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Show "UCCU and Brad Norton" buildings had just one heater in each building. Later a new campus was built in Provo on 13 acres and the school became the Utah Technical College or the "Tech". The college first had just a few hundred students but grew in popularity until portable units on the Provo campus were filled to the brim and the college was landlocked. President Wilson Sorenson began looking for a new site so the college could grow. When he found 185 acres on the sand hills of Orem, people thought he was crazy. The site was more than 10 times larger than the existing campus and no one believed they would need that much land but Wilson was a determined man and just before the deadline, he showed up with a check to pay for the property. Most thought they would be lucky if the expanded school would even house a couple of thousand students. BYU was meeting most of the traditional higher education needs of the community, but that all changed as the LDS church continued to grow and the decision was made not to build any more LDS owned colleges or universities. Enrollment at BYU was capped and Utah County continued to grow rapidly. People needed a place to attend college and so UTC became a community college and offered general education classes in addition to the traditional trades programs. For 13 years UVCC was the fastest growing college west of the Mississippi river. In response, UVCC became UVSC and started offering four-year degrees. A beautiful events center was built and a most generous donation by Word Perfect founders Alan and Karen Ashton gave them the right to put the name of Alan's grandfather, David O McKay, on the events building. As the years came and went it became obvious that some events in the David O McKay Center, such as rock concerts, did not reflect the dignity of the man and modern prophet. Discussions were held about putting the McKay name on another building and renaming the events center. Utah Community Credit Union (UCCU) had formed a strong partnership with the CollegeUniversity under the leadership of Brad Norton from our community, who was also the Vice President of Marketing at UCCU. Most people in our community had seen Brad in his role with the Boy Scouts of America. He and his family were a hit every year at the BSA Mountain Man Yukon Rendezvous, which was a winter camp for the Varsity Scouts. Brad and his family all dressed up in their mountain man outfits and let the Scouts shoot muzzleloader rifles. For years I had no idea that Brad was a big shot at UCCU. He was so humble and always dressed in a mountain man outfit with a muzzleloader in hand. Much to my surprise, I saw him in a starched shirt and beautiful suit on the college campus representing UCCU. Their credit union had been doing a lot with BYU and I suggested to Brad that the "Tech" was destined to be the largest university in Utah one day and it would be a smart thing for them to do more with "Bezzant" continued on page 3 by Mark Bezzant Since 1941 citizens in our part of Utah County have been attending what has affectionately been called the "Tech". At first it was Central Utah Vocational School where classes were held at what they called the old Fair Grounds in Provo. Classes were literally held in the barn used to show cows and livestock during the county fair. Some classes were held in adjacent barracks left over from the CCC following the great depression. At first the barn had a dirt floor. The other "Bezzant" continued from page 2 ; us at UVSC, soon to be UVU. Besides that, the vast majority of students at UVU were from ; the local area, compared to BYU where the vast majority of : students were residents of other states and countries. The rest is ; history. What Vice President Brad Norton and his team have done for UVU and the community has been wonderful. It allowed the David O. McKay name to be placed on the building where they train future teachers at UVU. UCCU now has its name on the UVU events center and their multimillion dollar donation will help the university do many good things. The next time any of you see Brad Norton, be sure to thank him for all he has done and does for this community. His service to the Boy Scouts of America is just a small portion of the good he does every day. This is one first class Vice President who uses his influence to "help other people at all times," as the Scouts would say. |