wild sea,[10] BYUI offers students real-world opportunities and normal career workloads within an accommodating and educational environment. Brecca explained that BYU-Idaho hopes “everyone is getting an experience that's preparing them not just to get through college and provide financially but to prepare them for their future.”[11] It is designed much like the Lord’s plan for the Jaredites: to guide students through furious winds toward the promised land.[12]
"Student employees all across campus are lighting up at the Christlike touch of BYUI."
Abbie, another graduate of BYU-Idaho, now works as the Human Resource Specialist for Frozen Desert Supplies in Rexburg. As a student, last-minute changes in scheduling created some difficult problems during one of her shifts. Her manager helped her to find her own solution to the problem and taught her that “as a professional, you need to be okay with things being out of your control and working to find what you can to make the best out of a situation.”[13] She told me how that knowledge radiated into her current career. “Every conversation I have at work now I can take back to skills I've learned in classes and on campus working with the team.”[14]
Abbie’s manager knew, like all student employee managers on the BYU-Idaho campus know, that Elder Bednar was right when he said, “We have an ever increasing responsibility to use the resources of this great campus to assist in the building of the kingdom of God in all of the world.”[15] The managers on the BYU-Idaho campus help their students light up and continue to share that light with others throughout the world as they pursue their careers.
President James E. Faust said, “You can tell one who has come into the light by his or her countenance and attitude.”[16] This countenance of light shines across campus in a very real way. In his spring 2024 commencement address, President Alvin F. Meredith III said to graduates, “While at BYU-Idaho, your light as a disciple of Jesus Christ has become brighter. You now venture beyond this special place with a duty to build, lift, and inspire those around you. You will be a light to the world. You can go forward with the assurance that the Lord will be with you, for He is the Light of the world.”[17]
Each of those carefully made stones shone in the darkness when the Lord touched them. One by one, He lit up the lives of the Jaredites. One by one, BYU-Idaho is preparing students “that they may shine forth in darkness” and long into their futures. Each student at BYU-Idaho has a bright future, and this school is invested in helping them pursue it. Student employees all across campus are lighting up at the Christlike touch of BYUI. I am grateful to be a part of this student-focused campus that brightens the future of me and my classmates, one by one.
Notes
[1] See Ether 2:23-25.
[2] See Ether 3:1.
[3] See Ether 3:1; 4.
[4] Ether 3:4.
[5] Ether 3:6; Ether 6:3.
[6] Omari Burnside et al., A Comprehensive Examination Of On-Campus Student Employment Employing Student Success (National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), Inc., 2019).
[7] Jason Pannell (Recreation Services Supervisor) in a discussion with the author, June 2024.
[8] See Luke 15:4.
[9] Brecca Ponce (BYU-Idaho Human Resources–Student Employment Coordinator) in discussion with the author, June 2024.
[10] See Ether 6:6.
[11] Brecca Ponce (BYU-Idaho Human Resources–Student Employment Coordinator) in discussion with the author, June 2024.
[12] See Ether 6:5.
[13] Abbie Cook (Human Resource Specialist for Frozen Dessert Supplies) in discussion with the author, June 2024.
[14] Abbie Cook (Human Resource Specialist for Frozen Dessert Supplies) in discussion with the author, June 2024.
[15] David A. Bednar, “Inaugural Response From President David A. Bednar,” BYU-Idaho Foundational Addresses, February 27, 1998.
[16] James E. Faust, “Put Light in Your Life,” Liahona, June 2007, 17.
[17] Alvin F. Meredith III, “Go Forth and Light the World,” BYU-Idaho Speeches, July 25, 2024.
[18] Ether 3:4.