...a Mormon?

NBC/MSNBC recently contracted a news reporter for the West Coast but based in Los Angeles and that is a busy news center and he has a lot of exposure.

His name is Jacob Rascon and is very photogenic and very articulate. He is going to be a good reporter.

He is a graduate of BYU in journalism but is of a Latino background out of Texas.

If a Mormon, I am disappointed as I just cannot believe that anyone would follow the crock of shit that Mormonism is.

Ever hear of Jim McMahon?

Its not uncommon for their athletes to be non-Mormon because a scholarship is probably worth putting up with the b.s. and elite level athletes are hard to come by but I am not sure too many others go there who aren't Mormon.

Having said that my best friend did go there for a year. He was an atheist never mo from the South. When I asked him why the hell he went to BYU given the honor code being so strict he told me that he didn't they there were actually serious about that. Needless to say, after his freshman year he transferred to another school quickly.

One of my Ricks pals was non-Mormon and went there to play baseball on a scholarship. He never joined the church but, I'm guessing, had better attendance at religion classes...the reason I was asked not to return for my sophomore year.

Ron Burr

The Rascon family are members and good mormons.

There is a small percentage of students who are not Mormon. There are for instance some Muslim students there.

I was at BYU 20 years ago in the mid nineties and was actually surprised how many non-members I encountered. Far more than I expected. I even had one as a roommate for a year, although the campus missionaries would not leave him alone. I don't know how he could stand it.

Gabe Gutierez, Miguel Almaguer, and Jacob Rascon are kind of a trio of good-looking Hispanic-Americans on NBC. Good correspondents, all.

Yeah, you'd be very mistaken to assume that anyone who went to BYU is Mormon for two reasons. One, even many years ago when I went there were plenty of non-LDS there. And not just the scholarship athletes either. It should have been my first clue that Mormonism wasn't for me that I made so many non-LDS friends at BYU but there you go...

Two, just because someone went to BYU doesn't mean they are currently Mormon. They may have gone to please a parent, for free tuition promised by an ultra-Mormon parent or been ultra-Mormon themselves once but were smart enough to figure out it's a crock. I have a number of former BYU friends who aren't LDS now and it's great because we all understand each other like no one else, having been through the whole Mormon/ex-Mormon experience AND being old friends. If someone says they went to BYU, give them a chance to show you are who they are today, and not judge them on who they were back in the old days.

One of my fellow students in a French class at BYU was not Mormon. She was from another country and her parents were strong catholics. When they moved to USA they wanted to make sure she went to a college with strong religious values because she was a bit of a hell raiser. They sent her to BYU but it didn't change her one bit. She basically thought Mormonism was a crock.

I went to BYU after I graduated right out of high school and hated every minute of it, but that's another story.

There was a guy in the apartment above mine in my complex, down in central Provo. His dad sent him to BYU because he was a "hell raiser" as mentioned above. His dad had been friends with a couple of Mormon guys in the Air Force, as I recall, and liked what they stood for?

Buddy **** was indeed a hellraiser and got a couple of his roommates in trouble with drinking and smoking. I also heard he'd found a couple of BYU girls who liked to sneak him in for some slap and tickle. I have no proof of that :) He was quite a character.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2015 11:20PM by memikeyounot.

My mother went to BYU because it was far away from her abusive father. Entered a non mormon, exited a mormon.

I'm a graduate of BYU. I was RAISED a Mormon, but I never really believed in it and was pretty much a closet Atheist by High School. I know, I know, it was a bad call. It was my parents' wish and I couldn't stand up to them, even after I turned 18. That and they paid for it in full... I was afraid I'd be on my own if I declined to attend BYU. Honestly I was hoping my application would be rejected, but no such luck.

I DID receive a good education there, useless religion classes aside. And I almost got kicked out several times for failing to attend all the meetings and crap. I basically holed up in my single dorm room watching porn and playing video games for five years. And sketching nudes on campus -- that got me a few weird looks!

Question, what do you do for a living now? Just curious how staying holed up in your room watching porn worked out for you?

Touche, sir! I am indeed unemployed! Think what you will.

I stayed holed up in my room because I have Social Anxiety Disorder -- being around people terrifies me, so I tend to avoid them when possible. Yet I still managed to attend my occasionally crowded classes and graduate. Straight out of BYU I worked for 5 years in a white collar job that I hated, so I quit last year and haven't found a suitable replacement.

Kikid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Question, what do you do for a living now? Just
> curious how staying holed up in your room watching
> porn worked out for you?

What a thoughtful and intelligent question.

Back in the sixties, BYU was about 5% nonMo students. Now it is in the 1% range. And a fair percentage of RFM posters are BYU grads. Don't assume BYU on resume means TBM.

Any relation to Art Rascon. Long time Mormon reporter in San Antonio, Houston and LA?

I went to BYU at the same time as Jacob's dad Art, also a newscaster.

Athletes and Nepalis were the only non-members I ever met at BYU.

I worked with a guy whose son went to BYU on a gymnastics scholarship. Neither father nor son were mormon, and neither ever joined, to my knowledge. applesauce

Athletes get a lot of nomos;lots of nomo foreign students too. I had a Muslim friend from Mali there.

I went to BYU on my own and paid for it. I overall liked it but having to shave every day pissed me off. I brought my electric razor to school every day so I could use it just in case I couldn't get in the gym.

I married a Mormon girl when we graduated and about two years later we left the church and realized we weren't meant to be together. I still watch BYU football and have some team spirit, but I'd never go back.

The biggest problem I've had wasn't at BYU, it's more that I'm a BYU grad and people give me shit for it. I've definitely been shunned by others or given the special treatment because I went to BYU. Those who take 2 minutes to get to know me know I'm not some fruitcake though,so that's l all that matters anyway.

So that's what happened to Jacob Rascon! His dad, Art, was the bishop in the ward and a local newscaster. As a youth, Jacob was nothing short of an entitled little punk. He was quite obnoxious to the older teens. I'm guessing that he repented before his mission and now considers himself an Alma the Younger sort of figure. Knowing him and his family, I'd be surprised if he wasn't more TBM than his dad.

Two Nevermos from my high school class (Laguna Beach '81) went to BYU.

I never really understood why. I think that it had to do with a very cheap tuition, and BYU (and Mormonism) wasn't quite the joke it is in the 21st Century.

Jacob Rascon is the son of Art Rascon. Art Rascon is a news reporter in Houston, TX, and is most def a member of the church. When I was still a member I remember hearing other women twittering about how he covered and protected an older woman when shots rang out in New Orleans after Hurricane Rita when people were trying to evacuate.

But as pointed out, there are two ways you may not be Mormon:

1) About 98% of BYU students are LDS, per BYU's own stats Ref: http://yfacts.byu.edu/Article?id=135

Of the non-Mormons, I'd bet most are athletes. I met a few non-Mormons when I was tutoring for the Athletic Department. I don't remember meeting any outside that context.

2) You can drop out of Mormonism after graduation. I know dozens of exmormon BYU grads, including myself.

I hate people stereotyping BYU grads, because I'm one myself. Once you get more than a few years removed from graduation, the chances of them having left the church increases. Not all of us have a stick up our ass.

There was a black kid who just got shot down here who has an athletic scholarship to the "Y" for football. He was shooting hoops with some kids and it looks like he was targeted. The whole thing was caught on a cell phone. I think he is supposed to recover. He was a premo high school jock.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2015 06:37PM by michaelc1945.

I'm proud that I went to a Catholic University (La Salle) and never fell into the whole BYU, BYU HI or Ricks (I'm that old).

The thing is that BUY grads seem to be pretty smart, yet no wisdom or they dismiss all of their cognitive thinking. Seems most of them that I respect did most of their learning outside of the University environment, so maybe the experience can be a plus on learning how to study, how to comprehend, how to think comprehensively.

Admittedly, I'm prejudiced against Mormons for being ignorant, so whenever someone tells me they went to BYU the song "little boxes" comes to mind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LM8JhvfoqdA

BYU hasn't produced any great Philosophers, Artists, Writers, etc... (even Mormon). It's sad, but true.

Yep. as two others have pointed out, to the original question, He's a Mormon. He comes from a strong Mormon background, and his religion was instilled deeply.


I've seen the Rascon family and they seem pretty darn down to earth to me.

But then, I've also seen a few really pompous Mormons too.