Change people's lives at home and around the world
December 2022
Millie Rapp never imagined she’d be a single mother. In her first stint at BYU, she’d been the cocaptain of the cross-country team and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. After graduation, she and her husband moved to the other side of the country and had two boys—and then their marriage unraveled.
Rapp took a job working long hours to improve environmental conditions in a cement plant and then later worked for a power company in Tucson, Arizona. While she was on the job, she felt a prompting to return to BYU for more education.
“I’d always wanted to get my MBA,” Rapp says, “but I hadn’t envisioned quitting my job during a pandemic and moving to Utah.” She also wasn’t sure how she’d pay for the program—thankfully she received scholarships.
“I feel like I was led to return to BYU.”
At BYU Rapp received mentoring from professionals, interned with big-name companies, and even got global supply chain experience. As an MBA grad, she now has a promising career in corporate strategy.
“I feel like I was led to return to BYU,” she says. “It’s really been a critical part of helping me rebuild my life. It put me in connection with people who saw my potential.”
The summer before Thalia Hull came to BYU, her father lost his engineering job. Though she’d thought about attending the University of California–Los Angeles, she had a full-tuition academic scholarship to BYU and realized it would be much more affordable.
BYU scholarship springboards single mother to security, success.
Julianne Francisco is grateful she ignored advice to avoid ruining her GPA by taking her information systems course too early. She quickly discovered she’d found her professional passion.
