Goodbye Rexburg!

Laleinia & Alastair's first picture, Fall 2011

Today is the day that we finally left Rexburg. Lain and I both arrived in South-east Idaho in September of 2007, over six years and three months ago, and it is finally time to move on! Today was bitter/sweet for me, since I have been so excited to be finished with my undergraduate degree and leave Rexburg, but I also realized that I changed and benefitted a lot from being in Idaho. This was the place that I got ready for my mission, went to the temple for the first time, met my wife, decided to focus on my education, and gained a whole load of new skills and knowledge. It is crazy to think that I arrived in Rexburg with two suitcases, and now I leave with two different suitcases, a wife, a great photo album, a phone full of wonderful people's phone numbers, a place in a great MBA program, a job, and so much more. I am so much better off from my time in Rexburg.

Studying and being a part of BYU-Idaho has been amazing. Of course, I can't compare it to any other university because this is the only one that I've been to, but I am so grateful for the way that the school has prepared me for the future. I loved the opportunity that I had to get to know so many teachers and students at such a personal level. I think that the quality of education was great. I am grateful for inspired leadership. I loved learning and practicing the case method so much in my business classes. I loved the opportunity to get involved. I think that we had first-class facilities for learning, as well as playing. I love the learning model, which helps us to prepare, teach one another, and to ponder and prove. Elder Eyring once said this: "Those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become—and this is a prophecy that I am prepared to make and make solemnly—those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become legendary for their capacity to build the people around them and to add value wherever they serve." I think that the school is functioning in such a way that this prophecy is, and will continue to be, true.

I am really excited to see what the future has in store for BYU-Idaho. Ricks college became BYU-Idaho in 2001, and Lain and I got here in 2007. So much has changed since then, with both the campus and the town transforming before our eyes over the last few years. I'm excited to see what happens over the next few decades! Goodbye Rexburg.