Glenforest’s Joshua Simmons dr ives to the basket against Covenant Christian. Joshua Simmons is a name you are probably going to want to remember. This smart, talented, and athletic Glenforest senior has been flexing some serious muscle in the world of competitive sports. Through a combination of hard– work, genetics (his entire family plays basketball, even Mom; his desirable stature is part of this legacy), and innate gift for playing, Simmons has successfully positioned himself on the basketball court as a rising star and current SCISA sports sensation.

As a junior, he caught the attention of recruits from several colleges. Now a senior (and having grown another 4–inches over the summer, adding to his already towering frame), he is currently being courted by esteemed schools from across the country including Newberry College, Mount Olive, West Point, and the Citadel.

One could think all this attention would go straight to a person’s head, but Simmons instead remains grounded, humble, and very appreciative of his good fortune.

“I know that this doesn’t just happen for everyone. In my mind, I try to keep thinking if it happens, it happens.”

Going to college (or the chance to play college sports) isn’t what this bright–young–talent always imagined existing in his future. Simmons, a Glenforest student for more than seven years struggled in public school with dyslexia. Looking back now he envisions he would be following an extremely different path, had he remained in this former school setting.

“Way back then I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do. I never did homework. My reading skills were especially bad, and so was my behavior. I was hanging out with much older kids. They were really bad influences on me, but I looked up to them.” He recalls. “Ever since coming here, my act’s been so much better. Glenforest put me in my place. The teachers here are really cool; at public school it was like the teachers didn’t care—all they wanted to do was get through; and Coach (William) Knopf is one– of–a–kind. You can’t find another like him, and he doesn’t hide what he thinks. They helped me realize those friends were just holding me back. I didn’t want to be like that anymore so I kept moving forward.”

Simmons intends to keep his options open and is not staking all of his energies into this one single dream, basketball. He further aspires to study pre–veterinary medicine in college and has his eye on possibly attending veterinary school in the future, “should basketball not work out.” He decided on this alternative ambition as it encompasses his passion for animals, math, and sciences and will put his years of experience volunteering at Pets Inc. to excellent use. His seemingly unyielding realism is quite refreshing and demonstrative of a conscientious work ethic partly inspired by his entrepreneurial mother (owner/ founder of Ambience–A Salon—an Irmo, SC staple for over 20 years.)

Needless to say, the folks at Glenforest School have high expectations for Simmons, whichever way his life unfolds in the years to come and are very proud to say, “You saw him here first as a Bulldog!”