Published 8:00 pm Thursday, August 14, 2025
By Sabrina Simms Robertson
NATCHEZ — The quiet, timid Joshua Poole delivered a rousing speech at his graduation from Natchez Early College Academy that had his classmates cheering loudly.
Now, he is preparing to move to Louisiana State University for the fall semester on a full academic scholarship, where he plans to study electrical engineering.
“I want to put myself out there,” Poole said of what he most looks forward to about attending LSU. “I’ve never been the most socially active kid. I was the kid who would stand in the corner of a party and watch everybody else. I want to be more vocal, make more friends and network with more people.”
Before he began high school, Poole said he believed that he would be standing at the podium speaking at his graduation. As the Salutatorian of Natchez Early College’s Class of 2025, Poole graduated with a perfect 4.5 grade-point average while working a part-time job at Hibbett Sports and running cross country. He also earned an Associate’s Degree from Copiah Lincoln Community College while in high school with a focus on chemical and electrical engineering.
“Going into high school, I knew … I was going to do my work the best I could and I was not going to have any debt. That was my goal and I went in with that in mind. … Every year of high school I had straight As—never had a B. And just my merit scholarships ended up adding up to a full scholarship,” he said.
The son of Natasha and James Poole, Joshua said he has always been the technical person of his household, the one who hooked up the television and the gaming systems. He enjoys playing video games, watching anime and can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under one minute, he said.
Throughout his high school years, he was a member of the National Beta Club, National Honor Society, Robotics Team and was the Vice President of Fellowship in Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society through his dual enrollment at Co-Lin and was the class president his freshman year.
As a member of the Robotics Team, he qualified to compete in the national robotics convention and qualified to compete at the state meet in cross country his senior year.
“The full boys team actually qualified for state,” Poole said, adding he’d never seen that happen before until his senior year.
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