Hello, I am Joshua Short. An unfortunate circumstance of our school is that I share a first name with 24 other students, the most of any name in our school. It’s also the 22nd most popular male given name in the United States in the past century according to the Social Security Administration.
For the 24 of us, where our names come from differs.
“My parents gave both me and my brother names from the Bible,” senior Josh Hannah said.
“They did not want to name me Andrew, so they named me Josh,” freshman Josh Latvala said.
“My dad had a friend named Joshua, so he named me after his best friend,” senior Josh Lee said.
And some just don’t know.
But where were all these Joshuas born? Where did they grow up? Some, like Josh Buxbaum, have been here all their life. Others like Joshua Foley are not native North Carolinians. He grew up in California.
“In a reluctant lapse of thought, I often ponder the contrasting ideologies of the prominently democratic state of California versus the mainly conservative state of North Carolina,” Foley said.
Then there are folks like Lee who has lived here a mere three months, or Josh Rutland, who moved here late last year from Connecticut.
Others, like Joshua McDowell and myself have lived all over.
“I lived in Illinois for six years, Colorado for two years and Indiana for eight years,” McDowell said.
What does a Joshua or Josh do in his day to day?
Form baseball to soccer, football to lacrosse, many are interested in sports. Others have passion for the performing arts. And some of us just sleep.
Sophomore Joshua Weatherington enjoys playing basketball: “it’s fun, and you get active.” Lee likes his after-school job and has played sports for around five years.
“I just wanted to meet more people. Growing up and stuff, it’s nice to meet more people,” Lee said.
What does a Joshua want to do with his life?
Hannah, for example, wants to major in engineering. “That’s what my dad does, and it turned out very successful for him,” Hannah said.
Foley wants to purse a career in things like animation, acting and theater. “I love to film and edit videos as well as build sets and props for stage productions,” Foley said.
Students like freshman Josh Powell want to build upon their youth sporting careers. “I want to play in college and have a future with football. If not, I’ll pursue physical therapy or sports medicine.”
Sophomore Josh Hall plans to major in computer science engineering while freshman Joshua Wilson wants to work as a pastor. “Honestly, that’s where I feel God has told me to be,” Wilson said.