WILLIAMSTON — Dexter Masters eased comfortably into the couch on a recent night and relaxed, watching the Southeastern Conference basketballtournament with his foster father.

Dexter’s life is pretty good.

Friday, the 17-year-old and his foster parents, Kristal and Stan Bray, attended the annual South Carolina Foster Parent Association Conference in Greenville, where Dexter was named South Carolina Foster Teen of the Year.

A new home and a new life have helped him turn things around. Where once he was failing school and spending his time doing nothing, now he’s an honor-roll student at Palmetto High School in Williamston, involved in extracurricular and church activities.

He says it’s all due to his foster parents.

The award he picked up Friday is based on academic achievement.

He and his brother, Derrick Masters, 14, have lived for nearly two years with the Brays, who also have a 5-year-old son.

Dexter’s foster mother and one of his teachers nominated the teen for the state award.

Mrs. Bray said Dexter has come a long way since the time he was a child who looked forward to turning 17 so he could drop out of school.

When he asked the Brays if he and his brother could stay with them for awhile, the Bray family thought it would be for only a few months, Mrs. Bray said.

“It was an emergency placement,” she said. “But they actually entered foster care a year ago. We went through the training to become foster parents so they could stay with us.”

Back then, Dexter said, he would come home from school and not do anything.

“I’d play video games and watch TV. I’d stay up late,” he said. “But now I’m studying. It’s a bunch of work, but I’m happier. … I just want to do better than what I’ve seen. ... I realized that if I wanted to get married and have a family, I wasn’t going to be able to do it working fast food.”

And Dexter is proud to know that his younger brother will be able to look up to someone. A blush and an embarrassed smile are all that show that Dexter is proud to be that someone.

Mr. Bray, a youth pastor at Siloam Baptist Church in Powdersville, said he was proud of Dexter.

“We got the call on Monday,” Mr. Bray said. “When he came home from school, I said, ‘How are you doing, teen of the year?’”

Dexter credits the Brays — and their ability to give him structure and support — for his success.

“I didn’t think I was going to get (the award), to tell you the truth,” he said. “It definitely helped having someone to help me and to push me a little bit.”

Dexter hopes to go on to college at either North Greenville University or Anderson University, he said, and perhaps follow in his foster father’s footsteps by joining the ministry.