Dear graduates, Sister Gilbert and I are so grateful to be with you at your commencement. BYU-Idaho is a special place—a place I believe you were brought to by the hand of the Lord.
Part of the Lord bringing you here is tied to who you have become. President Henry B. Eyring saw this day. He knew that during your time at BYU-Idaho you would study how to teach and how to learn. He saw in you future graduates the ability to become natural leaders because of your capacity to build people around you and add value wherever you serve. Somewhere across the Church today there is a bishop who has no idea that two BYU-Idaho graduates are about to show up in his ward. You won’t need to be the Young Women president or the elders quorum president to have the impact President Eyring saw. You will simply need to apply what you have learned here at BYU-Idaho in how to teach and be taught by others. That is the natural leadership President Eyring spoke of.[1] I promise you that you will have opportunities to realize that prophetic vision in your own lives.
It is especially meaningful today to join with Elder and Sister Bednar and President and Sister Eyring. Like you, I believe both of these couples were brought here by the hand of the Lord. Elder and Sister Bednar presided over this university during its transition to BYU-Idaho. Elder Bednar initially worried that the decision to become a university would bring the trappings of academia that might threaten the “Spirit of Ricks” and what made this place so special. But in the announcement of BYU-Idaho’s creation it was clear that this institution’s design would remain student focused.[2] President Gordon B. Hinckley boldly clarified, “Adjustments to its mission will be minimal. The school will have a unique role and be distinctive from other institutions of higher education within the Church Educational System . . . BYU-Idaho will continue to be teaching oriented. Effective teaching and advising will be the primary responsibilities of its faculty, who are committed to academic excellence.”[3] President Hinckley knew the heart of this faculty and that they would come here because they wanted to keep their professional and personal focus on students. As President Bednar stated:
“The hallmark of this institution is readily apparent when visitors come to our campus and say, ‘I can’t believe how student-focused the faculty are, the staff are, all of the employees are.’ . . . Here at BYU-Idaho, the students are and always will be the focus of everything we do.”[4] A teaching-focused faculty isn’t the only characteristic that persisted as part of BYU-Idaho. The school’s mission remains focused on developing disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities. Moreover, President Henry B. Eyring taught that “the school is to be a place of educational innovation—permanently.”[5] BYU-Idaho continues to “rethink education,” with its faculty model, the three-track enrollment system, cohort-based online learning, peer-mentoring, a unique partnership with BYU-Pathway, and the focus on the first-year experience. Remarkably, the university community does all of this in a spirit of frugality, a longing for prophetic direction, and a spirit of sacrifice.[6]
Preserving the school’s unique mission was critical during the transition to BYU-Idaho. It remains paramount today. President and Sister Eyring were brought to BYU-Idaho by the hand of the Lord with a particular sense of the university’s mission and destiny. They have been the remarkable guardians of that mission. I know of no two people who more deeply understand and have taught the unique purposes of this university than President Henry J. Eyring and his wife Sister Kelly Eyring. Prepared long before their appointment here, the Eyring’s have preserved this special and sacred place. For that consecrated stewardship, they will forever have the gratitude of students, alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as the Church’s leadership.
In 2 Nephi 1:6, we are taught that “there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.” I believe that statement is true of BYU-Idaho and all those who come here. I believe it was true for President and Sister Eyring. I believe it was true for Elder and Sister Bednar. I know it was true for me and Sister Gilbert. I hope you will find it to have been true for each of you. The Lord brought you here for a purpose and now you have the opportunity to bless those you will serve across the Church. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] See discussion of natural leaders in Henry B. Eyring, “A Steady Upward Course,” BYU-Idaho Devotional, June 9, 2009, https://www.byui.edu/speeches/a-steady-upward-course.
[2] See principles of BYU-Idaho’s student-focused by design message in “Student-Focused by Design,” BYU-Idaho, https://www.byui.edu/about/student-focused-by-design.
[3] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Announcement: Ricks College to Become BYU–Idaho,” BYU-Idaho Foundational Addresses, June 21, 2000, https://www.byui.edu/speeches/announcement-ricks-college-to-become-byu-idaho.
[4] David A. Bednar, Untitled Address, Brigham Young University-Idaho Faculty Meeting, Aug. 27, 2002, https://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/MiscellaneousAddresses/2002_08_27_Bednar.htm.
[5] Henry B. Eyring, “A Steady Upward Course.”
[6] Clark G. Gilbert, “Inaugural Response,” BYU-Idaho Foundational Addresses, Sept. 15, 2015, https://www.byui.edu/speeches/inaugural-response-clark-g-gilbert.