There are a few people in this world who have the gift of making others feel good about themselves. Joshua Hayes, junior at South Gwinnett, is one of those people. His infectious energy and positive attitude have made him the life of every party he attends, even just stepping into our school. He has been invited to lead multiple entertaining events at our school and also has carried his energy onto his very own Youtube channel. 

Who is Joshua Hayes? “Joshua Hayes is just himself. He’s just a nice person and always keeps a smile. He makes sure everyone around him keeps a smile.”, says the junior. While maintaining a great academic standing, it is important for students to have mental toughness. Joshua’s motivation for his mental state is his ability to handle difficult situations and overcome obstacles while maintaining a positive attitude. Though, it is not such an easy task. It requires a strong mindset, resilience and willingness to to persist in the face of adversity.  Josh explains, “I can always be nice and will never turn it off. It feels good to be invited to host events at our school. All of the heart races before I get to talk and all eyes and stuff on me. It’s a real surreal feeling.” Hayes has hosted two pep-rallies for the Comet Coalition and PBIS program here at South. He does a great job at getting the crowd engaged by introducing dance battles, shadow-boxing battles (a new TikTok game), participation in video trends, and his iconic move, “The Worm”. He also was a main center of attention for the Comet Crazies organization at our school, supporting multiple of our sport’s teams. 

Outside of school, Joshua Hayes also has his own Youtube channel where he features students, small businesses at South, sports and organizations at our school as well in what he calls “Awkward Interviews”. During these interviews, Josh asks students questions that leave them on the edge of their seats. With these videos being so amusing to our peers, multiple students repost, like, and comment on the video through multiple social media platforms to promote the videos. “I want to create something bigger than a youtube channel. I want to connect with people all around the world and share my personality. It’ll help me realize ‘Oh yeah, I can be myself.’ Instead of shying away from his social life, Josh embraces his gratitude to develop positivity and spreads encouraging talks for others to have the ability to be themselves with no regrets. 

Ending his junior year with a bang, Joshua hopes to do good for himself and approach the new year with the goal to graduate. As we take away staying positive and optimistic, we can follow Josh’s lead of being the “life of the party” no matter what obstacles we may be faced with. We can hope to see a series on Joshua’s youtube channel and future events at South. He states, “It’s going to be a comedy, I want to stay in people’s memories.”