BYU Piano Professor Shares Life Experiences and Gospel Doctrine that Encourage Growth
The BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications is full of dream chasers, and one look at Jihea’s Hong-Park’s career leaves no doubt she can guide a dream chaser to success. In addition to a successful career in piano performance in venues such as Carnegie Hall and presenting research at a conference hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, she has guided BYU students to their own successes in performance and taught them to go forth to serve through community outreach.
“I am a Dream Chaser,” Hong-Park shared. “Someone with the courage, faith and resilience to walk the uncharted path. We are Dream Chasers.” Despite her renown, she presented a message of hope with humility during her Faith + Works lecture, saying that no success is as speedy or straightforward as it may seem.
“In this journey, more often than not, life throws us unexpected challenges — broken hearts, unforeseen twists and turns, difficult decisions and moments of disappointment,” Hong-Park said. “But in hindsight, we realize that some of what didn’t work out for us actually did work out for us.” She added that her personal sacrifices led to her commitment to live a life with meaning and purpose.
Some goals, like the one she made in her youth to study at Juilliard, happened in the timeline she hoped. Others didn’t. When she was 23 years old, she wrote in her journal that she would teach at BYU in 10 years. 17 years later, she was offered a position at BYU unexpectedly. “In truth, I had forgotten about this journal entry, but He had not,” she said. “Do not underestimate the power of your thoughts and words because, miraculously, those words came true for me.”
In addition to acknowledging God’s help in unexpected ways, she acknowledged that preparation is key to recognizing and maximizing opportunity when it comes. “Opportunities may seem like they come to the ‘lucky ones,’ but I believe that luck comes to those who are prepared. When you are prepared, you don’t wait for opportunities to find you; you go out and create opportunities for yourself,” she said. “Not only that, preparation allows you to take advantage of the right moments, even when they appear unexpectedly.”
Hong-Park said her spiritual upbringing and piano skills were preparation that she knew she could rely on; other skills, such as grant writing for community outreach, came because she was willing to “get out of [her] comfort zone, try new things and be open-minded.” She also had a testimony that we can do all things through Christ.
She said Elder Uchtdorf’s admonition to “remember who you are” has fortified her testimony that developing your known skills puts you in a good position to develop new ones. “As you remember who you are and continue to challenge yourself, your capacity to do hard things will grow,” she said.
She encouraged her audience to pursue their dreams despite the hardships they may face. “There may be times when answers don’t come as quickly as you’d like, but trust in this: He knows you. He loves you. He will always extend his hand to you,” she said. “And just as He has led me, He will lead you also as you chase after your own dreams – through every detour, every unexpected turn and every moment of uncertainty.”
