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Education for Eternity

Teaching and Learning in the "Envisioning BYU" Collection

Article by Aspen Wooley | Photo by Mica Cors

“Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” translates from Latin to “Truth for Christ and the Church.” This motto is descriptive of Brigham Young University and its aims. BYU’s unique approach offers an education with a foundation on godly and secular goals.

Nicholas Bown, a senior Honors student in Philosophy from American Fork, Utah, is exploring how BYU’s base principles shape it as a university, and how these principles apply across traditions. He is doing this through focusing his Honors Thesis research on “Envisioning BYU,” a two-book collection of speeches and other inspired documents. Through his research, Bown is adding to our understanding about what it truly means to be BYU.

Excellence and Effort

Two of these principles are excellence and effort. Bown was surprised by the number of prophecies that spoke to the excellence expected of scholars. This university provides an “excellent education for eternity,” he explained. Becoming like God through education is one reason for this emphasis on excellence. A focus on reaching and striving has lifted his desires to do more.

The principle of effort is one that reaches beyond just BYU and other modern universities. Bown recounted a story Confucius told of two men attempting to build up piles of dirt. One is very close but puts down his bucket and gives up. The other isn’t close to the end but continually picks up his bucket and works. Although the first man is the one who is closest to success, he doesn’t give his all and so is not the one who truly put forth effort. The second man, however, does demonstrate the principle of effort because he does not give up. Effort is a vital and shared trait across traditions and time. As Bown has found, “education requires real effort and requires sacrifice.”

The mission statement of BYU captures these principles clearly. It states that this university is here to “assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life.” This higher purpose directs BYU in its spiritual and truth-seeking endeavors. There must be excellence and effort in learning now in order to become like God someday.

Bown hopes to implement the themes from these books into the freshman UNIV 101 class. “They are so rich” he says, and it would “help [students] understand what BYU is and what it does for them.” Starting a college education in this way will aid students in their quest for perfection.

Becoming BYU with Invaluable Skills

Bown is a BYU fan through and through. “I love Honors, and I love BYU! They have shaped me.” He was not always planning to attend BYU and did not enjoy school. That changed when he walked into his first class. “My first class started with a prayer, and I shot forward and wanted to learn everything! Education is a sacred endeavor,” he noted. Developing as a scholar and disciple is what becoming BYU means to Bown. The unique purposes of such a university are Christ-centered and prophetically directed. This sacred foundation mixed with the priority of discovering truth is what led to his love of learning.

Choosing to enhance his education in the Honors Program has inspired and encouraged him. By majoring in philosophy, Bown has been able to dive deep and understand how to contribute to new ideas. Not only does he have a stronger thirst for knowledge, but participating in the Honors Program has changed the way he asks questions. “Big questions are the questions worth asking!” he exclaims. “As I go into the world with a bunch of questions, I feel better able to answer those questions from a lot of different places.” This has allowed Bown to adopt different ways of research. “I can understand and appreciate how people in other fields might go about something,” he says. Interacting with students who think differently than him has led to an appreciation of the world around him.

As his thesis advisor Professor Isaac Calvert (McKay School of Education) described, Bown is “driven and focused on writing something that will do good in the world.” He is committed to excellence and effort, reflecting how to live the first principles of education as a student. This research is expanding insight into what becoming BYU truly means!