Rural Young People, Don’t Be Afraid to Build Your Own Opportunities

To the young people of Garfield, Piute and Wayne counties, we need you! Don’t be afraid to build your own opportunities.

Let me explain what I mean. The median age for the population in Garfield and Wayne counties is 42 years old. In Piute it is a much higher 53 years old. Compare that to the median age of Salt Lake County, which is 33, and you see the problem.

Why are rural counties so old?

It is in large part because there’s a gap in the 20-25 age groups in these counties. In short, college-aged kids leave to get an education, and they never come back.

This is a growing problem in rural communities across the world: in Iowa, Illinois, even across Europe. And everyone has their different solutions for attracting young people.

I am not writing to the governments or the businesses that are already here. I am writing to you, to us, the young people from rural communities. Not everyone who is born here wants to stay here. But to those of you who do, you should know that the opportunities, and a few of the young people, are here.

Building Your Own Opportunities

Those of you who fall into this category of rural 20–25-year-olds, I am writing to you. I know you are here because I have seen you. And I have seen you doing amazing things.

Either you are running your parents’ business, taking over the farm, helping keep Bryce Canyon afloat during the tourist season, building up the next generation or blazing your own trails in life with a new business. And it is working!

One local example of this is the paraeducators at Bryce Valley Elementary School. Where else in the world could you get a meaningful, experience-rich, elementary school job at age 20? Another example is the summer restaurant jobs, where you can move up fast, talk to people from all over the world, and build a great work ethic.

There are a lot of opportunities for young people around here; in fact, there are so many that the people here can easily get overwhelmed. And we would like to spread the word.

The Value of a College Degree in Rural Utah

At this point you might be thinking, “That’s all well and good, but I have a college degree. I feel like I’ve moved past most rural jobs.” That’s what I thought too — the skeptic that I am. Then I moved down and got a job with The Byway.

College degrees definitely don’t define your worth, nor do they determine whether or not you can get a job in Rural, touristy Utah. What they do determine is how much you will be able to share with your community.

Our counties are desperate for music and language teachers, paraeducators, vets, butchers, you name it. But there are few people in the area actually qualified to fill those roles. And in many of these cases you have to build the opportunities from the ground up. That’s where young college graduates come in.

A recent Ziprecruiter survey shows that for recent college graduates, “pay and job security come first. But they also care about the opportunity to learn and grow, and about having flexibility and autonomy.”

New college graduates are known for entering the workforce with gusto and enthusiasm, ready to learn and grow and change the world. And what better place to do that than in Rural Utah!

You can use that gusto to build your own opportunities in small communities. And those communities will in turn support you. 

You may have heard the movie adage, “If you build it, they will come.” In my experience, that adage applies hugely in the small towns of Garfield County. These communities revolve around giving what you have to the town, and the town in turn giving back.

Rural Young People, It’s Your Turn

So, my young rural friends, you may have felt like a misfit living here in the past. Maybe it seemed like there were no other young people or no opportunities for growth, or like your new talents just weren’t going to be appreciated.

But it is not true that they don’t need us.

We, as young people, have the skills to pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and build our own opportunities. Rural towns need our skills, fresh perspectives, and gusto. It’s our turn for the spotlight.

As for all those 42-year-olds and 53-year olds and 15-year-olds who are running Garfield, Piute and Wayne counties, they are doing their best, but they need us back. And it only takes a few brave souls to spread the word.

– by Abbie Call

Feature image caption: Rural counties in Utah have a much higher median age than more densely populated counties. That’s because many of the high school and college graduates leave and don’t come back. But Rural Utah needs its young people! And there are a lot of chances for young people to be able to build their own opportunities. Courtesy Stanley Morales.

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