Written by Dr. Steve Whitaker, Head of School

At the end of the 2017/2018 school year, we spotlighted one of our Class of 2011 alumni, Austin Josiah. Austin is an amazing young man who is a wonderful demonstration of “Service Before Self”, giving back to his community, church, and family. You can read the full spotlight about Austin by visiting the link at the bottom of this article.

Most recently, Austin gave back to The First Academy by inviting three of our seniors to attend the exclusive Morgan Stanley Early Insight Program for Black, Hispanic, and Native American students at the Morgan Stanley Headquarters in New York City. Through working for Morgan Stanley, Austin was able to secure three of only 50 available spots in this program for TFA students. Caleb Gordon, Cooper Billsborough, and Rolous Frazier were nominated by Upper School faculty members to attend this prestigious program and were joined for the trip by Mr. Kowars, Upper School English Teacher.

The full-day program provided the students with an opportunity to explore the financial services industry, the firm’s businesses, and culture. They were invited to Morgan Stanley offices to network with employees representing various institutional security and wealth management divisions, gain insight into their businesses through a variety of workshops, and learn what it takes to be successful. The trip was capped off by having dinner with Sam Stovall, the preeminent economist in the United States. Mr. Stovall is a close friend of Mr. Kowars and visits TFA each year in February.

A big thank you to Austin Josiah, Mr. Kowars, and Sam Stovall for investing in and pouring into our students! We are so grateful for opportunities like these which allow students to learn about being devoted Christ followers, committed servant leaders, respectful relationship builders, consistently honest communicators, and relentlessly hard workers in real-life settings and applications.

Want to read the full article about TFA alum Austin Josiah? Click below!

https://thefirstacademy.org/blog/austin-josiah-student-friend-leader/