1. I will be continuing my education to attain two associates degrees in both Architectural Design and Mechanical Design. 2. I became interested in this trade while I was in middle school. I’ve always enjoyed being in the garage with my dad working on whatever projects he had lying around. He owns a construction company and I worked many summers with him. I decided going into high school I wanted to focus on the design portion of the trades, as I felt it would be more suitable to what I was most talented in. My freshman and sophomore year I fell in love with the automotive department at my school. I took as many classes as I possibly could. One of my teachers suggested mechanical design or engineering and the more I looked into it the more and more I enjoyed it and knew I had found my true passion. Junior year I decided to delve into 3-D design and I continue to work my way towards a global SolidWorks advanced certification which is practically unheard of at my age. The summer going into my senior year I landed an apprenticeship at a post-frame construction company in their drafting department. I decided in order to further my career it was best if I went ahead with the Architectural Design degree as well, making me a valuable asset at just about any design company. 3. Both in school and at my current job, I have come up with some unique ideas. In my machining and design class this year, we started out with a basic cribbage board project. My teacher ultimately challenged me with a 3-D “waved” design to the top plane of my cribbage board. One of my earlier classes our final project was to design an entire house, start to finish, that had to be fully up to code and required extensive room planning. At work, I am in charge of three different office regions, managing up to 35 projects at a time, following them from the moment they are sold to the final inspection. I have had the luxury to be a part of many intricate barndominiums, equestrian riding facilities, car manufacturing plants, storage buildings, schools, etc. You name it, I have probably made it. I really enjoy being able to be challenged with new ideas from customers and having the ability to fluctuate ideas to create the best final products for customers. 4. After high school graduation I will be continuing my work experience at the same company while attending college. After college graduation, I intend to stick with the same company, but I am also open to other opportunities that may arise. I ultimately decided it was best to go for both degrees from the get go for this reason alone because it insures that I will always have job security no matter where I am in the country, or world for that matter. I think being able to have many paths I can go down was a huge positive for me because I know I have the prior knowledge to back up my diploma which is going to put me ahead of similar candidates my age. 5. If you were to call an adult in my life they would likely tell you I am most deserving of this scholarship because of how hard working I am. I have never really been the type to let opportunities pass me by and whatever I want I go and get for myself. I take a lot of pride in my work and those around me would agree. The past 4 years I have structured my class schedule around being able to get work based learning for a large portion of my senior year. Little did I know, I would be able to work almost full time my entire senior year, as I only had 2 classes to attend. I think this has been my biggest example of my hard work because it took years of planning and patience to be able to reach my end goal and even though I didn’t get “results” right away I was still able to stick with it and persevere to attain what I truly wanted.