James H. Poindexter III.CC

James Poindexter III, CC was born in the Bronx, NY but moved to West Virginia at an early age. At around ten years old he was abandoned by his parents in a house for a week until he realized that they were not coming back. From there James moved over twenty times between ten and fifteen years old and went to six junior highs and five high schools. During the process of dealing with all this adversity he discovered his will to win and desire to never back down from a challenge. James welcomed every trial just so he could prove he would come out on top. He wanted to prove to everyone that even though he was having a hard life that he was still going to be a success. As a result of this James achieved many great things such as the Army ROTC high company award and the Army ROTC scholastic excellence award while he was in school.

After being abandoned by his parents, James became a ward of the state at age 10 and stayed in the system until he aged out at 21. He went to 6 junior highs and 5 high schools and moved 21 times. James knows first hand what foster care is like.

Outside of school James was a two time West Virginia State Karate Champion, seven time National Karate Champion, World Martial Arts Champion, Silver medal in the World Cup of Martial Arts and Silver medal in the Goodwill Martial Arts Games. James was USA Martial Arts Team Captain and ranked number one in the World in Martial Arts for three years in a row. He got his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Fairmont University. James also gave the opening speech for Archbishop Desmond Tutu at the International Youth Advocate Conference. Now he wants to give his knowledge to others to help them answer the question: Do you want success?