The early-morning seminary program -- with all its attendant adventures and blessings -- is highlighted with a series of profiles on students, teachers and families from around the country, on MormonTimes.com beginning May 10.

If you were to make a movie about Allison Sanders’ life, the opening scene would have to include her alarm clock going off at 5:30 a.m. each school day.

That’s when Sanders, 18, of Valrico, Fla., faces the reality that it’s time to get ready for another day of early morning seminary before heading off to Durant High School in Plant City, Fla.



“Everybody at school … thinks I’m a lunatic,” Sanders said with a laugh. But she’s been fine with that “lunacy” through all four years of high school, although “it’s been a challenge for sure.”

“I’m definitely not a morning person at all,” she said. “I love my sleep.”

The movie would also show Sanders leaving for the 10-minute ride to the Brandon Florida Stake Center -- after throwing on some clothes and “getting ready for school in the car.” Seminary begins at 5:50 a.m. at the stake center, and then Sanders travels 30 minutes to her school after seminary is over.

“It’s been a really good experience,” Sanders said. “Going to seminary has taught me a lot about diligence and respect and not just doing things because it’s expected of you, but learning how to really enjoy something and try to get the most out of it that you can, because it’s hard when you’re waking up that early, but it’s worth it. … Seminary has taught me a lot of life lessons that I know I’ll carry with me the rest of my life, and I’m going to be proud to say I went to early morning seminary for four years.”

One of those life lessons is how to work hard. Sanders spends a number of hours after school each week working two part-time jobs, one at the local YMCA and the other at an elementary school after-school program.

“It’s a long day,” she said.
 
Add school homework to the mix, plus her duties as Laurels president in the Valrico Ward’s Young Women, and yes, she’s got a busy schedule. But early morning seminary is one experience she wouldn’t change.

“I’ve learned more from seminary going in the morning than I would have if I didn’t,” she said.

After she graduates from high school, she will attend Brigham Young University-Idaho, where she plans to study American history education so she “can go back to high school and be a teacher.” She wants to pass on her love of history.

“I really enjoy the World War II era,” she said. “I’ve been really blessed with good history teachers who’ve made the subject really interesting, so that’s kind of what made me want to teach it. … The teachers I’ve had have inspired me to be a teacher so I can do the same for someone else.”
 
E-mail: rwalsh@desnews.com