Site Index | Feedback | Help

Inauguration - Elder Henry B. Eyring

President Shumway, I greet you on behalf of the Educational System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All who serve and study at our Church schools, seminaries, institutes and college and university campuses join in wishing you well.

Your success here is of the greatest importance to all of us in the Church Educational System. You have our prayers both because we love you and because this institution means so much to us all.

First, it exemplifies confidence in the absence of limits on the human potential to learn. Our deeply held religious conviction is that men and women have the potential to become like their Heavenly Father. And yet we have needed your example to reassure us that faith and hard work can make miracles of learning possible. Your work here has unlocked the capacity to learn in students. We have been blessed by the example of your students in acquiring English language skills. We have been inspired by your success in including undergraduate students in research experiences, and we have marvelled at the fulfillment of President McKay's prophecy that "from this school will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally."

You, President Shumway, exemplify in your treatment of students and teachers that confidence in the potential of the children of our Heavenly Father to learn.

Second, this campus has shown us the possibility of lifting students to high personal levels of Christian living when the Gospel and example of Jesus Christ are held before them as their standard. This campus has been a model for us in creating an atmosphere where students choose to keep the dress and grooming standard to which they pledged adherence.

I have walked this campus with President Alton Wade when, without saying a word beyond "aloha," one young man pointed down to his shorts which reached below his knees and said, "Look, President, all the way," and a girl, without even returning our greeting, said as she turned around, "I'm going back to my dorm to change into something better." The atmosphere here which encourages remarkable self-discipline has brought the students even greater blessings: the remarkable unity and harmony to which your students have risen.

There is not only tolerance here but a desire to adopt the best of what others bring from their cultures. Your students have shown us what the Savior meant when He required that we be one to be His disciples. President Shumway, you have been a major force in that lifting of the students to the standards the Savior set for us by precept and, more powerfully, by His example. We of the Church Educational System rejoice that your influence to lift the lives of students will continue and increase.

Finally, and most importantly, those on this campus have been an example for us of how faith and scholarship reinforce each other when grounded in child-like humility. You have shown both the value and the possibility of the injunction from the Book of Mormon, " to be learned is good, if they hearken unto the counsels of God." This campus has thrilled us as we have seen an increase in faith in God among your students at the same time that there was a rapid rise in the quality of their scholarship.

President Shumway, you have been a personal example by recognizing the increase in your own scholarly gifts for what they are: gifts from God. You have used those gifts to serve Him and His children. And God, in his generosity, has added to your gifts. We have every confidence that those gifts to you will now increase even more rapidly in this new call to service.

We greet you on this day of importance to you and to us. For you it is a time for drawing added strength as you continue your serving here and now acquire an even wider responsibility. For us who greet you, it is a time of rejoicing for we are confident that with your leadership this campus will be an even more powerful example for good for all who serve in the Church Educational System.

May God bless you in your service. I testify that you are in His service and that you will have His help as you have our prayers, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.