The Seeds We are Planting Today . . .
Steve Davis
BYU-Idaho Alumni Engagement Director | LinkedIn Trainer | Networking Specialist | Author
As a Ricks College student in the early 1980's, I was introduced to Jacob Spori's quote made on the founding day of BYU-Idaho (November 12, 1888) when he said: "The seeds we are planting today will grow and become mighty oaks and their branches will run all over the earth." For the past 37 years as an employee of Ricks College and BYU-Idaho, I have been a first-hand-witness of the reality of this hallmark statement. We now have over 240,000 living alumni, and so many are making real differences in the lives of their families, in their professions, and for the Church.
When we transitioned from Ricks College to BYU-Idaho, we had the crazy idea to honor our founding legacy and had some oak trees planted on-campus in front of the Spori Building. Initially, we were told most oak tree species do not grow well in the frigid climes of southeast Idaho. With some trepidation, the school allowed for four scrawny oaks to be planted and now over twenty years later, the trees are still growing, but in no way would they be described as "mighty oaks."
So, imagine my surprise this week when I walked past the John Taylor building and I noticed on the sidewalk in front of me two acorns. I looked up and noticed several fairly large oak trees growing on the west side of the building, and acorns littered on the ground below.
Who knew! Many years before our grand idea to introduce oak trees to campus, someone had beaten us to the punch. And now, many years later and 135 years since our founding, we literally have real mighty oaks producing actual acorns on the BYU-Idaho campus!
For those of us lucky enough to work at BYU-Idaho and especially here in the Career Center, we are blessed to still witness the fulfillment of the Spori prophecy as we build the BYU-Idaho Mighty Oaks Network.
To learn more about our efforts and to actively participate in our student and alumni community, please consider joining our new Mighty Oaks Network (https://go.byui.edu/mighty-oaks) and help us honor the legacy of Jacob Spori and the "Spirit of Ricks!"