Five Reasons I Keep Going Back to Education Week

Every couple of years for the past decade (or longer), I've packed my bags and ran away to Utah for Education Week.  Okay, so I don't really run.  I fly.  Sometimes I go with friends, other times I go solo, but either way,  it's definitely one of the highlights of my year and has become a cherished tradition.   By the third week in August, I'm in dire need of a vacation from the gardening, canning and summer work.   I'm ready to walk away from it all and fill up my tank which is beginning to run a little low.  After attending classes for a week, visiting with friends and soaking up the beauty of the mountains around me, I'm refueled and ready to get back home and face the demands of my world.

So what is Education Week, you might be asking?   Each year, between the summer and fall semester, BYU opens its campus to students 14 and older, offering up to a thousand classes on subjects such as self-improvement, gospel topics, family and marriage relations, finance, health, education and lots more.  This year's theme was taken from Proverbs 29:18- "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he."  The classes I participated in helped me to remember who I truly am and who I can become as I strive to honor and keep the law of the Lord.  I was motivated and encouraged in lots of ways and was excited to come home and try to put some of those good ideas to work.

Here's a few of my favorite things from this year's Education Week:

1- The people!  There is an excitement among the attendees that is contagious.  Everyone is so happy to be there and to have the opportunity to be taught by amazing instructors.  Students come from all over the country and this year there were about 20,000 of us, so there were plenty of people to meet. 

Often I stay on campus in one of the dorms, but this year I had a deluxe room accommodation at my friend's home nearby.  After sleeping on those, shall we say, less than comfortable dorm room beds, I was in heaven in my room at Jeannee's.  This bed was perfect!!!

It was nice to spend time with her and share our Education Week experience. Just being in her home for a week was an education in itself.  I'll be posting more about the fun things I learned from her soon.  It's way too much for one post.

During the week, we caught up with a friend we met on our trip to the Holy Land.  Bonnie works at BYU and took a break from her job to visit and show us the photo books she made from the trip.  It brought back such great memories.  

Amazingly enough, among all those 20,000 people, I just happen to run into an old friend, who used to be my babysitter and now has eight children of her own!  Let me tell you...that makes me feel old.  She's as cute as ever though.  Seeing Andra was a tender mercy for which I'm grateful.

2- The campus!  This is a beautiful college campus.   I love the Y on the mountain

and the Bell Tower which brings tears to my eyes whenever I hear it play, "Come, Come Ye Saints".

The flower gardens were amazing

and the scenery is breathtaking no matter where you are on campus.

3- The Museum of Art !

Jeannee and I took a break from classes and enjoyed a little time at the Museum of Art.  It was an amazing exhibit with artifacts dating back to the seventh century.  I didn't get any pictures, as my camera battery declared it was exhausted, but I learned much about Islamic culture and art.  Most of the art expresses the sacred without being religious in nature and the artists often considered their work an act of devotion.  It was lovely and inspiring and I was surprised that the museum is open to the public free of charge.  I would hang out there a lot if I was a local.

4- The classes!With so many classes offered, it can be hard to choose which ones to attend.  I've had years when I went to classes from 8:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night, hardly stopping to eat or take a break.  This year my approach was different.  I still attended lots of classes, but I didn't push myself and I felt like the classes I chose were just right for me.  Instead of going to eight classes a day, I would go to four or five and take the time to really digest what I was learning.  It was fun to bounce ideas back and forth with Jeannee as we walked between classes or talked them over when we were back at her home.  I think some of the best learning happens when you talk with someone about what you've heard and hear their ideas.  These were some of my favorites:

*Knowing Christ - Robert Millet

*Teaching Creatively: How Adults and Children Learn - Kevin Miller

*Those Who Sought a Greater Understanding of God (William Tyndale, C.S. Lewis,

George MacDonald, St. Francis of Assisi) - S. Michael Wilcox

*The Quest for Self Mastery- David Christensen

*Seeing Yourself as You Really Are, and as You Really Can Be- Jennifer Platt

*Seven Steps to Becoming More Like the Savior- Merrilee Boyack

*What Remarkable Women of the Scriptures Can Teach Us About Meeting 

Today's Challenges - Jana Staples

*Finding Symbolic Meaning in Ancient Rites and Rituals- Alonzo Gaskill

Sprinkled among these were a few lighter classes on nutrition, organization and stress relief ( I can always use a little help with that!).  And one  class by Janice Kapp Perry and Marvin Goldstein (two amazing musicians) was purely entertaining.  All in all, I felt like the week's classes stretched my thinking and strengthened me spiritually.  And that's why I keep going back year after year.  That and for the....

5-Brownies!

The chocolate mint brownies in the Wilkinson Center are soooooo delicious.  Rich and fudgy, with nuts and a layer of mint frosting topped with another layer of chocolate = perfect treat!  

So that's it.  The top five reasons why I love my trips to Education Week.  Stay tuned for the rest of the story...because I also went hiking to the most amazing places and shopping with a dear friend that I haven't seen in ages, to a baseball game with my "adopted Utah parents" and more!  I know how to make the most of those precious vacation days!