University

Today Utah Valley State College officially became Utah Valley University. I began working one year ago for the college and have been hearing about this moment since the job interview. I am happy to be able to confidently say that I work for a university. This is a great milestone for UVSC, but even more, the state of Utah. As a high school counseling intern, I learned to appreciate the huge service community colleges and institutions with open enrollment offer the community. As far as I know, in NC, although there are over 15oish colleges and educational institutions, I was never aware of a university with open enrollment. What an amazing opportunity to truly offer a university education to all. I have seen many students succeed at UVSC who simply needed a second chance or a little extra effort. Congratulations UVU and Utah!

Today they had a nice ribbon cutting ceremony for the new library. I expected it to be boring, but I was pleasantly surprised at how proud I found myself (afterall, I am still a cougar and a tar heel). It was really great to see senators, congressman, religious leaders, and my favorite, one of the original presidents, now a very old man, sporting a suit and a white UVU underarmor hat. President Thomas S. Monson also ended the event with a dedicatory prayer. I do not think many people there appreciated how special that was. To have the one and only prophet dedicating a school building. Where else in the world does that happen? It was really great.

I only wish I got a photo of myself wearing my cheesy little UVU visor. I was skeptical about it, but once the sun overcame me, I was plenty happy to have it.

PS. In case you were not aware, the logo is "super cool" because the state of Utah is outlined in the first U of the logo. Still can't decide what I think about that, but I do know it's better than the UVSC logo--I think the little triangles were supposed to symbolize trees and mountains.