We had a huge family reunion in Idaho this past week, so dh decided to take advantage of the situation and scheduled a tour of BYU-Idaho before the reunion, at 11 AM on Friday. It’s part of inspiring our children to reach for higher education. He has fond memories of his parents taking him and his siblings to tour BYU Provo when he was young.This makes me pause and wonder about the whole idea of vision. Often times, we do things because we see other people do them. It’s been my experience that most children who go to college go because they have seen that their parents have gone. In this case, my husband saw his parents take him to a college campus to inspire him so now he is repeating the vision. In so many things in life we do things or see that things are possible only because someone gives the vision to us.

We left at 7:17 Friday morning, thinking we would easily make it from our home northern Utah. But when we hit Perry, he realized he had left the checkbook for the reunion funds at home (he is the treasurer). So we had to go back and get it, even though I suggested he just mail the checks to people after we got home. By the time we left for the second time, it was 8:30. Layton to Rexburg in 2 hours and 40 minutes. Wow, I didn’t realize we lived that close to Rexburg. Can anyone say, “speedster”? We got there at ten after 11 AM and had to catch the next tour at noon. Dh was really bummed. I am grateful we didn’t get a ticket.

I am impressed with the campus. It looks like BYU, just newer (it seemed like all of the buildings had been remodeled) and smaller. Some of the buildings had the same bricks that BYU has. There must be some brick factory that makes bricks that only BYU Provo and Idaho are allowed to use. I have never seen them anywhere else. You know, those tan golden bricks of the Wilkinson Center and the many other buildings there?

BYU Idaho has a new auditorium called the BYU Idaho Center that looks like a mini-Conference Center. It seats 21,000 people. Wow! I didn’t even know there are that many people in Rexburg.

I absolutely loved the Thomas Ricks Horticultural Gardens in the center of campus. They are gorgeous! That’s something BYU Provo doesn’t have. I loved that the gardens had some pretty wrought iron picnic tables and chairs, and a little cabin front that with swings that invited people to sit and just be happy in the moment. We had a picnic in the gardens and it felt good to relax after speeding our way there.

It looks like Hawaii, but this is in the center of Idaho, at BYU-Idaho. Who would have thought Idaho could look so beautiful?

I am really excited about BYU Idaho. I like that the college has a learning model based on the principle in the scriptures that we are all learners and teachers, and that the teacher is no better than the learner. Dare I say that the whole place has a humbler feel than at BYU Provo? I graduated from BYU Provo. I like the place, but it is so huge that sometimes I’ve wondered if I would have had a better experience at a smaller university. I was always afraid to say anything in class.

Here’s what the BYU Idaho web site says about the model: (from http://www.byui.edu/about/defining-aspects/learning-model)

It’s one of the classic images of higher education: a lecture hall full of students listening passively while a professor discourses on the subject at hand. This kind of disconnected, one-way interaction is not what you’ll find in a BYU-Idaho classroom. At this university, learning is defined by active engagement. Students are urged to take charge of their education and be fully involved in their own learning.

This approach, called the Learning Model, is based on three key steps: Prepare, Teach One Another, and Ponder and Prove. Students come to each class prepared to learn by studying assigned readings, completing required homework, and participating in online discussions and pre-class study groups. Through instructor-led discussions in class, students teach each other what they’ve learned–honing and refining their own understanding in the process. Later, students internalize their learning through review, reflection, and application. 

You can watch the learning model here http://www2.byui.edu/LearningModel/src/default.htm

I hope any or all of my kids go there. I could feel the Spirit at this peaceful place.  I really enjoyed this talk given at BYU-Idaho a few years ago by Clayton Christensen, an LDS Harvard professor. President Monson mentioned Brother Christensen in General Conference a time ago, about how he was on a college basketball team and chose not to play on Sunday. In his address to BYU Idaho, Brother Christensen tells of why religion is important to the foundation of any free society. Watch it here. It is very profound!

I love all the Carl Bloch paintings of the Savior in the BYU-Idaho Center.