Student Life at BYU - A Balancing Act

Spending all day on campus makes it convenient to examine BYU student life as a general whole. Taking advantage of this situation, I tried to snap candid photos where I could without looking like too much of a creeper. When I started paying attention to specific individuals around me, I noticed the different ways that people tried to express their individuality, whether it was with hairstyles, clothing combinations, the size of their clothing in relation to their body, or their color choices. People wear a lot of crazy colors and patterns, not just because it’s in style, but because with 30,000 BYU students on campus, they are trying to find a way to stand out. I found that as much as I say I don’t care, I am one of those people! Honestly. Who would wear green pants not expecting to get attention?

Some of the other things I noticed about BYU student life that helped me piece a story together, was that everyone has at least one bag (usually pretty full!!) if not two or three.  As students, we live on campus and have to be prepared with everything throughout the day. BYU students are striving for balance in their lives between work, school, health/fitness, church, and their families/friends. This is another reason why people have so many bags. These bags are representative of the many roles a student has other than being a student. Also due to these many roles is the constant use of technology – not only for learning, but to talk to mom between classes, email a TA, text your significant other to go out tonight, or Snapchat a friend in the library.

The result of the BYU student “balancing act” described above leads to exhaustion. BYU sleeps. Almost every other picture that I took on campus was of a person sleeping.  The basic underlying story that I discovered among my photos of BYU student life, is that students are trying to differentiate themselves and create their own uniqueness, and they are trying to balance more than most people can handle at a given time. Although this isn’t a new discovery, the photos I gathered confirmed these underlying factors of BYU student life.

The BYU balancing act doesn't provide for time to cook...

Typical on campus. 

There's the green pants...and an overflowing backpack.

The kid to the left is falling asleep. This also shows use of technology for multiple purposes. 

Academic books, church books, bridal magazines - more proof that BYU student life is a balancing act.