Sharlene Miner is a doctor and a mother from Draper, UT. She had a great experience taking a student to lunch through the Take a Cougar to Lunch program. We asked her to tell us about her experience.
I loved the idea of the TACTL program, and I enjoyed my lunch date even more. Though this program no doubt helps men, I think that it can be especially insightful for women. In our society, and especially our church culture, men have a fairly marked path; high school, mission, college, career, family, etc. Women, on the other hand, have many, many choices as well as unknowns as they travel the same time table.
When I entered college, I had no idea how a woman could combine a career in medicine with a family. Because I also enjoyed music and teaching, I majored in music education … My music training proved invaluable for my college days as well as the rest of my life. I think had I gone into medicine from the start I would have limited my studies at BYU to biology, zoology, or something similar … Currently, I have a wonderful family, a great part-time job as an emergency physician, and enjoy active involvement in the church, my neighborhood and community.
The TACTL program helped me explain to the student, using my own
experience, how important it is to stay focused on the gospel and family—what matters most. Throughout my life, I have found that as I have kept my priorities completely in line with gospel principles, everything else has worked out. It was great to sit down and shed some light and experience about life with a cougar. It was great to reflect on my own path and decisions and then help her process her own ideas and aspirations. Lunch with a Cougar made me feel young again and old at the same time. I found that I have had some experiences that are worth sharing. I also found that the Cougar gave me a renewal for my own life with her ambitions, dreams and wide open path.
Thank you, Sharlene. If you want to take a student out to lunch or be taken to lunch by a professional, visit lunch.byu.edu to sign up.