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By Rachel Sterzer Gibson, Church News
As a first-year college student, Brian Ashton tried to learn Mandarin Chinese and struggled. He couldn’t distinguish the different intonations that are essential to understanding and pronouncing words in the Chinese dialect.
When the time came to turn in his full-time mission application, he marked “low interest” in learning a language on the form. He was surprised when he received a call to serve in Peru, where he would need to learn Spanish.
“Honestly, I was terrified,” he recalled during an interview with the Church News. He described himself as the worst Spanish speaker in the missionary training center in his district.
Compared to his foray with Mandarin, however, this time he involved the Holy Ghost by praying and reading his scriptures as well as studying, and eventually he learned to speak proficiently.
No one will ever mistake him for a native speaker, he said with a smile, but they can understand him, and it’s a skill he has strived to maintain. As a mission president in Houston, Texas, from 2012 to 2015, then as a member of the Sunday School General Presidency from 2015 to 2019, and now as the newly appointed president of BYU–Pathway Worldwide, he has regularly been called on to offer remarks in Spanish to international audiences. He’s also learning Portuguese.
His struggle to learn a second language taught him important lessons: first and foremost, the importance of involving the Lord in the learning process, and second, through the influence of the Holy Ghost, that all have the potential to learn.
The application of that truth is something that makes him excited to go to work every day. In his new leadership role for the Church’s online education program, President Ashton sees the transformative power of education in the lives of individuals on a daily basis.
Launched in 2009 at BYU–Idaho with just 50 students in three pilot sites, BYU–Pathway Worldwide is now an independent institution that serves close to 60,000 students in more than 150 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
The program is designed to provide students with fundamental, preparatory coursework, which enables them to pursue a certificate or degree facilitated through a partnership with Ensign College or BYU–Idaho. And it’s all administered online, which means it works in South Jordan, Utah, or Yaoundé, Cameroon.
Traditionally, education has been a scarce resource. Even in countries where education is free, there are often a limited number of seats. Those seats typically go to only the very wealthy or the exceptionally smart, President Ashton explained.
BYU–Pathway Worldwide specializes in providing opportunities to the “hidden many” — as his predecessor, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, called them — or those who never thought that college was for them.
“What I love about BYU–Pathway Worldwide is it has now taken education and has made it accessible for almost anyone,” President Ashton said.
The mission of BYU–Pathway Worldwide, like other institutions within the Church Educational System, is to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church and the community.
As he reflected on his education — which includes a bachelor’s degree from BYU and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard — President Ashton recognized how those opportunities led to the fulfillment of that mission in his own life.
Although his mom —who attended college — and his dad — who earned an MBA — encouraged his education, young Brian had a hard time turning in assignments when he was in junior high school. He got by in high school with decent grades, he recalled, but not because of any real diligence on his part.
When he started studying at a college level, however, he decided something needed to change. Eventually, he understood how to learn more effectively. “It’s been one of the greatest blessings in my life to learn how to be disciplined and really put in the time that’s needed to learn,” President Ashton said.
Education has enabled him to be self-sufficient, which in turn has opened more opportunities to serve. It has also helped him be a better leader, both in and out of the Church. “It’s hard to be a good leader if you don’t understand issues and can’t think critically,” he said.
It has helped him to be a better husband to his wife, Sister Melinda Ashton, and a better father to their seven children — six boys and one girl.
It has also helped him to better understand who God is and how to study His word. “I think God has an active mind, and education has taught me how to think critically and receive more revelation,” he said.
Perhaps most importantly, like the experience with learning a second language, it has taught him the importance of involving the Lord in the learning process, whether it’s learning Mandarin or understanding the scriptures.
President Ashton said he realizes his educational journey is atypical for many in the world. His parents always told him he was capable of doing better and he was surrounded by role models, including his wife, who attended medical school, and his mother-in-law, who has a doctorate in chemistry.
Many BYU–Pathway Worldwide students have never had anyone who told them they can be successful at school. “They’ve been taught a false doctrine, which is they can’t learn, and that’s not true,” President Ashton said.
One of the things taught to each student is that he or she is a child of God and has the potential to become like Him. “If they’ll believe that and then be disciplined, they can do as well as anybody else.”
Those involved with BYU–Pathway Worldwide see that happening all the time, all over the world, President Ashton said. “My parents really just modeled what we’re trying to teach students here.”
In 2018, when President Ashton was working as BYU–Pathway Worldwide’s field operations vice president, he spoke to the Church News about some of the blessings he was seeing through Pathway’s process of combining secular and spiritual education.
“Students’ testimonies have become stronger, they are able to rely upon the Lord and they are learning by study and by faith,” he said. “They also gain a confidence and a large number of them continue on to receive additional education that turns into getting a better job.
“I see spiritual boosts, confidence boosts, learned leadership skills, individuals making more money and on the path to get a degree. I see them becoming leaders in their homes and leaders in the Church and in the community.”
His vision and perspective on those blessings have only expanded since he took on his new role as president.
President Ashton recently heard from an international BYU–Pathway Worldwide student who was called to be a Relief Society president. Living in a country where many labor-saving devices are not accessible, she felt overwhelmed about how she was going to balance the care of her family, coursework and a demanding Church calling.
One of her PathwayConnect classes, a one-year, low-cost educational program helps students return to college, however, taught a section on time management. Through those skills she was able to teach her children, spend time with her husband, fulfill her calling and study. “She said she actually felt like she had more time than she did before,” President Ashton said, “and that it had made her life so much easier.”
Through the help and influence of the Holy Ghost, “we all have the opportunity to learn, we all have the opportunity to become better disciples, to become more like our Heavenly Father, and become disciple leaders,” President Ashton said.
President Ashton said he feels humbled and grateful when he considers the commitment and dedication of the employees, volunteers and service missionaries who keep the program running throughout the world.
BYU–Pathway Worldwide is really an incredible collaboration, he explained. Not only do they rely on BYU–Idaho and Ensign College, which provide curricula for certificates and degrees, but BYU–Pathway Worldwide also partners with seminaries and institutes, the Welfare and Self Reliance Department and the Missionary Department.
“They do everything they can to help students be successful,” President Ashton said. The Lord is pouring out His Spirit onto His people and, through the blessing of education, building them into better leaders as part of His work.
“It’s energizing to go work with the students. It feels a lot like when I was a mission president working with the missionaries. The Spirit is there and you can see that the Lord is helping them. To be part of that is a real blessing,” President Ashton said.
Pathway administrators see volunteers and missionaries who extend their term of service again and again and again. “It’s just a joyful experience to be here,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it’s easy. But it’s joyful.”
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