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Honors Program

Caleb Alton

Caleb Alton
Major: Accounting
Graduation: April 2023

I am a man like any other with no small skill or talent: I am good at some things, and even better at other things. I've learned that there are some things I can tolerate, and other things I find to be unbearable. I've felt love, regret, peace, sadness, discomfort, stress, and gratitude during my time at BYU. I was born with a good heart, which has at times confused me into thinking I was a strong, enduring disciple of Christ. But alas, all things and peoples can work toward a common good. I am merely experiencing my share of life during this, my time of mortal probation.

What's the best-kept secret at BYU? Why? 

BYU's best kept secret is beneath the HBLL, below the second and first floor where students sit to study their books and drink out of their Stanley mugs. It extends for another mile until it stops abruptly to circle back around to all directions--north, south, east, and west. It comes up past the MTC, the BYU Life Science Greenhouses, the Helaman Halls and duck pond, all to ascend until it comes together at the very top to create a perfect sphere with a transparent, glossy finish like glass. It is not a bowl like the kind fish swim in for the delight of onlookers, nor is it a bubble that pops under the slightest pressure. No, this space, this scholarship and education, has been preserved for more than 100 years, and built as temples for the rising generation. The best kept secret is how close to the veil one can get before having to turn back around. If we all were to set rules to develop our faith as much as our grades, then truly, there would not be a mightier, happier people found in all the land to contend with the statutes, the standards, the community and spirit of these, the students of Brigham Young University.

Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give your freshman self? 

To my freshman self: don't run a mile in 5 minutes and sleep the rest of the day; run for 5 hours and have the rest of the day to do whatever you want. Procrastinating is the unrealistic spike of energy to stress about getting done what should have been done 3 days before. When it comes to assignments, if setting dates to finish by aren't working, then be humble and find a buddy to work with. If none can be found, then be honest with yourself in doing the work that is needed in a day and then willfully moving on. As one of my accounting professors put it: be willing to stand up and walk out of a meeting with the board of directors of a prestigious company if it goes even one minute over.

Why did you decide to join the Honors Program?

The Honors Program houses the kind of people who go above and beyond a normal education to learn and compete with the minds, theologies, and unexpected connections of the many beautiful disciplines that exist in the world today. The students here can't take the road more traveled and must carve their own unique pathway of purpose. Such individuals are leaders in their field, capable of taking on the trials of the simple-minded while achieving a holistic view of the world. Thus has my perspective changed for the better because of the contributions of my peers.

What has been your favorite part of your Honors experience?

My favorite part of the Honors Program has been to take a class I thought I knew much about only to find the other several truths that not only enhance my definition of the subject, but also my way of living. If I had a mind the size of the ocean, then perhaps I could adopt all attitudes and vicissitudes of nature to best comply and reply to the bigger-than-life contributions demanded from me. And yet, even the smallest of brains can supply the biggest of hearts, which therein lies true learning and scholarship.

What is your next step in Honors?

My next step is Honors 320, following which is my thesis. It's amazing how quickly time has gone by. It might have done me good to tie myself to a pot and watch it boil. But then again, even idioms can't stop the world from spinning. It'll be fun to think how crazy and quick all of life will seem when it's all over.