Among BYU-Idaho’s 1,808 graduates are students who come from around the world and have non-traditional paths to higher education.
Esther Huang
Esther Huang is an English major who is minoring in TESOL, or Teaching English as a Second Language. After her difficult childhood of abandonment and living in a dangerous area in China, Huang strived for a good education to be able to live the clean life she desired. While going to school in Boston, she wanted something different.
“I was surrounded by a lot of things I didn't like, like the weed smell on the street and the partying; I just really didn’t like it, so I actually Googled ‘schools without weed or alcohol or partying,’ and BYUI was the first on the list, and then I applied, and I just came.”
Although Huang is not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors BYU-Idaho, she says the school has blessed her with peace and an education she has dreamed of.
Porter Abplanalp
Porter Alplanalp is a jail chaplain, has a family of his own and is graduating in Political Science this semester.
“I met policy experts of every kind and got really interested in a lot of these different policies and realized the only way to become an expert in any aspect of the law is to practice that area of the law,” Alplanalp said.
Alplanalp has also discovered the beauty of figuring out his plan while being at BYU-Idaho and will be pursuing law school after graduation.
Marcel Robinson
Marcel Robinson is from Jamaica and is also graduating in Political Science. His education has also been a journey for him, although the biggest part of the journey was the unexpected heart transplant he received while pursuing his degree.
“I got a blessing once, and the feeling was, you'll be fine, eventually, just not right now; it was more of you’ll be fine,” Robinson said.
Rachael Burchfield
Rachael Burchfield is graduating from BYU-Idaho for the second time.
“I was a student many years ago at BYU-Idaho. I chose to come here because it felt like the right place for me,” Burchfield said, “and then got married, moved around. I got a bachelor’s degree back then, but my husband got a job at BYU-Idaho teaching geography, and that moved us back to Rexburg.”
She has studied history and was awarded the best paper by an undergrad at a regional Phi Alpha Theta conference. Phi Alpha Theta is the largest history honor society in the country. She also presented the same paper at the Mormon Historical Society.
She plans to pursue a master's degree in history at Idaho State University.
Congratulations to all the graduates this semester!