REXBURG — Any university is made up of students and professors, but not many students return to become professors. Chase Rockwood, a religion professor at BYU-Idaho, is one of the select few.
Rockwood was recently hired by the Department of Religion over the summer. As a freshman, Rockwood did not plan to major in religious education, but one of his religion professors, Roy Huff, changed the course of his education.
“After a class one day, he pulled me aside and asked if I had ever considered religious education,” Rockwood said. “Again, at that point, I hadn't really known much about it. And I was like, ‘Not really.’ And he's like, ‘Well, I think you should look into it.’”
Look into it he did. He ended up changing his major. Following his graduation, Rockwood worked as a seminary teacher for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Idaho Falls for 10 years. The entire time though, he always wanted to return to Rexburg and BYU-Idaho.
“I had such an incredible experience here, and like I mentioned, I was so influenced by my professors that I wanted to have that opportunity at some point in my life,” Rockwood said. “The application process when it was sent out said you had to have ten years of seminary teaching experience. And so, I thought, well, as soon as I hit ten years, I'm just going to apply as often as I can to get back.”
This time around, he was hired. Other than influencing students in the classroom, another area of focus for Rockwood has been freshman retention.
“The freshman retention rate is pretty low, that freshmen, after their first or second semesters, a lot of times will go home and sometimes not come back,” Rockwood said. “It's so sad to think that people are cutting their experience short based on maybe a couple of rough months. I would say, don't give up. Keep going. There's too much that the Savior has in store for you here to cut that short.”
Rockwood says faith questions and struggles are two reasons why students may not come back to the university. He says Satan loves to have it that way, and he is good at it. No matter how alone you may feel in your struggle, Rockwood says people all over campus are here to help.
“If you have faith questions or struggles, this is the best place for you to be,” Rockwood said. “Those doubts and those fears are real, and they matter, and it's a part of your faith journey. And so rather than diminish it or make you feel ostracized because of it, bring those questions, bring those wrestles and let's see how the Lord can help you.”
Although he has not been a BYU-Idaho professor for long, Rockwood says this is his dream job.
“I just think, ‘This is my job? This is what I get to do for a living. This is how I provide for my family?’” Rockwood said. “I feel just humbled and blessed to have such an experience.”
This interview is part of the BYU-Idaho Disciple Journeys Podcast.