Two Recent Graduates Score Big

 

January Alumni of the Month: Two Recent Graduates Score Big

 

By LAURA SPAULDING, Staff Writer/Consultant and ANDREA DORR, Reenrollment and Student Placement Coordinator

One of the very best things about working at The Joy School is being part of a community that deeply values relationships. The longstanding relationships our faculty and staff have forged with our former students and their families over the years are evidence of this. Not a week goes by that we do not have the pleasure of hearing from an alum sharing another story of deep gratitude and ongoing success credited to their time at The Joy School. We have decided that 2026 is the year to share more of those stories with the greater TJS community.  

Every month this year, we will be boasting the accomplishments of our alumni students on our blog and social media. To get us started, our “January Alumni of the Month” are two TJS Class of 2023 8th Grade graduates who are making a name for themselves on their respective high school sports courts. Now juniors in high school, Nickel Evans and Alim Olajuwon are busy, not only winning awards and setting sports records, but also excelling academically and socially. 

Nickel Evans is a high school junior at St. Francis Episcopal High School, where he has played varsity tennis for three years. At 9 years old, before attending TJS, Nickel was celebrated as a tennis “star on the rise” after winning the 2017 River Oaks Country Club Junior Championship. Attending The Joy School did not slow his tennis career down one bit. Instead, thanks to The Joy School’s targeted and intensive remediation, school pressures were relieved and tutoring schedules relaxed. Outside of school hours, Nickel was free to continue playing tennis rather than playing catch-up. His time at TJS was so impactful that he now volunteers his free time to mentor a current TJS student. 

While excelling academically at St Francis High School, last year Nickel was named the tennis singles runner-up for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools. Somehow, he still has time to remain an active alumnus and has retained close friendships with his former TJS classmates. In fact, despite attending different schools, he can often be found supporting one of his very closest friends, Alim, at his high school basketball games. 

Alim Olajuwon, also TJS 8th grade Class of 2023, is a junior at Episcopal High School, where he has played on the Varsity Basketball team since Freshman year. Alim also made the SPC All Conference Team in 2024 and  2025 and plays on the AAU-JL3 Elite Basketball Team. A group of TJS teachers and staff are looking forward to the EHS game this Friday, where Alim will be celebrated for scoring 1000 points during his varsity tenure. This is a rare event, and he will be one of only a few to set this record in the history of Episcopal High School. His former teachers regularly attend his games, so of course, his biggest fans will be there tomorrow for this momentous occasion.  

We are truly proud of Alim's hard work and dedication to the sport he loves and naturally excels in. But we are equally proud of the hard work and dedication he shows off the court. Despite ongoing struggles with dyslexia, Alim maintains a high GPA and even won an academic award during his sophomore year. While the cheering section is a little quieter in the classroom than on the court, here at TJS we continue to celebrate the effort, resilience, and integrity he puts into every area of his life. 

Stay tuned for more Alumni updates every month in 2026. If you are a TJS alum interested in being featured as an Alumni of the Month on our blog, reach out to Andrea Dorr at alumnirelations@thejoyschool.org. 

---

For more information about how we can help your child reach their unique social and academic potential, join us for a parent tour.