Junior Josiah Roundtree is a less known individual around the school, but the ones that do know him have a hard time trying not to laugh or smile in his presence.

“I’m not one of the people to talk about myself, but I guess sometimes I could be charismatic and crack jokes or something like that just make people laugh, put a smile on their face,” Roundtree said. 

Josiah was born and raised here and has never left, and while he isn’t involved in a lot of school activities he has quite a busy schedule outside of school. 

“I am currently employed with the Checkers. It’s a fast-food chain that started in Florida. Interestingly enough, I have been with them since last October and it’s been a good experience. It’s good work. I  earn my pay, go home. I’ve learned a lot more I guess of the social aspect from it. I’m better at talking to random people. I’ve never done too much on that. But it’s giving me a better work ethic as well,” Roundtree said.

While this may seem like a simple nine to five with no special benefits, it actually comes with the benefit of physical endurance. 

“Where I can stay on my feet longer such as that to get me conditioned for when I get out of high school and go out and actually do harder jobs and higher pay jobs,” Roundtree said. 

He was affected by the unstable school schedule from going to remote to in-person and back to remote several times, but he pulled through. 

“Uhh well, the first part when we started coming back to school from remote learning, I had decided to stay with remote learning because I had just started my job and I wanted to get used to it. And then we came back to school, and those first couple of weeks were a bit hard to readjust cause I had been out of school so long. Well then I started getting my regular attendance toward the end of January, I believe in which I woke up and my stomach was hurting pretty profusely,” Roundtree said. “Anyhow, I went to the hospital, and they knew something was definitely wrong, but they weren’t able to tell what. So, it was back in and forth where I was missing a bunch and having to go home for 2 weeks at a time stuff like that because it was terrible to deal with well they finally got the issue resolved or as best as they could, and I’m doing a lot better now that’s why I’ve been having regular attendance again.” 

And when the time comes for him to graduate, he already has a plan for what he is going to do to make it out in the world. 

“I would like to work offshore, where you make a little bit more money, but if that turns out to be a not reliable option like working on an oil rig, welding, or being a foreman,” Roundtree said.