Early grad looks forward to future

[Editor’s note: This is the third in a weeklong series recognizing noteworthy graduates from the Class of 2017. This year’s series highlights “the road less traveled,” students who are taking on unique experiences or facing unexpected turns in reaching his or her destination in life.]

By MARY CLOUD TAYLOR

Daily Inter Lake

Three years ago, with high school looming, a struggling eighth-grade student decided to take control of his future by choosing a different route than his peers.

Rather than waiting to drop out or dragging himself through his classes, Josiah May approached his principal at the beginning of his ninth-grade year at Stillwater Christian School in Kalispell, asking if it was possible to graduate early.

Now a high school senior, 17-year-old May will graduate in a few short weeks with the class of 2017, a full year ahead of his former classmates.

“I always struggled with school and would rather be outside working,” May said.

And work he did.

As a sophomore, May began taking extra classes during the school year and into the summer, completing 10th and 11th grade at the same time.

Between school and extra school, May said he spent most of what little free time he had working with his father and learning the ropes of his landscaping business. Then, when his father returned to his job at a restaurant, May took over the landscaping business himself.

Today he owns and manages the small company, serving much of the Flathead Valley area and overseeing his own employees.

During the winter off-season for landscaping, May said he continues working year-round as a cook at two different restaurants in Woods Bay with his best friend.

May said, as far as a social life, working beside his best friend is enough.

With double the classes, double the homework and two or three jobs, May’s balancing act includes a dash of community service on top.

What little time he has left May gives to the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, doing technical work and lighting during the winter and helping build sets for summer productions.

“I don’t have a huge social life,” May said, laughing.

WITH A work ethic to rival someone twice his age, the teen said the secret to his schedule is careful planning, avoiding over-commitment and very little sleep.

Still, May admitted that, between the physical labor of landscaping and the day-in, day-out work pace, he does get worn down, so he does his best to schedule at least one full day off each week to rest.

“I think I’m going to appreciate the way I’ve done it in a couple weeks when I graduate,” May said. “In the process it was hard on me, and at times I wondered why I was doing it. But in the long run I think I’ll appreciate it.”

Between his extensive work experience and the education he’s received from Stillwater, May said he feels prepared for the next step: college.

May plans to attend Flathead Valley Community College in the fall to get his core classes out of the way while continuing to work at the jobs he’s built a foundation on.

After that, he plans to transfer to a university where he wants to major in what he described as a lifelong passion for criminal justice.

Since he was a kid, May said he’s loved crime shows and always enjoyed doing research and looking at criminal cases, at times even shadowing a local sheriff’s deputy.

Though he said he has always been “math-minded” and taken pride in working, May said he has his father to thank for the motivation and skill to do it.

“My dad’s always been big on teaching me and my siblings to have a work ethic from a young age,” May said.

After years of learning from his father and developing his own skill set from the jobs he’s taken on, May said he’s ready for whatever the future holds and hopes, at least for this summer, he’ll be able make time for some much-needed fun.

Reporter Mary Cloud Taylor can be reached at 758-4459 or mtaylor@dailyinterlake.com.