REXBURG—Nearly 20 years since graduating from BYU-Idaho, Kirk and Gretchen Cheney marvel at how campus and Rexburg have changed. From businesses to temples, the good things they remember have just expanded.
“The transformation that it's undergone is pretty incredible,” Kirk said, “and it's obvious that the vision that was had is being realized.”
The Cheneys met and married while at BYU-Idaho, graduating in 2006. They have seven children. Kirk now works as a general counsel attorney for Pennant Services, Inc., and Gretchen is a stay-at-home mother who also teaches parenting classes, she also recently started a podcast called “Righteous Intentional Parenting.”
“I feel like there's a special spirit on campus, and I feel it every time I'm here,” Gretchen said. “So, I have lots of good memories and I'm just impressed with everything that they're doing with the university.”
After studying business at BYU-Idaho, Kirk attended Yale Law School to become a lawyer. He feels he stood out as a student because of his time at BYU-Idaho.
“You have all the tools at your disposal, plus you have the benefits of the gospel and the blessings that you get from God. So, everything is open to you,” Kirk said. “So, I just think, everything is possible from BYU-Idaho and that’s been my experience.”
He found that in a highly competitive place like Yale, self-doubts could arise. Despite these hurdles Kirk remembered the words and promises shared by President Henry B. Eyring in his 2001 devotional “A steady upward course.”
“BYU-Idaho students will actually stand out as exceptionally high contributors and exceptionally strong members of companies and communities because of who they are,” Kirk said. “And so, that has seemed to be true for me. I have felt like I've been blessed and that the BYU-Idaho platform helped me prepare to do a lot of things that I've done.”
Both Kirk and Gretchen expressed the importance of being positive and finding joy in the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome self-doubt.
Gretchen appreciated starting classes with prayer and devotionals, as well as being surrounded by students and teachers who want to help them grow. That foundation helped her as she moved to other states.
“Then, as we left, and went to Connecticut and went to other places where it was a little harder, I felt strong and confident in who I was and in what I believed because of the foundation I gained here,” she said.