Scholarships Create a “Butterfly Effect” for LDSBC Student

October 2016

When Joy Christensen joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly after her high school graduation, she planned on attending a university in Florida. Two semesters later, it was clear to Joy that Florida wasn’t where she wanted to be—Utah was. She had never visited Utah, never seen snow, and knew no one in the state except a missionary who had taught her. With encouragement from friends, she packed up her car and drove into the unknown.

She moved into an apartment she’d never seen with roommates she didn’t know. Those roommates were all students at LDS Business College, and soon enough, Joy was, too. It didn’t take long for Joy to fit in. “I thought, ‘I love this. I don’t ever want to leave,’” Joy remembers.

“[LDSBC] has really helped me to figure out what I want to do,” she says. “The mock interview experiences, the résumé building, the industry projects that we do here—it’s all very real-world. On one project, I worked on a management team that evaluated the effectiveness of a new menu strategy for an international fast-food restaurant. All this experience helped me get my job as a gate agent for Delta Airlines.”

Despite a demanding academic schedule and the rigor of a full-time job, Joy managed to squeeze in something else she wasn’t expecting—a husband. They met in class at LDSBC—the day after he returned from his mission—and were married several months later. But, even in their happiness, they discovered that the responsibilities of being newlywed, working students can be very difficult to carry.

The Christensens received scholarships to LDS Business College. “The scholarships were a weight lifted off our shoulders,” Joy says. “They helped me continue my education here at the Business College. It was so perfect because we were just getting our feet wet as a married couple, paying for schooling out of pocket. The scholarships have been such a huge blessing.”

Because of that blessing, Joy will soon graduate with her associate’s degree from LDSBC.

Joy says her life has changed because of her experience at LDSBC. “I’ve seen the hand of God in so many ways here at the Business College,” she says. “It’s something I appreciate so much. There’s been a ‘butterfly effect’ in my life in how I’ve been blessed by the Business College and because of the scholarships. The blessings have been one after another. What this means to us is beyond words. We can’t say ‘thank you’ enough.”