On the evening of Saturday, Sept. 27, President Russell M. Nelson, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, passed away at age 101.

The next day, posts on social media encouraged students to wear their Sunday best to honor the late prophet.

On Monday, hundreds of BYU-Idaho students did just that, showing up to class in suits, ties and dresses.

Freshman Austin Nielsen learned about the idea of wearing formal clothes to school from his roommate, junior Jacob Gonzalez.

“What I think is really cool about it, why I wanted to participate, is that the last time the prophet (President Thomas S. Monson) died, I was really young, and I didn’t understand it,” said Nielsen. “But President Nelson, having such a huge impact on my youth, I was really eager to be able to mourn, to participate in showing thanks for his life.”

Gonzalez said that for him and other college students, President Nelson was the prophet they knew the best.

“I feel like, especially for everyone else, all these college students, President Nelson is the prophet that was most influential for us,” said Gonzalez. “Nelson helped me the most because he was there when it happened.”

Freshman Hailey Allen heard about it from her roommates, so she decided to dress up for school on Monday because she remembers when President Monson passed away in 2018.

“I remember when President Monson passed away, and I remember coming to school and everyone was dressed up, and I didn’t know about it, and I was like, ‘oh, I feel bad, I wish I had dressed up,’” said Allen. “It’s been really cool walking around campus today and seeing everyone dressed up.”

Allen said that her family has a connection to President Nelson. She said that her great-grandfather once underwent heart surgery from President Nelson. The surgery went well at first, but not long after, President Nelson was inspired to bring him back in to re-do the surgery, even though he didn’t know why.

“I don’t remember what was wrong, but had they not caught it right then, he would have been dead that night,” Allen said. “That confirms to me that I know he is a prophet of God.”

Sophomore Chandler Jones mentioned President Nelson’s emphasis on temples, having announced over 200 new temples to be constructed.

Jones said he and his sister made a goal over the summer to go to the temple every week, which he said was a great experience.

“The temple is just a really safe refuge place that you can go and you can feel the spirit, you can just feel safe and a sense of peace,” said Jones. “It’s all thanks to President Nelson pushing temple work and pushing us to go more. It just makes us better people.”

Nielsen expressed gratitude for President Nelson and the example that he set forth in his tenure as president of the church.

“He’s been a source of truth; he shared with us revelation from God, but also he’s been a great example of Christlike attributes,” Nielsen said. “I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else in my life that has been as Christlike as President Nelson.”

According to Jones, this was just a way for people to come together and show appreciation for a prophet who has meant so much to them over the last few years.

“I just thought that’s a really great way to show our faith and our dedication to our prophet,” Jones said.