5 minutes with Willie Joyner ’94 ‘08

Position: Assistant principal at North Pitt High School, founder of K-12 step dancing program HYPE (Helping Yourself with Pride through Education)

Degree: Bachelor’s in business education, master’s in school administration

Hometown: Farmville

“I taught business for 12 years before going into administration. I went into the profession very tough, but I think I softened a lot once I realized the struggles that kids go through. A lot of my passion went toward young men with troubled lives whose issues stemmed from not having a father figure around. HYPE grew out of that passion to work with young men and offer them guidance, mentorship and leadership opportunities.

(HYPE was on Season 9 of “America’s Got Talent.”)

“That was a crazy, exciting opportunity. The judges loved the boys’ performance, but we didn’t make it to the regular competition.

“I was a member of the ECU gospel choir and Alpha Pi Alpha fraternity. There was one teacher I was very fond of: my business marketing professor, Betty Wilson. One time in class I started having chest pains, and she had to call the ambulance for me – that was a memorable moment. We became good friends and remained friends even after she left the university.

“The accountability I learned from my professors. You don’t appreciate it at the time, but that no-nonsense mentality of ‘you do it, you do it on time and you do it right’ has definitely stuck with me. I became the first person from my family to graduate from a four-year university, so to me, college is about perseverance. We have a 100% high school graduation rate in our program, and a great majority of them go to college.”