"It's about the people."
When you spend about six hours every day in cars, busses, and the FrontRunner commuting between Provo and Brigham City, you learn to appreciate your opportunities and support network. Rebekah Jones (CELL ’23) is spinning physician assistant school preparation, a CNA job at a senior living center, school, working as a teaching assistant for Dr. Jeremy Johnson, and married life in a truly remarkable balancing act as she crosses graduation’s finish line.
Jones is not a superhuman. She readily admits, “It took me a couple of years to realize that I wasn't a rock star, and we can't all be rock stars all the time. I have breakdowns where I just don't understand how I'm going to make it through.” What makes the greatest difference in her outlook, she’s found, is the people she surrounds yourself with. “I've learned a lot about listening to other people, gaining their perspectives, and mixing them with mine to create something better, and I become less efficiency-oriented, less product-oriented… It's about the people you're around and the relationships that are a part of you, versus just what you can do alone in your pursuits.”
Earlier this semester, Jones found herself stranded on the FrontRunner after it unexpectedly stopped running. As easy as it could have been to throw her hands up and go home, she knew she had to get to Provo in time for her early morning anatomy quiz. Although she planned several hours of buffer time, she soon realized that the train wasn’t moving anytime soon. Her sister-in-law and her TA came to her rescue. Her sister-in-law picked her up and drove her to Provo, and her TA gave her the few minutes of recovery time she needed after bolting up the stairs. Looking back on her BYU experience, Jones is grateful that “others have been willing to step in and help me in times that have been really hard or stressful, or in times when I haven't seen a way out.”
