Meet Adam Jones (’14)

Posted by Michael R. Walker (BA ’90), associate editor

Hometown and High School: Layton, Utah; Northridge High School

Applied To: BYU, BYU–Idaho, and Utah State

Major Plans: Vocal jazz

Interests and achievements: Eagle Scout and honor student; plays guitar, piano, trumpet, and percussion (was a member of his school’s marching band drum line); sang in high school jazz choir, was president of the a cappella choir, and performed song parodies in school assemblies; acted in musicals every year of high school (once as Javert in Les Miserables); worked at an ice cream shop.

Plans to Bring to Provo: His Power Rangers blanket

Jazzed about the Cougars: Adam wanted to go to BYU for as long as he can remember. “When I was just a little kid, I was wearing BYU diapers and such,” he says. “Both my parents went to BYU and have always been Cougar fans. So they raised me right.”

Adam’s interest was bolstered when his high school choir had an exchange with the BYU jazz program. “I’ve always had a passion for jazz, and I got to know the professor pretty well, so I thought I’d go to the Y and continue in jazz studies.” Later, he took a day off school for a BYU campus tour. “I just wanted a reason to have a school-excused sluff day,” he explains. “But I remember being really intimidated and just overwhelmed at the idea of coming to the Y. I was really nervous. I was leaving high school, where I felt like a top dog, and diving into a much larger pool.”

BYU Bound: When Adam applied to BYU, he was in the middle of Les Miserables and choir performances. A lot of his close friends were also applying, and he helped them to complete their applications. “I frequently had to remind them of papers in the application process,” he says. “I got so caught up in helping so many of my friends apply that I barely made it to the post office on the day of the deadline.”

Adam calls the day he was accepted to BYU “the best day ever.” When he got an e-mail from BYU notifying him that his application status had changed, he went to check it out online, repeating this mantra in his head: “I’m happy if I don’t make it. I’m happy if I don’t make it. I’m not going to be depressed my entire life.” His mom and brother were nearby, enjoying a quiet afternoon at home. “When I saw that I had made it,” he says, “I just stood up and threw my arms up in the air and started screaming at the top of my lungs.” His mom and brother ran in, asking, “What’s up? What are you doing?” Adam beamed at them, “I got accepted!” After a moment of familial jumping around and shouting, Adam reports that he then “ran outside the house and around the block screaming, ‘I’m going to BYU!’”