“Growing up, my family fostered kids with disabilities, and my dad eventually started a business providing homes for people with disabilities. While I didn’t necessarily want to work for my dad, I did want to make a difference for people with disabilities.

I started at the U in chemical engineering. I could do the work, but I didn’t love it. My wife is a biology teacher and suggested I try special education. She pointed out that I could pursue the same mission I’d grown up around, but it would be my own path. The moment I started those classes, something clicked. It was the work I wanted to do.

One of my first classes required us to participate in an after-school program for people with disabilities. I took part in U-FIT, and watching those kids progress over the semester was unforgettable. At the start, many couldn’t complete the activities on their own. By the end, they were doing them independently. That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident—it happens because someone believed it was possible.

The concept that tied everything together was person-first language. In special education, it means referring to a person before their disability. For example, ‘a person with autism’ rather than ‘an autistic person.’ It sounds like a small distinction, but it changes how you see people entirely. Their disability, their race, their gender, none of that defines them first. They are a person first.

That shift transformed my experience at the U in ways I didn’t expect. I’m from St. George, a small town without much diversity. Coming to a university where diversity was not just present but genuinely welcomed was eye-opening. I started going to events at the Union. It didn’t matter what was happening; I just showed up. It helped me meet people I never would have crossed paths with otherwise.

A lot of us are judgmental at first sight; that’s just human nature. But when you train yourself to see people as people first, you walk into rooms differently. You think, ‘These are just people, I can reach out and get to know them.’ That mindset made it so much easier to move past an initial reaction and actually connect.

Looking ahead, I’ve applied to the U’s graduate program in applied behavior analysis and will keep working at the high school where I currently teach. Eventually, I may start my own business in the field. But the bigger goal is simpler: We as students are the ones who can go out and change the world. It’s not the world that changes us. If we move forward and treat people with more kindness, we can be a real force for good.”

— Gage Hall, Class of 2026, B.S. in Special Education, emphasis in mild to moderate supports, College of Education, from St. George, Utah