Joseph said his family is deeply important to him because his is so small: his parents, Bernard and Tieni (pronounced sen-E), his little sister, Susan, and grandmother , Florence Carwell. In DECA, he found a second family.
His grandmother, sent him to DECA, where he wanted to do well academically to set himself up for the future. But when he got more settled, he got into additional leadership positions in the school’s ROTC and as a DECA ambassador and advisory leader.
“Once I got settled on my school, that’s when I started making more efforts to get to know people,” he said.
Joseph said as a shy kid, it took him time to come out of his shell.
“I have a couple of friends that I’ve made from school that I talked to outside of school, and I’ve made a lot more effort getting to know my senior classmates as well, inside and outside of school,” Joseph said.
Jenny Schade, development director for DECA, said Joseph is a “true go-getter.”
“We are excited to see where life takes Alex as we have seen his impact on DECA,” Schade said.
Family is still one of the most important things to him, he said. He and his parents have clashed at times, but they’re always supportive, he said.
“At some point you realize the family that you have is more special than other families simply because everybody’s supporting each other,” Joseph said. “And that’s rare to come by.”
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