West Forsyth Graduate Looks Forward to Bright Future

Cumming GA

28 July, 2021

7:26 PM

Description

Written By Susan Swann After thousands of soccer practices, and hundreds of soccer games, Josh Westerby, West Forsyth high school graduate and captain of the varsity soccer team, played his last youth soccer game in June. While soccer has been an important focus of Josh's life for the post four years, service and academics have been two of the others. Josh spent time with the Beta Club tutoring middle school students and delivering food to those in need with Meals by Grace. Josh said the service project that had the most impact on him were the two weekends he spent as a hurricane clean-up volunteer in Florida with the Coal Mountain Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Along with the rest of the helping hands in their yellow shirts, Josh worked for days cleaning up the mess the hurricanes left behind. Josh tells the poignant story of one man who was very depressed over the damage done to his home and property. When the helping hands arrived to assist with the cleanup, he told them he didn't know if he could even live like this. Josh and the others listened, empathized, and talked to him about the ways Jesus Christ loved him and brought meaning to his life. Over the course of the next two days of discussions and clean up, the man's mental health improved, and Josh was amazed by the change. The value of serving others sunk deep in his soul. Another critical focus during his high school years was academics. Josh took eleven AP courses and graduated with an overall 4.42 grade point average, never earning below an A in any of his classes. Josh was accepted at both Georgia Tech and Brigham Young University and had a difficult decision to make. What was best for him? He weighed his options carefully and then made it a matter of prayer. Josh spoke about receiving answers from God in his ward congregation, saying that God doesn't always answer our prayers in the way we think he should. "Sometimes the answers come a little at a time, like the sun coming up," Josh said. "So, we move forward with faith." Josh made the decision to study aerospace engineering at BYU. Spending time with family is important to Josh and he has several aunts and uncles in Utah, who also love the outdoors. He wants to hike, rock climb, and share his faith with others. He's also considering serving a mission for his church.