Feature Story
Finding & Creating a Home at Southern Virginia University
Caleb Palmer (‘26) moved to Buena Vista, Virginia while in high school when his dad accepted the position as the director of the Southern Virginia Institute of Religion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Taking a gap year after high school to move away and look at various college options, Palmer felt Southern Virginia University calling him back.
“Something kept drawing me back to this school. It felt magnetic,” said Palmer. “I’d been undergoing a lot of change during that period of life and nothing felt more constant and stable than Southern Virginia.”
Wanting to study communications, Palmer planned on attending Southern Virginia for one year before transferring to another university with a communications major, but by the end of the year, he felt like he should stay. He decided to major in English, and later double majored in design. In doing so, he feels like he is creating his own communications major at Southern Virginia University.
“It’s fun,” said Palmer. “Associate Professor of Art Jacob Ricks puts such an emphasis on the fact that graphic design needs words to make it work, and that it’s still visual communication, while English is all written and spoken communication.”
Palmer has found a mentor in Ricks and has grown in Ricks’ classes, which are collaborative and interactive, allowing students to use class time designing as they move through weekly projects.
”I love the relationships I have with the professors,” said Palmer. “I really feel like I can be good friends with my professor while also maintaining a professional working relationship with them. There are such rad experiences that I don’t know that I would ever have gotten at a bigger university.”
Palmer also appreciates living in a Christ-centered environment where professors and students frequently refer to the gospel of Jesus Christ in class discussions. Having the space to put in personal effort to attend church and develop his faith, Palmer feels like his testimony is strengthened.
”It’s a part of everything in the best ways,” said Palmer. “It isn’t just a cultural norm—I have to make the effort for myself. But I think the freedom to be able to choose to worship and learn at your own pace makes it so much better.”
Palmer met his wife Maren (‘23) while they were students at the university and they were married in 2024. Preparing to enter his senior year and finish his bachelors, he plans to pursue a masters degree in graphic design at the University of Utah.