Recruiting

I went on a bike ride this morning. I rode all the way across town to my friend Heidi's house. I just checked on googlemaps, and it was a 9-mile round trip ride. The ride plus visiting with Heidi took 2 1/2 hours. I'd say it was a morning well spent.
On my way home, I passed BYU campus. There was a girls' soccer camp going on in DT Field, which has happened weekly for the last month or so. Those girls are out there in the rain and shine, kicking, heading, punting, and guarding that soccer ball. I got to thinking about BYU and why I chose to go there.
BYU doesn't do much recruiting. I had my ACT scores sent there, but they did not mail me flyers and pamphlets trying to twist my arm into coming to their school. It didn't matter, though. I was already planning on going there. Why?
Mostly because of the summer camps I went to.
I went to EFY for two summers and BYU Music Camp for one. Those really showed me what life at BYU was like. At EFY and Music Camp, you're surrounded by hundreds of kids your own age, and they're (mostly) all Mormon! And there were some CUTE guys!!! But that's honestly not why I liked it so much. There were cute guys at home too. I liked it because I had so much fun learning. At EFY, everything revolved around the Gospel. We had dances and activities, but most of the activities were service-oriented, and everything started and ended with prayer. We had morning devotionals with our group, and then we took classes all day from Church Education speakers. It was awesome!
Music Camp was similar, but instead of church classes, we took music classes. But I was very happy with the way church and the Gospel were tied in to everything we did-- even in music classes!
And that's what I wanted out of an education.
At BYU, many classes begin with prayer. We take religion classes. We incorporate teachings of the Gospel into everyday activities. Our roommates are our Visiting Teaching companions, and our hall is our ward. And there are tons of cute guys.
I guess that did have something to do with it.... :)
So as I was riding my bike past the Soccer Camp this morning, I saw those girls learning all those soccer skills, and I knew they were also experiencing their first taste of what BYU is like.