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 today.


Cathy Pickren is an early-morning seminary teacher -- not a morning person.

So she knows a crash is coming.

"I have the energy to do it during the school year, but after it's over I drop like a popped balloon,” said Pickren, of Saratoga, Wyo. “I sleep for about two weeks.”

When school resumes in the fall, however, she’ll once again put in hours of daily lesson preparation, get by on five or six hours of sleep and arrive at the Laramie Mormon meetinghouse each weekday morning for the 6:15 a.m. class.

“Something sacred happens every day,” she said. “It’'s so worth it.”

Pickren is in her fifth year of teaching early-morning seminary and first since moving back to her home state. A Web marketer by profession, she oversees a daily class of three Laramie high schoolers and an additional evening class attended by a home-schooled student from Encampment.

Although the schedule runs counter to her natural rhythm, Pickren feels sustained by the attitudes of her students. She attributes the synergy and success of the classroom experience to Shay, Chauncey, Alexis and Quin. The kids look out for each other, and the small class size allows for familiarity and close relationships, Pickren said.

They’re also there by choice.

“They’re all so engaged in doing what it takes,” Pickren said. “They wanted this program. … I’m pretty sure that’s what makes this a special experience. I just happen to have students who all want to be there.”

Pickren says she warned her students about hitting a wall in February, and the long Laramie winter, when the skies were dark upon arrival and still dark when they left the meetinghouse, was taxing.

“We feel like we’ve gotten up in the middle of the night,” Pickren said.

But she suspects all involved do it for the same reason, and it’s not the Thursday morning breakfast, which recently featured crepes. Pickren compared the gospel discussions to “something really, really yummy to eat.”

“It’s such a rich experience,” she said. “It’s not to be missed.

John Williams, a Laramie Institute of Religion instructor who supervises 30 seminary teachers in the area, said Pickren’s dedication is illustrative of the whole group.

“Most of them don’t want to give it up because they love these kids,” Williams said. “I think they’re blessed as a result of their sacrifice.”

Pickren plans to keep going, even if the hours don’t agree.

“It’s the best job in the church,” she said.

E-mail: ashill@desnews.com