Six years after graduating from Port St. Joe High School, Joel still remembers the moment that changed everything. It wasn’t a competition, an award, or a scholarship. It was a quiet planning period in a physics classroom, just him and his teacher, exploring drones, tinkering with electronics, and realizing that curiosity could fuel a future.
“That one-on-one time with my physics teacher, Scott Lamberson, sparked my curiosity in STEM and set me on the path I’m on today,” Joel said. “He prepared me for college and my career in ways I didn’t even realize at the time.”
Joel’s journey began long before that senior-year spark. In elementary school, he was one of hundreds of Gulf County students who benefited from hands-on science labs and technology opportunities made possible by The Education Foundation of Gulf County. Funded by Duke Energy and strengthened through the School District Education Foundation Matching Grant Program, those early investments created a more robust pathway for students to engage in science and engineering. That foundation of support would later shape Joel’s future.
By high school, Joel became Port St. Joe’s very first drone student, working with drones provided by Duke Energy and guided closely by mentor Scott Lamberson. Joel worked on numerous research projects during his internship at Tyndall Air Force Base and immersed himself in a range of school activities, from marching band, football, and soccer to volunteering with his church youth group. Each experience, each adult who invested time and encouragement, layered new strengths that he continues to carry into his life as a Jacksonville University graduate and electrical engineer.
Joel believes deeply in paying that support forward. Through tutoring and mentoring, he works to “spark the light bulb” in others and ignite a lifelong passion for learning and curiosity, just like his teachers and mentors did for him. “The impact of an investment in students is usually much bigger than what anyone ever sees, and sometimes bigger than the students
themselves realize” he said. “There are hundreds of students like me whose stories you may never hear, but the support still changed their lives.”
Today, Joel credits his public education for teaching him how to communicate, collaborate, and work across differences, skills that he says set him apart in his engineering career. And he credits the adults, funders, and community partners who believed in his potential long before he fully understood it himself.
His journey is a powerful reminder that when students are surrounded by opportunity, encouragement, and people who lift them up, they don’t just succeed, they thrive. They grow into the kind of leaders who not only aim high to “climb the ladder” themselves but also strive to turn around and reach back to help others climb high too.
