Louisiana Woman Mistakenly Applies To SLCC And Now All Of Utah Is Trying To Convince Her To Move Here

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — Applying to colleges can be a stressful time in a young co-eds life.

At Salt Lake Community College it’s an open enrollment process. You apply and pay a 40 dollar application fee, but for one woman a few letters made the whole process a little confusing.

When you enter Salt Lake Community College in Taylorsville, the signs are everywhere.

“Fulfill their dreams and find their dream career,” said Sarah Reale with a smile.

Reale is the director of digital marketing and wants to make sure all who step on campus feel welcome.

Students attending the college usually come from nearby, but one college-aged girl became an accidental applicant.

“It was (an application) from a student who lived in Louisiana,” Reale said.

Katelynn Lovelady lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

“I had typed in the Google search bar, SLCC Summer Courses,” Lovelady said.

She was attempting to apply to South Louisiana Community College.

“I just continued going oblivious to everything and at the very end I realized something was wrong,” she said.

Lovelady didn’t exactly mean to apply to a school 1,600 miles away. Feeling a little silly and defeated she composed a tweet and went to bed.

I just applied to SLCC for summer class only to realize it’s Salt Lake Community College in SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH instead of SOUTH LOUISIANA COMMUNITY COLLEGE. GOODBYE $40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

— Kaitlynn A. Lovelady (@KaitlynnLovelad) February 27, 2019

“I was like goodbye 40 dollars you know,” she said. “I woke up the next morning and my (Twitter) notifications were going crazy. It was just liked everybody welcoming me to Utah with open arms.”

Lt. Governor Spencer Cox told her through a tweet “it may be the best 40 dollars she ever spent.”

The Utah National Guard replied, “it could be the best mistake you’ll ever make.”

Their tweets were just a part of the hundreds of Utahns trying to convince her to come to the beehive state.

“I was just overwhelmed with everybody responding and telling me how much I would love it,” Lovelady said.

Then, an anonymous Utahn came forward offering to cover her flight to Utah to visit the campus and see the state, which she quickly accepted. She now plans to visit the state in April.

“I haven’t ever left the state of Louisiana,” she said with a laugh.

It’s a simple mistake that is now getting her on a plane for the first time, for the experience of a lifetime.

“I definitely want to go skiing and see snow,” she said.

That shouldn’t be a problem since several of Utah’s resorts reached out to her offering a day of skiing when she gets to town.

Lovelady says she is actually considering taking classes here in Utah based on all the positive interactions she’s had online. She said, the only thing deterring her is the out of state tuition costs.