Miriam Szendre is a sixth-generation Brigham Young University student. But, she says, that wealth of family history at BYU didn’t mean a wealth of financial support. Despite the stress she often feels about finances, the senior in the BYU Marriott School of Business human resources management program says she leans on her faith to overcome life’s barriers.
Szendre grew up in a single-parent household in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where money was often tight—and when she was in high school, her mom was diagnosed with stage three cancer. “I needed to pick up the slack,” says Szendre, who was the eldest sibling in the house. “I honestly felt like I was alone.”
As she began planning for college, she says she didn’t know how she would afford her education while helping care for her family. But as she considered her options, she says she received a distinct spiritual impression: only apply to BYU. “That was very scary because putting all my eggs in one basket didn’t seem like a wise strategy,” Szendre explains. “But I decided I was going to consciously make decisions with the Lord in mind and keep inviting Him to be part of my team.”
Szendre was accepted to BYU and credits Heavenly Father with adding to her efforts to make her education possible. “I received scholarship after scholarship after scholarship,” Szendre says, “Including ones that didn’t seem to make sense for me to receive. That has happened every single year.”
But scholarships didn’t alleviate all of Szendre’s worries. When she began the HRM program, Szendre says she struggled with self-doubt but moved forward, leaning on her determination to overcome. “Because I have a mentality to go and get things done, I sought out experiences,” she says. Szendre joined clubs, participated in case competitions, and served as vice president of belonging for the BYU chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
In her position with SHRM, Szendre connects with many students who she says feel uncertain about their ability to achieve their goals, and she relies on her personal experiences to encourage them. “I say, ‘Just go for it. Don’t tell yourself no; make someone else tell you no, because with you and God, there will be a yes somewhere.’”
This “go for it” mindset also influenced Szendre to apply to and be accepted for an internship in Europe. “One month before I was supposed to leave, I was crunching numbers and realized it was way too close,” Szendre explains. “I thought, ‘There’s no way I’ll be able to pull this off.’” But then she received an unexpected email: a reminder of a mandatory meeting about a scholarship she didn’t know she had earned. The scholarship ended up funding her HR strategy internship in Germany, where she worked as the first BYU Marriott intern in the Frankfurt office for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “I’m so grateful, and I really think that God cares about what you want.”
As she approaches her final year at BYU Marriott, Szendre says that while the journey hasn’t been easy, she’s grateful to have seen God’s help as she has invested in her future. “I believe that Heavenly Father will take our experiences and He will make us more. He will improve us beyond what we think we can do.”
