For example, several anatomy classes came through with an assignment. We frequently had time-pressed students say they did not see how this gallery was relevant to anatomy. I would smile to myself because, as a biased gallery educator, I could see incalculable connections to their education and how they could approach the study of anatomy. This gallery offers principles in approaching study in any subject.

There was one situation where a group of anatomy students chose to go through the gallery together. As I gave them a tour, I noticed the students were taking notes. On the north side of the gallery, one of them made a connection to the student-leader study system set up in the anatomy department, similar to what Maeser and other pedagogical leaders of the Church encouraged. Another student voiced how BYU is one of the few universities in the country that lets undergraduate students work on cadavers (in reference to the principle of access and ‘education for all’).

I really appreciated their participation because these were things I didn’t know myself. I couldn’t make all the connections for them. The time-pressed students were looking for the word “anatomy” on the walls, but this group of students found this is a gallery of principles. They were able to apply those principles to their own experiences as well as to their subject.

Camlyn Giddins, gallery educator

I talked about my interpretation of the symbols in the gallery and the aims of a BYU education—learning both the secular and the spiritual, building character, and fostering a desire of lifelong learning. I then continued talking about the history of the Church and its effort to educate the youth since its beginning.

These good people sat patiently, listening to my full discourse, now entirely in English with a few Chinese words interjected. I was anxious and nervous, worrying so much about their ability to understanding me that I forgot to allow moments of reflection. My audience seemed to find a real connection when I told them of the stories of BYU’s forefathers who had made many sacrifices and worked to perpetuate the future of the school. These Chinese professors shared their desires in educating and building the characters of their students.

Although our understandings of God are different, the truth is universal. Those who come to campus, and especially to the gallery, can feel a spirit of adherence to truth on this campus. I’m grateful for the chance to learn and I hope these professors have also gained something valuable from this experience.

Lucy Lu, gallery educator

I knew about some of the people mentioned in the labels before I started working in the gallery, but I didn’t understand who they were. For example, I knew Brigham Young was the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He led the Saints west and started Brigham Young Academy (known now as Brigham Young University). But now after learning more about him, he has become one of my heroes! Coming from a poor family and receiving only 11 days of formal education, he was inspired by Joseph Smith’s teaching of eternal progression and became a man who sought education wherever he could. Brigham Young not only encouraged the Saints to seek learning, but he was also a living example of actively seeking and doing. He “became a student of theology, literature, architecture, theater, science, business, gymnastics, agriculture, and everything else that could help him elevate himself or anyone around him.” He stated,

“I shall not cease learning while I live, nor when I arrive in the

spirit-world[,]… and when I again receive my body, I shall … still

continue my researches.” [1]
Brigham Young is one of many people who have inspired me! Some others are J. Wyley Sessions, Brigham Thomas Higgs, Karl G. Maesar; the list goes on.

Visit the gallery to see how these people’s lives are more than just nice stories—they are examples from which to learn and to move forward with their faith and strength, edifying us along the way.

Rebecca Soelberg, Gallery Educator

George H. Brimhall and his faculty, 1902 Courtesy of HBLL Special Collections

I have always been inspired by the amazing quotes sprinkled throughout the Education in Zion Gallery. The recent general conference reminded me again of the great words of our leaders that uplift us if we pay attention. Quotes from those who have gone before are moving reminders of the sacrifices they have made and what we, as their beneficiaries, need to live up to. The following is a list of some of my favorites.

Inspiring quotes found in the Education in Zion Gallery:

“The surest way to express love for God is by doing good to God’s children.”

— Jesse Knight

“[Brigham Young came to me and told me] that the school being taught by Brother Maeser was accepted in the heavens and was a part of the great plan of life and salvation and that Christ Himself was directing, and had a care over this school.”

— John Taylor

“Precisely as you partake of the Spirit, so will you progress in your studies.”

— Karl G. Maeser

“Keep busy in the face of discouragement.”

— Susan Young Gates

“This church is always only one generation away from extinction. All we would have to do to destroy this work is stop teaching our children for one generation.”

—Jeffrey R. Holland

 “You have it in your power to set in motion waves of action, love and kindness that will reach the shores of eternity.”

—Edwin S. Hinckley

Go find more for yourselves! The gallery is full of them to make your everyday brighter.

Marie Bates, Gallery Educator

I really enjoy the videos we have here in the gallery. I especially appreciate the inclusion of contemporary teachers from BYU in our last video “Gathering Strength”. In this video, teachers share meaningful lessons they’ve learned here at BYU or hope the students learn.

Brian Lemon, a chemistry teacher from BYU Idaho, shared the story of Dmitri Mendeleev organizing the periodic table. This story is actually quite moving and it resonated with him and infused his teaching (if you skip to 1:15 in the video, his story is really short).

What impresses me is that Mendeleev was someone without knowledge of the Gospel. He didn’t pray for inspiration. Yet he was still rewarded for his work. This fact adds to the principle that the Lord delivers truth in diverse places, in various ways and we seek that knowledge, wherever it may be found. How exciting it is to think that there have been and are Mendeleev experiences happening around the world!

In 1854, President John Taylor told the Deseret News, “If there is any truth in heaven, earth, or hell, I want to embrace it; I care not what shape it comes in to me, who brings it, or who believes in it; whether it is popular or unpopular, truth, eternal truth, I wish to float in and enjoy.”

I had the chance of attending Beauty and Belief in the Museum of Art. I was indeed overwhelmed by the beauty and touched by the belief. The culture was quite different, yet the heart of it didn’t seem foreign at all.

Camlyn Giddins, Gallery Educator

It’s amazing to me to see that despite these difficult circumstances, the Saints continued to establish schools and provide their children with opportunities to learn. The following quote, found in our gallery, proves to be rather instructive as to why they would continue to seek education:

“This Church is always only one generation away from extinction. …All we would have to do … to destroy this work is stop teaching our children for one generation” (Jeffrey R. Holland, 1981)

In the face of tremendous difficulty, the Saints recognized their responsibility to teach their children and help them gain a balanced and well-rounded education. Their example is instructive to us. It helps me realize the importance of fulfilling my responsibilities despite difficulties.

As college students, it’s easy to focus on our schoolwork and neglect our church callings or other responsibilities. I hope we can all find motivation to balance our life and responsibilities by considering the example of the early Saints.

-Kirk Perry, Education in Zion Gallery Educator

Courtesy of institute.lds.org

A long time ago, in 1912, there was another girl at BYU. But she was even colder than I am. She came to Provo as a refugee of the Mexican Revolution. She didn’t have boots, gloves, hats, scarves, or even a coat. She too had a checklist of the food she could afford to eat daily: boiled wheat flakes, mashed potatoes, bread and milk.  Her name was Camilla Eyring Kimball. Although we may now her best for the wife of the beloved Prophet Spencer W Kimball, her life wasn’t always so ideal sounding.

When the revolution started in Mexico, her father sent Camilla and the rest of the family to take refuge in Arizona. The family, consisting of brothers, sisters, grandmother and mother only had time and means to back one trunk between them all.

Once they were in America the only house they could find that was affordable had only one bedroom. It had no kitchen and only a single bed, which her grandmother slept on. There was so little floor space that the children took turns sleeping under the bed at night.

Camilla’s parents decided it would be best for her to finish her education. So as a teenager Camilla traveled by train from Arizona to Provo alone. It was the dead of winter. She had no winter clothing.

However, Camilla made the best of her circumstances. Education was so important to her that she worked her way through high school and college.  She even saved enough to attend Berkley for a semester. After her schooling she became a teacher at different academies, eventually settling down in Gila, Arizona, where she met and married Spencer Kimball.

So, as I dash back to the car with my shopping cart full of instant calories, I know that everything is going to be okay. Being a college student, a poor college student, still has its trials but I can make the best of any situation as I trust in the Lord, believing that everything will turn out for the good.

—Anna Silver, Theater Education Major and Education in Zion Gallery Educator

These questions would cycle through my mind often, and I’d always struggle to not feel this discouragement. It wasn’t until the first time I walked through the Education in Zion Gallery that I was given a different perspective on attending BYU. I started to read all about the early saints of the Church and how despite the persecutions and trials in their lives they still made education a priority. It made me stop and realize how blessed I’ve been to come to college without having to sacrifice as much in my life.

I read stories about teachers who gave up so much, even their compensations, so the school could stay open for the children to learn and get an education. I couldn’t help but continue to compare my life to these people and appreciate all the sacrifices they made for education when I’ve done very little to be at a great university.

In one of the rooms in the gallery there is a wall sharing a portion of a vision of President John Taylor. It talks about how Zina Young Williams, a faculty member of Brigham Young Academy and daughter of Brigham Young, asked President Taylor if the Church could help more with the funding of the financially struggling school. He shared with her a sacred and recent experience. Her father had come to him in a dream and told him that the school “was accepted in the heavens and was a part of the great plan of life and salvation . . . and that Christ himself was directing, and had a care over the school.”

Tears came to my eyes while reading of John Taylor’s experience. Right then I received a small understanding of how wonderful Brigham Young University is and that it truly was inspired. It has always been part of an important plan, and we all have been chosen to attend such a sacred place where the Lord wants us here. I know I’m going to still have those hard days where I continue to ask myself those self-doubting questions, but now I can come into the gallery and reread John Taylor’s vision and remind myself to trust in the Lord and know that I am truly blessed to be at a university directed by and cared for by the Lord.

In the Book of Mormon we read Alma chapter 36, verse 3, which states: “And now, O my son Helaman, behold, thou art in thy youth, and therefore, I beseech of thee that thou wilt hear my words and learn of me; for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.”

- Stephanie Adams, Math Education Major and Education in Zion Gallery Educator

Stopping at James E. Talmage’s draft of one of the first school schedules for classes offered here, one of the girls was quick to point out how amazing it was that every week since the beginning of Brigham Young Academy, we have enjoyed a school-wide spiritual feast called Devotional.  Only an hour earlier, they had attended the event themselves in the Marriot Center, astonished at the thousands of enthused students pouring in on their break from secular study.

Eagerly attending the Provo temple every morning and excitedly skipping off to humble little apartment parties with me every night, these Swedish girls have given me a fresh new perspective on “Happy Valley” this week. I should rejoice at having thousands of valiant, church-going young people to associate with! I should be grateful for the fact that I can see the temple from the window of my on-campus job!  Most importantly, though, I should remember how amazing it is that I can be spiritually uplifted as I obtain my education in this little college town called Provo.

Are you a Provo-ite too?  Consider yourself lucky today!

– Karen McKay, BFA Major, Education in Zion Gallery Educator

Hoping for a breakthrough for the theme of my tour, I sauntered over to the section called “Each of Us On the Charted Course” where in a glass display case it talks of the importance of properly preparing and educating religion teachers at BYU. I quickly glanced at the television and realized I had never seen the film that played in that room.

Upon watching the film I received words of encouragement from Apostles and Prophets, and personal revelation that helped me with something within my life I had been struggling with. Graduation is around the corner and prestigious schools back East have intimidated me, so I have been reluctant to apply. The words of President Thomas S. Monson in that film really put my heart at ease:“Tax your talent and Heavenly Father will make you equal to those decisions.”

I realized that if I correlate my plans for postgraduate work and the rest of my life with the Lord’s plans, He would assist me in fulfilling the life he has in store for me.

In Matthew 11, verses 29 and 30 it states, “Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

- Brittany Dahlin, Art History Major, Italian Minor, and Education in Zion Gallery Educator