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Brigham Young University graduates walk to commencement Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo

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A Brigham Young University graduate walks to commencement Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Nate Edwards, BYU Photo

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A Brigham Young University graduate walks to commencement Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo

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A pair of Brigham Young University graduates ride their motorcycles on campus Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Olivia Taylor, BYU Photo

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Brigham Young University graduates attend commencement in the Marriott Center Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Nate Edwards, BYU Photo

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Two Brigham Young University graduates pose for a photo Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Olivia Taylor, BYU Photo

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A Brigham Young University graduate poses for a photo Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Provo.

Courtesy Aaron Cornia, BYU Photo

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Hadley Olsen attended the accounting society meeting because she was a club member. Tanner Olsen just went for the free pizza.

After sitting next to each other, Tanner complimented Hadley’s shoes, and acquired her phone number.

The rest was history.

“He went for free pizza and he left with a wife,” Hadley said. “So it was a pretty good return.”

Hadley and Tanner’s story is one of the thousands of unique tales from the 7,194 Brigham Young University students in the 2025 graduating class.

Some graduates met their significant others at the school, while others took a memorable trip or overcame academic challenges.

All of them will walk away with a BYU diploma, and years of learning experiences and memories attached.

Here are a handful of their stories:

Amy Ortiz Sanchez, journalism

Courtesy Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo

When Amy Ortiz Sanchez emigrated from Mexico to Utah at 9 years old, she said she could barely form a sentence in English.

Fast forward to this week, she concluded her college education, where she studied journalism and was the editor-in-chief at the school paper, The Daily Universe.

Speaking to a capacity commencement crowd in the Marriott Center Thursday morning, she described her path as a true underdog story.

“The very fact that I’m standing here today is a miracle,” she said. “The very fact that I chose a career where the bulk of what I do is reading and writing is an act of faith.”

Using her reporting skills, Sanchez was able to see other people’s underdog stories, strengthening her own BYU experience.

She traveled to Germany to study the life of Brigham Young Academy founder, Karl G. Maeser, for a BYU documentary that will celebrate his legacy. She saw some of campus’ most unique stories — like when BYU’s Catholic Newman Club was reinstated and held a mass service on campus.

“All of us, no matter where we come from or who we are, have an underdog story,” Sanchez said. “We’ve taken leaps of faith and, after many times of praying relentlessly outside the testing center, watching the clock tick closer and closer to our midnight deadlines, and staying up well past that time just for fun with our friends and roommates, we have made it here. We have made it to this moment with proof that God works through the unlikely–the underdogs–to accomplish the impossible.”

Hadley Olsen, accounting

Courtesy Hadley Olsen

Growing up in a family of loyal Cougars in Pleasant Grove, attending BYU was always on Hadley Olsen’s radar.

As early as elementary school, she recalls stressing about school because she knew she needed good grades to get into BYU.

Her experience exceeded her expectations.

“I would say BYU is everything, and it has made me who I am today, and that there’s not a school like it in the world,” she said.

Olsen took a challenging path towards graduation, participating in an integrated accounting program that allows her to graduate with a bachelor’s and master’s degree.

She said she felt imposter syndrome at times because everyone in the program was so intelligent. She pushed herself, sometimes to the point of feeling sick because her brain was working hard to understand the concepts. But she was successful.

“I loved it, because it taught me how to sit in that (struggle) and find the answers,” Olsen said. “The accounting program has high expectations, but also high love.”

Her time at BYU was further enhanced by her freshman year experience at Helaman Halls, meeting her husband, Tanner, and a semester trip to BYU Jerusalem.

“It was like BYU, but learning about another people and having this once-in-a-lifetime experience of living in Jerusalem and visiting the places that Jesus Christ was, and seeing different people in the way that they show their faith,” Olsen said. “It was this diverse BYU experience that changed my life.”

Sadie Griffiths, elementary education; and Mark Griffiths, mechanical engineering

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

Perhaps nobody will have a more eventful graduation week than Sadie and Mark Griffiths. After graduating from their respective programs Friday, the married couple is expecting their first baby Saturday.

“It’s all these things at once,” Sadie, a Millville, Utah native said. “But it’s fun because our world is just very open right now.”

The two carved out a moment from their chaotic week to reflect on their time at BYU.

Mark, from Auburn, California, said he had a rigorous academic experience studying mechanical engineering, but appreciated the social aspect of college, first by attending a young single adult ward with people he lived with and making good friends.

“I really love the communities,” he said.

Getting married in college offered new challenges for the couple, like working part time while attending school and adjusting to married life. But they learned how to balance it all.

“Going to BYU is just like a unique experience,” Sadie said. “Just learning a lot in multiple areas of your life, spiritually and intellectually, and so just the combination of all that is really, really awesome.”

Jennifer Tenny, English

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

New Kent, Virginia native Jennifer Tenny said she originally didn’t want to come to BYU because of her preconceived notions about Utah and the university.

Approaching the new culture with an open mind helped her appreciate her time.

“My BYU experience has been great,” she said. “I love all the professors. I loved my classes, but ultimately, I just love the atmosphere and the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made.”

Delving into her studies, Tenny learned how literature can be applicable to all aspects of life, and believes that her degree will help her pursue any job in the future.

Looking forward, she’ll study abroad in the United Kingdom and Ireland this summer. From there, she’ll continue to keep an open mind.

“That’s like my last hurrah. And then after that, I don’t know,” Tenny said. “The world’s my oyster now, I guess.

Joseph Morrell, mechanical engineering

Jacob Nielson, Daily Herald

Joseph Morrell said he spent the whole week thinking about what his time at BYU as an undergrad meant to him.

What he determined is it was an all-encompassing experience that’s going to pay dividends going forward in his life.

“BYU touches on your involvement in every aspect of your life,” Morrell said. “So I feel like leaving here with this degree, I’m ready to tackle an engineering career, but I’m also ready to be a father and a husband and a person to serve in the church and just contribute to a world that needs more light in it.”

A lot of his growth came from his time in the engineering program, where he said he was pushed hard, but leaned on mentors and developed his own academic muscles.

“(They help you) become a stronger engineer and a strong student,” he said. “They don’t cut you slack, but they’re going to help you grow in the process.

Morrell’s time at BYU will continue, as he’ll pursue a mechanical engineering master’s degree after completing a summer internship in Albuquerque, New Mexico.