In April of this year, I decided to move from Minnesota to Utah immediately following my high school graduation. I had many motives for taking a gap year before college, the primary ones being money, the development of my work ethic and gaining perspective on life outside the classroom.
Before I moved to Salt Lake City I was badgered constantly, by classmates and adults alike, about living alongside Utah’s prominent Mormon population. This talk normally consisted of offensive stereotyping and plain bigotry. I, however, did not perceive Utah and its people in such a dark light. No, I saw a hard-working and resilient people, whose ancestors squeezed water from stone in an unforgiving and harsh landscape to create one of the foremost centers of the American west.