Welcome to Ensign Peak Academy!
I am delighted that you have come here, in search of learning “by study and also by faith.”
I love the fresh perspective that comes from meeting new people, learning new ideas, receiving new inspiration, and yes…the view from high on a mountain. I’ve lived in the Rockies for most of my life, and have spent many happy days backpacking, kayaking, and wandering through some of God’s most beautiful mountain country.
My husband Adam and I currently live in a lovely small town named Mount Pleasant, which is situated in a high-mountain desert valley, in Central-Utah. Our children are grown, and we are enjoying the peaceful homestead life, after 28 years in Salt Lake City.
One of my favorite hikes is to the top of Ensign Peak, located just north of the Utah State Capitol, overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. I’ve hiked it many times, sometimes alone and often with family, or my homeschool club members, or with friends or visitors to Utah. I love to stand on that peak and contemplate the history that took place there, when the Latter-day Saints came to build Zion. It’s the perfect place to ponder my own role in the building of Zion.
After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, President Brigham Young and eight others hiked a nearby peak. President Young remarked that it “was a proper place to raise an ensign to the nations” and so it was named Ensign Peak. In 1934, an 18-foot monument was placed there by youth just like you – members of the Salt Lake Ensign Stake Mutual Improvement Associations. The monument is comprised of stones collected from stakes along the Mormon Trail. (Source: Mormon Historic Sites Foundation)
The lyrics to the beloved Latter-day Saint hymn, “High on the Mountain Top,” were written by Joel Johnson in 1853 as he looked up at Ensign Peak and considered the words of Isaiah:
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. … He will lift up an ensign to the nations. … He lifteth up an ensign on the mountains” (Isaiah 2:2-3; 5:26; 18:3).
Now I invite you to join me and many other terrific students as we climb the metaphoric mountain of scholarship and personal discipleship. Let us each raise our personal “Ensign to the Nations” as we become men and women of wisdom, knowledge, virtue, and purpose – examples of Christian character to all those with whom we have the privilege to associate.
Most Warmly,
Diann Jeppson
Founder and Director, Ensign Peak Academy