The tough thing for him was that the only people willing to let him be friends with them were people in the drama club. Even though he ran track and was a very likable popular person with great people skills. That could be true of any high school but I feel like it was especially true there.

The culture was different. He grew more image conscious and dressed differently. The dating scene was different. The lds girls were better looking and would make out more. Which at first was fun for him but it lead to a bit more drama.

Long story short he married a rich beautiful girl from alpine and as soon as financial troubles hit she ran back to her rich dad and they were divorced. He rebounded and married another very similar girl also from alpine and that marriage didn’t last either. Both situations it seemed like things looked perfect on the outside but there were deeper issues that stemmed from being rich and beautiful and not being grounded in reality and what leads to true happiness. Too image conscious, too much pressure, jerk in laws, too into money...

So in summary I think moving to alpine temporarily wrecked my best friends life because the road he went down and the people he met lead him down a road I don’t think he would have went on.

I know 3 other guys extremely well that went to lone peak. One a humble yet highly successful endodontist that didn’t seem at all affected by the culture. Salt of the earth good guy. He made it look like you can be normal and from alpine. Loved hunting. Good family. Another guy from a successful family that seems like he could be the next mitt Romney and is making waves in business and political realms and seems like he has a big future and big plans... he had great things to say about lone peak high school and how it helped him. Another guy that was fairly well adjusted, not a hard working missionary, but very funny and could be somewhat mean and exclusive at times and is now pushing CBD oil on Facebook.

So I think you need to be aware of some of the risks of rich people trying to look perfect and the pressure that causes... but I’ve seen normal well adjusted people that had good things to say.