Finding the right path: Taylor Sulgrove
Low-key talent: Phil Jones
Taylor Sulgrove wants to be a teacher. She took a few classes at JCCC and realized that teaching was her life’s calling.
When you meet student Phil Jones for the first time, it’s tough to picture him as the stereotypical rapper, much less an “Internet sensation.” His friendly smile and his calm, laid-back demeanor are strikingly unexpected.
“Education is so important,” she said. “I can’t stress that enough. Education is our way out. No matter where you’re from, who you are…it allows you to see the world differently.” Sulgrove once wasn’t so sure of what she wanted to do with her life. She had followed her fiancé from Chicago to Kansas City. He had gotten a job and had a plan, but she didn’t have a clue about her next step. “I was at a bad part of my life in that I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. She’d heard glowing recommendations about JCCC, so even though she lived in Missouri and had to pay out-of-state tuition, she enrolled and hoped to find her path. Her time with her teachers – all of them, throughout her life – led her to realize that teaching should be her career. Sulgrove said she hopes to teach second or third grade in an urban setting, or perhaps be the director of an adult education program. “I need to give back what’s been given to me,” she said. She’s drawn to adult education, she said, because it’s never too late to make a change for the better. “People don’t understand that you have to have your education. When you educate one person, their children will see it, and then they’ll get their education. It just keeps growing.” Sulgrove also wants to teach as a tribute to the teachers she’s had at JCCC. “My teachers have been so helpful. All of them have been great… If I email them, they’ll respond. They just give me the confidence I need to succeed, and to know I can be a teacher.”
Jones has been rapping since he was 7 years old. Back then, he’d perform for friends and at elementary school talent shows, doing covers by his favorite artists such as Run-D.M.C and LL Cool J, but today, he writes and performs his own original songs. You may not recognize him by his given name, but maybe you have heard of LowKeezy, his stage name, which is very fitting for his personality. “When I started rapping, I used the name ‘Low Key’ but realized that others were using the same name,” he said. “Friends started calling me LowKeezy, and it stuck.” Recently, Jones was featured in a YouTube video, produced by fellow JCCC students, that to date has received more than 61,000 hits, making him an instant campus celebrity. But you won’t see that fame going to his head. Jones still remains the same humble, LowKeezy guy. For most people, this condition may seem like a hindrance to a career in the limelight, but not for Jones. In fact, it’s just the opposite. He said he does not experience panic attacks while on stage in front of his fans. That’s his comfort zone. “When I am on stage, I feel like I am in control. I am relaxed,” he said. Jones, who plans to graduate in May 2014, started college as a marketing and advertising major. He enrolled in a broadcast class and found that he really enjoyed it. Molly Baumgardner, coordinator of journalism and media communications, saw his potential and introduced him to radio broadcasting. During the spring 2013 semester, he could be heard weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon hosting his own show on the student radio station ECAV. “She (Baumgardner) has been in my corner from the very beginning,” he said. “She has encouraged me every step of the way.” He now plans on majoring in broadcast journalism. If ever he decides to get out of the music business, Jones said he would like to pursue a career in the field of entertainment or sports broadcasting. For now, he plans on touring with his band and performing the music that he loves.
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