Name: Jason Udy
Class: 2011
Degrees: BS Communication-JOUR, 1-Year Cert Automotive Technology
Employer: Motor Trend

Jason was my very first advising appointment when I came to the department in 2009. He had already finished all of his general education classes at SLCC and was now looking for a major that would compliment his passion for cars. He said he wanted to write for car magazines like Motor Trend or Road & Track. It was an ambitious goal; the equivalent of someone saying they wanted to work for The New York Times.

Having a degree in Journalism I knew how hard Jason’s dream would be to realize, but I tried not to let it show. And Jason really seemed determined, so who was I to tell him that he was nuts. He took 18 credits a semester his first year, and seemed to be zooming through the program. He could have taken a few credits in the summer of 2010 and he would have been done.

But that is when he came to me with this crazy plan.

Jason delayed graduation for a year and enrolled in UVU’s Automotive Technology 1-year certification program. He spent the next two semesters elbows deep in grease. I told him I had never heard of that before; a student taking a break at the end of their education to go through a trades program. Apparently, the folks at Motor Trend had never heard of it either. Jason’s unique education and his knowledgeable writing impressed them. Before he graduated in April of 2011 he had already secured a full-time position in the magazine’s online division.

When people talk about engaged learning on this campus I often think of Jason’s story. He knew that the stuff he got from the classroom was only going to get him so far. The fact that he was able to earn that automotive technology certificate while finishing a degree in Journalism, well, it is a story you can only tell at UVU.

-Vegor Pedersen