Traveling through Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, we stopped in the picturesque hilltop village of Buena Vista (population 6650) for a campus visit at Southern Virginia University.
This remote outpost of Mormonism, located in the heart of the Bible Belt, is a fully accredited liberal arts college sponsored not by the Church, but by members of the Church. Its mission is to provide "the finest undergraduate education available in letters, arts, and sciences within a wholesome Latter-day Saint environment."
We were given a warm welcome and personal attention. Interested juniors and seniors were invited to audition for music scholarships, and did so, right on the spot.
As we soaked in the spirit of this intimate campus, we couldn't help but notice a positive comparison to American Heritage School. The emphasis is on preparing students to become "servant-leaders" through study in any of 16 majors and 3 minors. With a faculty of 88 and a student body of 804, students can enjoy personal mentoring, sometimes in classes with a student-teacher ratio of 1:1.
But the most unique aspect, as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, is the personal bond forged between students and teachers:
It was a wonderful campus visit, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if your students came home requesting another.Jana Chapman, a graduating senior who transferred from BYU, wanted to have the choice to study different musical instruments as well as computer science. At SVU, she was the sole student in a computer science class, and frequently saw faculty at church. She recalled once hearing professors praying for her and other students."That's really neat," she said, "that I can be in school where my professors are asking God to help me to do well on my exams." ["A bastion of Mormonism in Virginia's Blue Mountains," Adele M. Banks, May 24, 2008.]
