As Joe prepares for the Pennsylvania Bar exam, he is also exploring career options that would allow him to serve as an investor advocate and help combat financial crime.
Joe’s journey began when he was in High School at Chartiers Valley, where he was a member of the National Honor Society and President of the Spanish Club. He really enjoyed watching law and order episodes with his father who is a retired police Sergeant. In addition, he was also very interested in the courses he took in high school that related to domestic politics.
“While I was the beneficiary of many great teachers at CV, I would say that I fed off of Mr. Robert Rodrigues’ passion for American politics,” said Joe. “Having the opportunity to be instructed by a college professor while in high school was invaluable and I still hold on to lessons from his class like using ‘direction of evidence (DOE)’ in my writing.”
Joe also noted that many of his Chartiers Valley teachers challenged him to further refine his writing and critical thinking skills, which has helped him achieve success in his academic accomplishments since high school.
In addition to taking rigorous courses throughout his high school career, Joe challenged himself on the soccer field.
“Many of my favorite memories came on the pitch,” said Joe. “Even now, there is still a smell in the air come soccer season that triggers memories to flood back.”
The varsity soccer team won the section title during Joe’s senior year. In addition to serving as the team’s captain, Joe was named All-Section, All-WPIAL, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette West All-Star and the Almanac Elite Eleven honorable mention.
“While playing in college is special in its own right, there is something unique about winning with the kids you grew up with while representing the area that you’re from against often familiar foes.”
Joe continued his academic and athletic career at Allegheny College, where he majored in political science with a minor in English. While at Allegheny College, Joe served a term as a senator with ASG and was selected to sit on the academic honor committee. In addition, he played soccer and was an NSCAA Scholar All-Region selection.
Following his graduation from Allegheny College, Joe moved on to the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. As a certified legal intern with Pitt law’s securities arbitration clinic, Joe secured the largest settlement in clinic history.
At CMU, Joe and several of his fellow students worked with the Pennsylvania Department of Health under the oversight of RAND Corp. to develop a data-driven strategy to expand first responder access to Heroin antidote naloxone. Governor Tom Wolf recently acknowledged his efforts. In addition, Joe was recently mentioned in the May 2017 issue of Whirl magazine (page 15) for an event he organized as the Heinz Finance Club President.
