Dedicated Ally
Reagan Senior Student Hopes to Defend Country
By Amy Morgan
If you could sum up the core of Ronald Reagan High School senior Joshua Torres, you might consider the word, allegiance, which factors in both his strong Christian faith and desire to serve his country. Joshua and his brothers are named after a specific Bible verse their parents chose to represent their character. Joshua’s life verse: Joshua 1:9, calls a warrior to strongly and courageously lead his nation. “That’s part of the reason I hope to be an army officer,” Joshua said.
The Rattler varsity track team captain is being recruited by WestPoint, where he dreams of aligning his passion for track competition with his desire to follow his family members in military service.
Everything he’s accomplished in sports, schools, camps, taking honors and AP courses – even joining the wrestling team to toughen up – has been with the goal of WestPoint, he said. Joshua would follow his great grandfather who served in the Army Air Corps in World War II, as well as both grandfathers, and his father. His 21-year-old brother, Silas, currently is with the Air National Guard in Vermont.
“Dad is really excited for us – our generation will be the first in my dad’s family to be officers,” he said.
Joshua also plays guitar and has led worship at Community Bible Church. The opportunity to compete in track at the highest, 6A State level was one of the reasons Joshua was excited to attend Reagan. He was thrilled his junior year to run on the 4 x 2 relay team and cheer the 4 x 1 team to a fifth-place finish at state - the biggest high school track meet in the U.S., he said. For the first time in Reagan’s history, all the boys, girls, varsity and JV track teams also won the district title in 2022.
“People say track is an individual sport, but that’s definitely not true,” he emphasized. “You are not just running for yourself, you’re running for the team’s points.” Now an inspirational leader, serving both as Senior Class Secretary and as head of the Student Council appreciation committee, Joshua was not always so confidant.
Joshua shared he was once socially awkward, ironically noting he came out of his shell during the pandemic. He was one of the early adopters to go back to school in person, returning to Reagan in September 2020. Now he loves to participate in school activities. He was thrilled when his design for the “Pink-Out” school t-shirt was selected. “The whole entire student section was wearing it!” he said.
He counts his favorite Reagan class as Anatomy and Physiology with Dr. Murphy. “It’s the hardest class I’ve ever taken, but she helped make a really hard class manageable. It was seventh period during the end of the day, but she was my caffeine,” he said. Joshua also remembers being fascinated by the study of the human body, which complements his desire to become a physician in the Army Medical Corps.
Our nation would be fortunate indeed to enlist such a dedicated ally as Joshua Torres.
