Theric the Famed Newspaper Columnist
I had a brilliant idea coming into the JSA. I knew that the Nauvoo program needed some notoriety, and I figured I should be the fella to provide it for them. My idea was to write a weekly column for BYU’s daily newspaper about what was happening in Nauvoo. Although no semester away program (to my knowledge) had ever provided copy from the field before, I could see no reason why the student body would not be interested. A brief respite from their humdrum world, if you will.
Shortly after my arrival in Nauvoo I discussed my idea with Brother Dahl, the program’s director. He agreed it was a fine suggestion, and said he would run it past Travel Study and try to get the Daily Universe to pick it up. So far so good.
I figured the best plan would be to start with a purely informative article—who what when where—all the journalistic stuff; then in the following weeks make the column more friendly and light-hearted. Fun, in other words. I thought the whole concept was, as I have mentioned, a brilliant idea.
I cranked out a first draft after interviewing Milt Backman, the program’s first director, incorporating the info he gave me and other stuff I had picked up here and there into my hastily molded paragraphs. Time was of the essence. If BYU didn’t get to like me right off, then there would be minimal interest throughout the semester, I figured. I gave my draft to Brother Dahl and discovered I had splurged all sorts of undercover information about the JSA. Oops! Who knew they were secrets!
So I ripped out another draft, less interesting perhaps, but also less exposing. This was sent back for polishing, and the third draft was accepted.
What happened to it after that I cannot say. All I know is that it was never published and I never got my column. (What’s it called when a bill dies in committee?) Sad thing too. There were times during the semester when I was sure that if I had already built up an audience, I could really give them a great story about Mr. Nauvoo or whatever. But such was never to be.
(It also, naturally, would have made this book easier to write. After all, it would already have been written!)
So although my career as a columnist never made it out of the Academy building, my first “column” is still around, just waiting to be read. Most of the life’s been drained from it, but it is still pleasantly informative. It finally comes to light now, a tired old actor, at last appearing on the stage that formed the dreams of his youth. He didn’t live the life he’d hoped for, but now he can finally taste a bit of his long-imagined glory.
Not that this article is anything to get sentimental about.
[ill—marginalia—perhaps a newspaper or sheets of paper...]
In 1993, when Milton V Backman, professor emeritus at Brigham Young University, was serving as a missionary in Nauvoo, the director of the Nauvoo LDS Visitors Center invited Elder Backman into his office and asked him what he thought could be done to increase activity in Nauvoo during the winter months. Elder Backman thought on the problem and decided to present a plan to start a winter semester academic program similar to the one in Jerusalem. The first BYU semester at Nauvoo was in Winter 1994. Initially, the program operated as an experimental program; the students and faculty lived in some of the houses occupied during the spring, summer and fall by missionaries. Classes were held in the Visitors Center.
Under the auspices of Religious Education and BYU Travel Study, Dr. Backman was the program’s first director, followed later by Dr. Charles Tate and Dr. Monte Nyman. Because of the limited resources, very few students were able to participate in these early years. Then, in the fall of 1998, the Church announced that it had purchased St. Mary’s Academy, a Catholic girls’ school across the street from the temple lot. The 187,000 square foot building includes offices, dormitories, classrooms, a full size gymnasium, kitchen, dining and recreation areas and auditoriums. With these new facilities, the help of BYU Food Services and service missionaries, the Nauvoo program will be able to house and school many more students than before.
The first semester with students living in St. Mary’s Academy (now Joseph Smith Academy) is Winter 2000. There are 41 students: 31 female, 10 male. About half of the students are from BYU with others coming from other institutions. In order to attend Joseph Smith Academy, an ecclesiastical endorsement, a 2.5 GPA and a willingness to abide by BYU standards is required. Fall 2000 will be open to 120 students. (The program is in need of more male applicants.) This semester courses are offered in American History, Church History, American Literature, Doctrine and Covenants, Special Studies in Religion, Bible as Literature and Human Development. These classes are all taught by retired faculty most of whom are volunteering their time: Dr. Milton Backman (whose wife Sharon serves in the Family History Center located within the Joseph Smith Academy), Brian and Lorna Best, Ted and Doris Warner and Larry Dahl (whose wife Roberta serves in the JSA offices).
Dr. Larry Dahl, the current director of the Academy, says that “the spirit of commitment of the early saints, their faith and courage” is what students should develop while they are in Nauvoo. In order to accomplish this, the courses offered focus in areas that help students understand the Nauvoo experience. To further emphasize the lessons of the past, approximately 20% of the time students spend is on field trips to important sites relative to LDS church history, American history and American literature. Included in these trips are a ten-day trip to New York and Ohio, and a two-day trip to Missouri.
Dr. Dahl has said that being in Nauvoo helps students get back to their spiritual roots, and that it is a tribute to the students that this program is so successful. It is anticipated that within a short period of time, the BYU semester at Nauvoo will become an extremely popular “semester away” program.
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Thanks for revisiting Nauvoo with me. I would love to hear your thoughts.