Austin Cox: Adventure calls him to school and to life

High school: Sanderson High School, Raleigh

Headed to: Brigham Young University-Idaho

Austin Cox, 18, of Raleigh, is an adventurer by nature.

An Eagle Scout, he hikes a portion of the Appalachian Trail each summer. He performs in local theater productions and is a volunteer coach for a local diving team, working every day with youths 8 to 18 at the Northbrook Country Club.

Like other Mormons, he'll spend the year he turns 19 on a mission trip. The idea of leaving college after only one year to focus on his mission doesn't faze him.

What does is learning to handle his own money. It's the one life skill he hasn't mastered.

"I haven't had a real job, so I don't know with money what to do with it," he said.

His parents are helping him pay his tuition and have promised him a monthly allowance, but Cox said he's not sure yet how much he's going to receive.

"Depending how much they give me, that will determine how I have to manage my money," he said.

Right now, Cox is thinking he may want to be an apparel designer but says that his goals may change by the time he's done with school.

"I really want just not to be plain in life, the same thing every day," he said. "I want some excitement. I'm hoping that whatever I do that it's kind of different."