Carolina senior honored for character

October 1, 2008

Credit Rafael "Junior" Alcantar for recognizing that he had an innate gift for sharing, caring, and inspiring. Credit his fellow students at Carolina High School and Academy for recognizing that. 

Alcantar, a 17-year-old senior, was named recipient of The Greenville News Coaches4Character Award Tuesday night in the latest installment of the Potential Youth Foundation's Coaches 4 Character Series at the Carolina First Center. 

"I've always been told that I can do something special with my life, and to be recognized with something like this makes me feel like it's going to happen," Alcantar said.

Alcantar, who is student body president and also attends the Fine Arts Center for Creative Writing, is active in a variety of organizations, including Young Life, a nondenominational youth group run by Furman University students, and recently spent a month volunteering at a youth camp in North Carolina. 

Alcantar, who was joined at the ceremony by his cousin and "best friend" Lisette Alcantar and his aunt, Rosa, received his plaque from Clemson University men's basketball coach Oliver Purnell, who spoke to hundreds of youth on hand about character and the "war between the right and wrong side."

"The wrong side has tremendous weaponry, and the greatest weapon it has is negative peer pressure,: Purnell said. 

"But the right side has a weapon as well -- positive peer pressure. What we really need is leadership, so I want to challenge you to blaze a path for your peers to follow." 

By: Scott Keepfer -- Greenville News