College



Wilson Hall- JMU image from hushmathalam.com



I loved college. I had lots of friends and a great job. Many LDS kids decide to go to Brigham Young University. I went to BYU for a tour. They put us in a golf cart and drove around and then took us to the top of the Kimball Tower to point things out. The campus is VERY big and there are LOTS of students.  When I got into the golf cart I thought maybe this isn’t the place for me. Then when we had to go to the top of a building to see everything, I was convinced.  

I’m from Virginia and going so far from home was scary and to know that it was such a big place was too much. I chose to go to James Madison University. I loved JMU. It was smaller, closer to home and I had a friend going.  



I was able to get a job at the dining hall. I did lots of different things there. I helps serve food, make food, bring frozen things up from the basement, and clean the building (I only did that once). It was a great place to work with lots of flexibility and I could work a lot or a little depending on what was going on that week.



I was close enough that I could go home to see my family whenever I wanted. That happened less and less as the years went on. I also had great jobs in Virginia and the bosses wanted me to work when I was in town.  I was very lucky to have such an easy time in college.



Utah Valley University image from hubpages.com



Jake wasn’t quite so lucky. Jake struggled in school and was scared that college was too hard.  He tried several community colleges in Arizona and was able to make some progress but it was slow going.

When he moved to Utah he tried Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University).  There were some false starts and it was slow going at first but he was able to make progress and once we got married the progress really picked up and he graduated! There was a time when he said If I graduate and now he talks about going back to school for a masters degree!