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Alumni Stories

Memories from Alumni
Advice for Students
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Dr. Ken Rodham taught me that being great at what you do professionally isn't about making lots of money, it's about serving others. Dr. Randall Shirts gave me many opportunities to apply what I was learning and I will always be grateful for that.
-Derek Manwaring

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I'm really grateful for my education at BYU. My major classes were very, very relevant. My GE classes help me appreciate so much more than just my own field. Some of them come up ALL the time (writing classes!) so I'm glad I spent the time really trying in those classes.

Really grateful to the Astronomy department professors. They gave me so many chances to learn outside of the class. It helped me feel more like an emerging Astronomer, not just an Astronomy student.

Most of all, I'm grateful for all of the devotional speakers and religion professors and any faculty that taught the truth of God. I'm really grateful to Dr Avram Shannon for teaching me about the cause of Zion. I'm grateful to Dr. Eric Huntsman for helping me learn the value of proper exegesis to my personal study of the scriptures. I'm grateful to Dr. Stephen Taeger for believing in me as a young Freshman. I'm grateful to Dr. Jason Carroll for helping me prepare for marriage.
-Jacob Jensen

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Dr. Keith Rigby taught me to observe everything I see (beginning with outcrops), to ask questions, and to think critically, valuable skills that are universally applicable in every aspect of life. I will always appreciate him and my BYU experience for that.
-Lee Peterson

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Traci Nielsen, Kent Gee, Scott Sommerfeldt, and Tim Leishman built an acoustics program that packed a punch! I learned so much from each of them! At our research group meetings, we used to do a dB duel activity... would love a rematch!
-Sameul Hord

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I frequently tell people that I think everyone should get a physics degree. It is hard to point to a single specific thing I learned that is most useful to me, but a physics degree at BYU provided me with a way of thinking about problems from a fundamental perspective that I find very helpful in addressing engineering challenges.
-Kellen Giraud

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I graduated from BYU in 1972 and learned how to learn in many different ways, which helped in medical school immensely. BYU helped me to be able to discern truth from error, either immediately or in time.
-David E. Smalley

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I was a member of the first graduating class in Computer Science at BYU in 1970. At the time we were part of the General College. The amazing things I learned at BYU were a big help in allowing me to work for and advance the technology at the US House of Representatives, the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Department of the Treasury, Geneva Steel, and Dynix Library Systems. Some mentors were Dr. Gary Carlson, and Willard Gardner.
-Noah "Mike" St. Clair

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My mentor was Dr. Tolley in the Statistics Dept. He graciously let me be a research assistant for him for a couple of years.
-Kerry Weinheimer

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Some of my favorites mentors at BYU were Professor Snow for calculus, Professor Gil for number theory, and Professor Yarn for a couple of classes. These professors took the time to explain and help the understand the material at hand. I minored in economics, and in my senior year, Nobel laureate Gary Becker came to campus to teach a seminar on his book Human Capital. I had come early to get a good seat, and a couple of students were complaining that they did not understand the mathematics that Becker was presenting. So, I joined them and started putting some of the equations and graphs on the blackboard and began explaining their meaning. Unbeknownst to me, Econ Professor Kearl had come in, and after a few minutes said, "I'm glad somebody gets it."
-Robyn Jensen

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The women in CPMS group meant so much to me. Every one of those professors ensured that we felt valued and belonged in this college. They would encourage us to have the confidence to succeed and have our voices heard. I wouldn’t have graduated without them.
-Claire Pincock

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I was a disillusioned math major in 1968 who was delighted to learn that BYU was now offering a BS in Computer Science. (My Fortran and IBM mainframe Assembler language classes were the only ones I could study for in the wee hours without doing a face-plant on my desk.) I graduated in 1970, in the 2nd year of the computer science major.
-Franklin Sorenson

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I learned from Alan Ashton, one of my Computer Science professors, that generosity and kindness are always in fashion. Addressing people by name and learning about what they want in life and then helping them achieve their goals is why we are on this planet.
-Linda Black

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Look for truth and get as much education as you can from good sources.
-David Smalley

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It is way more important to learn how to learn and to learn how to work with people than it is to learn the specific content in your classes. But it turns out that the best way to learn how to learn and to learn how to work with people is to do your very best to learn the material in your classes.
-Kellen Giraud

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1) Don't overdo it. Taking less classes is better than taking too many and then failing some. You'll have to take them later anyways, but suffer a lot less.
2) Talk to some counselors about potential career paths. Then plan what classes you'll take and what majors/minors to get based on that. You probably won't have another time in your life when you're so focused on just learning knowledge and skills, so get your money's worth so you can feel qualified and confident coming out of college.
-Jacob Jensen

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Enjoy your time :-)
-Derek Manwaring

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1. Don't be a casual observer. Look at things from every angle and viewpoint, and be willing (don't be afraid) to change your mind or your interpretation.

2. Learn to think critically and creatively.

3. Have short, medium, and long-term goals. Perseverance will take you farther than raw talent or intellect.

4. Be grateful, and express your gratitude frequently, preferably at least daily.
-Lee Petersen

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One of the best classes I took at BYU was completely unrelated to my major and to my career: I loved taking the anatomy and physiology class in my final semester. Branch out and learn something unrelated to your degree for the joy of learning.
-Samuel Hord

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Of greatest worth to me during my college years were: taking on every possible project that applied what I was learning; tutoring other students; and teaching classes as a stand in for my professors.
-Noah "Mike" St. Clair

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Make a lot of connections, and don’t be afraid to reach out to them.
-Claire Pincock

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Set a specific time and quiet place to do your reading and homework. I liked the bottom floor of the library in the afternoon. Ask for help and join a study group for tests. It is O.K. to retake a class to get a better understanding of the material, particularly the core classes. Take physics, chemistry, statistics, or economics to be able to apply what you have learned in math.
-Robyn Jensen

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Your career in Information Technology may or may not include your current skills. However, as a Computer Science student/graduate, you have a flexible brain and will be able to learn new skills, languages, techniques, and applications more easily than many other college graduates. Prepare for an exciting career, but don't be afraid to reinvent yourself every 3-5 years.
The world runs on computers now, so it's socially acceptable to be a "computer geek."
-Franklin Sorenson

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Keep going for your dreams and enlist others to guide you along the way.
-Linda Black

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If you're already being charged for full-time tuition and there's classes that sound really cool, audit them. Extra religion class you really want? Audit it. Wanna take marriage prep? Audit it. You likely won't ever have a world class professional to teach you about it again in your life, so rather than not taking it because you're worried about the workload, audit it so you don't have to worry about the workload.
-Jacob Jensen