BYU Pathway Key to Educational Success

Prosper, Texas, mother of four earns college degree through BYU’s online program; finds spiritual fulfillment

Prosper, Texas. Angela Loertscher is a typical suburban soccer mom. She enjoys spending time with her husband of 21 years, juggles the games and busy schedules of a middle schooler and twins who are rising seniors, and maintains a close relationship with an adult son. But something unusual about Loertscher is that she is also a spring 2022 graduate of Brigham Young University-Idaho, having obtained a degree in web design and development with a minor in social
media marketing after a seven-year journey through the BYU-Pathway program.

Loertscher, a member of a local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, grew up in Utah and had the desire to attend college after high school. But she married at the age of nineteen, had her first child shortly thereafter, and decided to stay home with the baby. As he grew older, she worked two or three days per week in an orthodontist’s office. But it was when she learned she was expecting twins that she once again put dreams of higher education and career on hold and renewed her role of stay-at-home mother.

As many older parents can attest, the phase of life with the children at home has not only an all-consuming intensity but also a way of accelerating toward the finish. Questions can arise about what to do next, particularly from parents who have stayed home to focus on family needs. Loertscher says she “panicked” the year that her oldest child left on a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ, and her youngest started kindergarten because “in that moment, I was at both [ends of the spectrum] of life,” and she realized, “I did not know what I wanted.”

She took her questions about her purpose to God in prayer. “The next week at church,” Loertscher says, “They introduced BYU-Pathway as a great program to further your education. I decided, ‘Why not? I can do this.’” She enrolled for the Fall 2014 semester as soon as it opened.

BYU Pathway Worldwide brings an innovative approach to education — one unique to the Church Educational System and to the world.

President Russell M Nelson, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Loertscher was initially drawn to the program in particular because of its emphasis on faith. “Faith is one of the many attributes that BYU-Idaho incorporates into their program,” she explains. “My testimony has been strengthened more than I can express in words. I have grown spiritually…while taking the steps to pursue my education. It is amazing when your education can be a spiritual journey as well as learning in the classroom.”

Loertscher also loved the fellow students she met during her university experience, whom she praises as wonderful and amazing. “I got to learn their walk of life and what brought them to this program. I was able to learn and grow with these wonderful people while starting something new and scary.”

In 2021 BYU-Pathway served over 57,000 individuals across all 50 states and 188 countries. Students have a median age of 30, with 67% of North American enrollees being female.

Coursework and interaction with instructors occur online, but a unique component of the program is the support students receive from each other in mandatory in-person group study sessions. Students take turns facilitating and guiding the weekly discussions, learning from each other’s strengths and enjoying the blessings of community in their study of both secular and spiritual subjects.

Though Loertscher’s pursuit of a degree took a bit longer than the traditional four years— “Trust me,” she laughs, “seven years of homework was not something I thought I would be doing at my age!” —the strength of BYU-Pathway lies in its affordability and flexibility. Loertscher continued mothering her four children and facing challenges both big and small while taking on two to four courses every semester.

Her biggest educational challenge? Loertscher recalls the tutoring she needed “most nights to help me from quitting and giving up” on her web development classes, which involved coding. She said “prayer after prayer for that light bulb to go off in my brain, that I would understand this other language. It finally did, and I was grateful for those who helped me get to that point….I had the most amazing professors and tutors.”

She credits all her instructors for encouraging her and working with her to see her full potential. “One instructor specifically really cared about my success and spent time to make sure I knew who I was and what I could accomplish,” she says.

She is also grateful to her family for supporting her journey. “My husband and I both wanted to teach our children that a college education is important. Since we both had put that on hold in our younger years, the journey to get that degree was harder as an adult but well worth it for both of us.”

Loertscher encountered an unusual fork in the road partway through her studies. Early on, she thought she would become a teacher and chose English as her major. But something felt off as she began her upper-level courses. “[I] thought to myself: I better see if this is what I really want as I am an older student going back to school; I don’t have time to waste.” She became a substitute teacher in the local school district, and after three months, she was sure “this was not the path I wanted to take.”

With that knowledge in mind but no real direction on what to do instead, Loertscher went out for a run one day as part of her training for a half marathon. She had been asking God in her prayers for some inspiration, knowing it would soon be time to enroll in classes for the new semester.

The answer came clearly to her during her run: she needed to study web design and development. Loertscher recalls, “I was somewhat shocked as this is quite a different path from teaching. I had no knowledge of web design, and I did not know anyone in this field of work.” Despite this, Loertscher took a leap of faith: “I decided to listen to this prompting and go all in. I called the school and spoke to a counselor to … start working toward this degree.”

The direction she felt from God sustained Loertscher even during those tough nights of coding homework. And her diligence led her to an internship with an interior design company, where she was later hired for full-time employment. Loertscher now designs the company’s website and magazine ads and manages its marketing on all the major social media platforms.

Loertscher loves her work. She says, “I was sitting at my desk one morning working and realized at that moment that the Lord knew this was going to make me happy someday. I am grateful the Lord knew what path I needed to take and where it would lead me.”

Loertscher’s educational experiences through BYU-Pathway have helped her better appreciate God. She shares, “I have learned to trust Him with my life and the journey He places in front of me. I have learned to allow Him to take my hand through trials, adversity and challenges and have faith in allowing Him to mold me into the woman, mother, wife, and daughter that He wants me to become.

“I had complete faith in my experience with Pathway and BYU-Idaho online. I could not have done this program or pursued my education without the hand of God in my journey.”

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Kara Schofield lives with her husband, nearly grown youngest, and the family doodle in the Prosper Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She can often be found at one keyboard or another: writing, documenting personal and family history, accompanying school choirs and learning how to play jazz music. Her greatest joys are her four children and their spouses, a sizable extended family, pies, mountains, and Jesus Christ.