BYU President C. Shane Reese and his wife Wendy W. Reese addressed students Tuesday, January 14th, welcoming them back to campus at the start of the 2025 winter semester. Both messages encouraged students to maintain a Christ-centered and gospel-focused perspective as they enter the new year and semester.
President Reese began his address, “God Loves Underdogs,” by announcing that 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of Brigham Young University. He shared that the official celebration of this milestone will start during the fall semester but that we can begin to celebrate this milestone by focusing on the light that each member of the BYU community has to offer. He remarked that as BYU moves onto this next chapter in history, it will focus on the light that each person has to offer by saying “[t]hat light groweth brighter and brighter”—“that all may be edified of all.” This phrase, citing sections 50 and 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, has been identified as BYU’s Sesquicentennial Theme.
President Reese declared that as BYU enters this next chapter, the BYU community will “work tirelessly to become the Christ-centered, prophetically directed university that President Spencer W. Kimball prophesied about.” He shared that as the fall semester approaches, students can visit the webpage 150.byu.edu to stay up to date on the celebration and events that will begin in August.
Continuing with his address, President Reese shared that when he applied to the Texas A&M PhD program for statistics, the school’s graduate coordinator saw President Reese’s poor score on the verbal portion of the Graduate Record Exam and asked him if English was his native language. At that point in President Reese’s life, becoming the president of an educational institution did not only seem improbable to him, it seemed impossible.
Another story President Reese shared referenced BYU’s 2024 football season. He shared that at the beginning of the season, it was projected that BYU would lose half of the first eight games the team was scheduled to play, but BYU won all eight of those games. In two of those games, BYU had a 0.5% chance of winning within the last minute of the game.
Both of these stories are stories of underdogs that achieved seemingly impossible success. Referencing these stories, President Reese taught the audience that “God loves underdogs” and that “God’s grace goes beyond improbable victories—God wins impossible victories.” Heavenly Father often reaches out to strengthen His children when they are at their weakest and promises that as all of our works are centered on our faith in Jesus Christ and in line with the teachings of His prophets, God will strengthen us beyond what we believe is possible both individually and as a university.
Often, individuals will see the miracles God gives to others and come to believe that they do not see those miracles in their own lives. President Reese counseled students that in times like these, they need to be that miracle for someone else. As they find ways to be the light that others need, they reflect the light of the world’s greatest miracle, Jesus Christ.
President Reese concluded his message by promising the students that as they work to be a miracle in someone else’s lives, they will experience the miracle of God’s grace in their own lives and feel the love that He has for them individually. He testified of the power that Jesus Christ’s atonement has to make right every injustice.
Sister Reese expounded upon President Reese’s message by emphasizing the importance of connections with others as well as a covenant connection with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in her speech titled “Connections.” She talked about the importance of human connection, not just online, but also face to face, and noted that genuine human connections, “unify us and bring us together; they make us stronger, happier, and improve our well-being.”
Sister Reese encouraged the students to ask themselves what they could do to improve their connections with others and offered some ideas. She suggested that actions such as going out to ice cream with roommates, asking a professor about job opportunities, or even something as small as smiling and waving at someone are all ways to improve connections. She taught that “making connections will be a blessing to you and others” and that “connecting will improve our relationships and increase our personal sense of belonging.”
The greatest connection that unites all people is their identity as a child of God. Sister Reese shared that Heavenly Father wants His children to be connected and that He will create divine connections between His children for their benefit.
Sister Reese defined two different types of connections: contracts and covenants. Contracts focus on what each individual can get out of the connection, whereas covenants are about how the connection can be strengthened and become more powerful together, even if it requires sacrifice. When a human connection is centered on Jesus Christ, it becomes a covenantal connection and gives each member of the covenant more power and confidence.
Our covenant connection with Jesus Christ offers hope when there seems to be none and brings light into darkness. Sister Reese concluded with the promise that as we prioritize our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, we will be strengthened individually and in our connections with other children of God.
Written by: Reagan Sumrall
Senior Contributor at the Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Cover Photo: https://news.byu.edu/faith/devotional-president-and-sister-reese-winter-2025
