We want to send congratulations out to our AP Leader Rachelle. Rachelle recently found out she placed second at the local level of the 2013-2014 Voice of Democracy Competition. She received the application from our AP Leadership Program Coordinator, Mary LeVine. Rachelle was asked to write and record a 3-5 minute audio essay on the theme: “Why I’m Optimistic About our Nation’s Future.” She has already won scholarship money through the competition and will compete in districts next, followed by nationals – where she could win up to $30,000 toward her education. Rachelle wants to be a prenatal nurse when she is older.
Rachelle’s Winning Submission:
Why I Am Optimistic About Our Nations Future
George Washington, the first American president. Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the civil rights movement. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon and plant the American flag. Barack Obama, the first African- American president of the United States. All these courageous people had one thing in common, optimism. Optimism of everyday Americans is what keeps the nation running. Everyday we are advancing in a myriad of different ways, from changing the way America thinks as a whole to creating the technology we’ve never had before.
Our country is built around people, and if the people of our country have a true desire and want to be a great nation then we will succeed. We, as a nation, strive for the people. We succeed for the people, we support the people- our people. If we support the people that surround us, we are helping out neighborhoods, creating better communities, progressing in our states, and advancing our nation intentionally.
Optimism paved the way for American independence and unity. It mapped the beginning of the exploration of our planet and its solar system. Today our nation gives children and adolescents of any race the right to an education. It permits Americans to vote for who they think is qualified to run our country. It allowed people of all colors and nationalities, African-Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics, Haitians, Indians, Chinese and all other different races to sit in the same room without concern; and after forty- four presidents, allowed a man of color to sit in the oval office of the white house that George Washington never stepped foot in, to run the United States. We look at the incredible outcomes that could come out of a more intelligent youth and a president, who we believe, is qualified for the job.
Our nation will succeed. Not only because we depend on optimism but because we are built on optimism. Our nation can be hindered but it cannot be stopped. We allowed a numbered amount of events bring the nation down but we’ve also allowed a countless amount of events to uplift the nation and bring to us the hope of a extraordinary nation. The day we gained our independence was the day our country became the strongest and most prominent nation because of the everyday people who take on a new challenge to help make our country better and better with each ongoing day.
With the future comes a more diverse nation in thought, in spirit, and in mind. A nation that is strong at the top of the pyramid and even stronger at the bottom. A nation built on favorable outcomes. Today our nation is optimistic. Tomorrow our nation will be optimistic and strong. This, is why I am optimistic about our nations future.