PROVO, Utah — The strength of youth in the Church was represented by a gathering of some 3,500 young people ages 14-20 at BYU Education Week on the university's campus Aug. 18-22.

Photo by Greg Hill

Utahns, from left, Brendan and Kaylin Ashton, Draper; Preston Rigdon, East Garland; Stephanie Thompson, Tremonton; and Chantel Christensen, Kaysville; were among thousands of youth at education week.

Many were asked why they were attending an education week immediately before starting regular school. They answered that it was a spiritual boost they wanted before once again facing the challenges and temptations that often confront them in school. They were as interested in what speakers such as John Bytheway, Vickey Pahnke, Ronald E. Bartholomew and Randall C. Bird were teaching as they were in each other.

"These are youth of the noble birthright," said Brother Bartholomew in a Church News interview. "They are going to take the Kingdom to the world."

An instructor at the Orem Institute of Religion and BYU Religion Department faculty member, Brother Bartholomew said he originally prepared his topics — including the Atonement and the doctrine of foreordination — for adults. But then he was asked to present them to the youth instead. "Those kids stepped right into those classes as if they were youth classes. They are ready for the saving doctrines of the Kingdom," he said, adding that he received positive feedback to prove it. After teaching a sampling of the quality youth of the Church, he said with confidence that the Church "is going to grow and flourish."

There was plenty of socializing. They played games or lounged and visited with each other on lawns between classes. They exchanged stickers that were placed on name badges, an innocuous way of saying, "Let's be friends." Or, as Colby Anderson of the Beverly Glenn Ward, Las Vegas Nevada Central Stake, put it, "If a really cute girl gives you a sticker, that's extremely good." The crowning social event was a big dance at Lavell Edwards Stadium on Thursday night.

But none of that overshadowed what they were learning about the gospel and about handling the trials of their teenage years. Topics of their classes included "Dating the Latter-day Saint Way," "Fitting In Without Selling Out," "Making the Most of Me" and "Questions LDS Teens Want Answered!"

Describing Education Week as "super-double-plus fun," Nicole Gardner, 17, of Bountiful, Utah, said, "It helps me get ready for school — spiritually prepared to handle things, school pressures." And, she added, as a bonus it's good practice for getting up early after the long summer vacation.

Ashlee Cahoon and Alicia Tew from Salt Lake City couldn't think of a better way to get a spiritual boost before school started. It is even better than "Especially For Youth" programs, Ashlee said, because there are more classes and complete freedom in choosing which ones to attend.

Some, such as Michelle Kidd of Idaho Falls, Idaho, even bypassed the popular youth classes. "I love education; I love the adult classes," she said before scurrying off to attend a lecture on DNA testing of Egyptian mummies, to go with other classes she attended about the Dead Sea Scrolls and unlocking the mysteries of Isaiah. "You can't get these classes at EFY," she said.

Strutting around campus with cell phones to their ears or talking to friends and family on a walkie-talkie, the youth sometimes were a little silly and showed some room for increased maturity, but they also appeared unencumbered by evident evil inclinations. Most had sacrificed other fun end-of-summer activities for a week in classrooms and had worked to earn the money to pay their own way. Many were attending with family members, usually including at least one parent. Others were attending on their own.

Interviewed at the dance Thursday night, 18-year-old David Begin of the Saint-Laurent Branch, Montreal Quebec Mount Royal Stake, said he was attending for the second time, traveling alone to be with "this many youth believing in the same thing." He said he upped his productivity during three months of hard work in a silk screening business to earn the money to pay his own way. He plans on returning every year except, of course, for the two years of his mission. Then he hurried off to ask Lauren Volle of Las Vegas for the next dance.

The youth were mostly concentrated around the Joseph Smith Building and Spencer W. Kimball Tower on the upper campus and the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse on the lower campus.

In one of their classes, John Bytheway unfolded for about a thousand eager listeners the lessons to be learned from heroes of the Book of Mormon. His entertaining style kept their rapt attention and when he asked them to follow along with him in their scriptures, a good number reached into backpacks to pull out their Standard Works.

The Thursday night dance took place in a plain setting underneath the south stands in the football stadium with nearly 2,000 best-dressed youth attending. They were enthused, happy, and many participated by dancing. A thoughtful observer could surmise they were good kids having a good time within the standards of the Church.

E-mail: ghill@desnews.com