My first great experience in Seminary took place the end of the second or third day. I had been sitting right next to a boy named Kyle who'd grown up in the same ward as me, but who's family had been less active for years. I knew he didn't usually come to church, so I was pleasantly surprised to see him there, and truthfully I think he was a little anxious about the whole situation, because even though we didn't really have the same friends, and had never really talked or sat by each other in other classes, he immediately latched onto me, I assume because I was a familiar "church" face. It was great to see Kyle responding positively to the discussions and spirit that was there in class, in fact I don't think many others knew that he hadn't been to church in years. Anyways, at the end of class on one of those first days, he was asked to give the closing prayer right as we started singing the closing hymn. Kyle, being a little out of practice, panicked a bit and leaned over to me and whispered, "Becky, how do I do it again?" I proceeded to remind him of the simple steps to prayer and remember being nervous about how this was all going to turn out. Kyle steeled himself to complete his task, and sat there muttering phrases to himself to practice all during the hymn. When it came time for him to stand up and give his prayer, he got so flustered all he could do was say "God, help us to be good and help us to be safe, The end", after which he turned and ran out of class. I remember many of our classmates making fun of him or gossiping about the incident, but remember thinking then that the wonderful thing about seminary was that it didn't matter what other people thought, and although some of their reactions certainly weren't very Christlike, I knew, as I knew the Lord did, that Kyle's strange but heartfelt prayer was a big step for him and was definitely heard and accepted. The sad part is that Kyle put up some defenses after that and kind of flitted in and out of the back of the class for the rest of the year, and didn't sign up for seminary again the next year. But I've always looked back on that and thought of the wonderful opportunity that seminary and institute is for each of us to experience the spirit in a setting and a way that we just don't get anywhere else. Fast forward now four years to my college days at ISU in Pocatello. ISU has one of the largest institutes in the world and was the first institute building to be built with the modern floorplan that the church now uses (with a few modifications) for institute buildings all over the place, (BYU-I thought that the Hinckley building was pretty cool and unique, little did they know it was basically just an enlarged version of our institute building with all the kinks worked out).
In any case, I fell in love with institute very quickly as a student at ISU. I don't think people who went straight to BYU or BYU-I can fully comprehend how wonderful an institute building and program is for a college freshmen in a strange city with no friends. Although no better or worse, going to a church school for your first college experience just isn't the same. I have friends who laugh or don't believe me when I claim you can often pick out the BYUers or BYU-Iers. I don't know what it is but oftentimes, you can just tell, and it's certainly not because they are more or less faithful, or friendly, or anything else, I think they somehow just pick up that intangible yet completely noticeable church school quality that among other things changes ever so slightly their future perceptions or experiences with institute. Now to clarify I want to say that I've definitely known BYUers to be some of the most sincere and consistent supporters of institute both at ISU and down here in Arizona, so it's definitely not better or worse to have attended a church school, I'd argue it's just different. 
But regardless, my many experiences with institute, both in school and now out of school have been overwhelmingly positive, which brings me to my experiences today. I'm taking a morning institute class on the ASU campus Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 7:30 am. Although it's early, I'm loving the feeling of taking institute solely for the spiritual, mental, emotional uplift, since the social scene of institute is pretty much still sleeping at that hour, and the fact that I have to run off to work and never hang out at the institute during the week like I did as a student have both dampened that side benefit. However, there's an over 24 East Valley Institute in Mesa on Thursday nights I attend periodically that although it is definitely uplifting and spiritually enlightening, feels a little more social since they always feed us dinner afterwards. Well today, I feel like I got the best of all possible assets of institute, the regular more academically minded, yet spiritually focused class in the morning, and the spiritual uplift, followed by social opportunities tonight. I think it's great that there are seminary, institute, or church school experiences for everyone and am glad that I choose to make time for institute and encourage others to do so also.
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