As they watched from the rostrum while excited graduates prepared to take the floor at the Marriott Center for the McKay School’s 2026 convocation, BYU President C. Shane Reese turned to McKay School Dean Sarah Clark, struck by the sight.
“As you were lining up outside the tunnel and working your way in, there was light behind you,” Clark told students. “President Reese said to me, ‘You should take a picture. That’s a really good picture. It looks like the Armies of Helaman.’
“I hope you remember that! Take just a minute right now and think, ‘I did it! I did it!’ Far too quickly, we move on past what we accomplish with the Lord’s help. So, make sure you take it in today.”
At a convocation that also saw the attendance of BYU Assistant to the President and General Counsel Steve Sandberg, Clark noted that the college heard earlier in the semester from President Dallin H. Oaks, leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expressing love and support for the McKay School and its work.
“And, of course, we know that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are noticing today and what an important day it is for you,” she said. “It’s an honor to share this remarkable day with you, one that marks a pivotal moment in each of your lives.”
Undergraduate student speaker Heidi Messenger, who will start graduate studies in communication disorders at BYU this fall, echoed Clark’s words in telling the story of her BYU journey. Messenger had been married for decades and was raising four children with her husband, Judd, when she took a job teaching special-needs preschool at the elementary school where her youngest son, Eli, had just started kindergarten.
One afternoon at recess, Messenger said, she was supervising when Eli ran up and gave her a hug, prompting one of her students to approach her.
“He peered up at me with his huge brown eyes and asked, ‘Was that your little boy?’” she continued. “I happily answered, ‘Yes, that’s my little boy, Eli.’ He smiled at me and exclaimed, ‘I wish you were my mom.’”
Messenger was deeply touched to realize that her student, who had a difficult home life, felt “motherly love” in her care—love that reflects the light of Jesus Christ. This light inspired Messenger to finish her undergraduate education at BYU. She said she has learned not just about best practices in communication disorders, but also “the many opportunities that await me in sharing the light of Christ for the rest of my life.”
“The professions we have chosen will most likely put us in positions where we can bear Christ’s light to individuals, families, and communities,” Messenger said. “How can we interact with, care for, and teach those who cross our paths? The answer is simple: it’s all about Jesus.
“He is the light that enlightens our minds, quickens our understandings, and fills the immensity of space. His light comes from the presence of God and gives life to all things.”
Messenger noted that she has received Christ’s light from many education professionals during her years as a mother.
“As a worried mom, I have been reassured by special education teachers, speech pathologists, therapists, principals, and regular ed teachers,” she said. “As both of my sons have received services from professionals like you, the concern, care, and understanding these incredible people have shown me as a parent has been life-changing for my sons and me. I know all of you will be able to share your light with individuals and families like ours and change their lives.”
Graduate speaker Stormi Winscot asked her fellow students to remember Nephi, deep in the wilderness, commanded to build a boat to take his family to the promised land.
“As a student, you’ve been asked to build your own metaphorical boat, stretching beyond anything you have ever done before, navigating academics, relationships, and technologies, from assistive tools to learning management systems, while also trying to understand theorists like B.F. Skinner, writing a thesis, and student teaching, all while balancing school, work, and family,” said Winscot, a graduate of the Department of Counseling, Psychology, and Special Education.
Winscot recalled the day in August 2024 that she walked into the Wilkinson Center to complete paperwork for her graduate studies. She felt overwhelmed and insecure about taking on this new role and prayed silently for help and strength.
“The answer that came to my mind became my guiding light: ‘I need you here at BYU right now. I will be with you,’” Winscot continued. “In that moment, courage replaced doubt. My step felt lighter. My resolve was stronger. I knew the Lord was on my side.”
Winscot carried that light into her research, which focused on teaching music to children in American Samoa. She experienced first after first, from traveling to the Pacific Islands to learning some Samoan to trying new foods to conducting rigorous research and writing up her findings.
One evening, Winscot and her fellow researchers sat serenely on a beach, eating fresh papaya and watching a group of locals launch a va’a, or outrigger canoe, into the waves. As she admired their unified work, “each trusting the other to do their part,” Winscot recalled another boat on another sea, when Christ told Peter to move deeper into the waters and cast his nets on the other side of the boat.
Peter followed the Savior’s instruction and caught a bounty of fish. Years later, she continued, Peter was finishing once again when the resurrected Christ called to him from the shore and repeated the command, resulting in another bountiful catch and heralding His resurrection.
“May we have the faith to cast our nets on the other side,” Winscot said. “Trust in Him and in the process, and be prepared to ‘stand all amazed’ at what he has in store for each of us and for His children that we will serve.”
Clark noted that, in addition to the 509 graduates at this year’s convocation, 197 future secondary educators were graduating across majors encompassing the entire university. She applauded graduates for choosing professions in which they have so many chances to guide and nurture others and urged students to seize opportunities to “lift another in meaningful and lasting ways.”
“As you leave here today, you do so as disciple scholars prepared not only to lead, but to love; not only to teach, serve, and care; but to lift,” she said. “We could not be more proud of you as you do the work and follow in the steps of the Master Teacher, our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
