In 2021, I joined the staff as a cabin counselor. As a counselor, I got the opportunity to work closely with kids between the ages of 12-17. In this experience, I learned firsthand the impact that one's words and actions can have on others. Children are tough and every day provides a new challenge to overcome. Whether it be a homesick camper, staying awake until 3 in the morning to console them, or exerting every ounce of energy to try to get them to match it, the fulfillment from understanding the impact I've had on my campers has been one of the most humbling experiences of my life. 

In 2022, I was promoted to summer-long Crew Captain. As Crew Captain, I oversaw a team of 7 other counselors, planned crew-specific events, and worked closely to handle logistic dilemmas with the Assistant Summer Camp Director and Summer Camp Director. 

In 2023, I was promoted to Head Counselor - Logistics. As the logistics head counselor, I handled many of the logistic dilemmas our staff had. On top of directly overseeing 30 staff members, I worked closely with the program, dive, and maintenance directors to creatively solve the various and unique problems that come from running a summer camp.  

I like to think of myself as a good writer. Especially when I'm writing about something I'm uniquely interested in, it's hard for me to stop. I'm by no means a journalist. I don't have any experience in journalism and, when the opportunity to engage more with the UT community, I jumped. 

As an opinion columnist for the Daily Texan, I got the opportunity to research and inform the UT student body of topical events, issues, and concepts. I wrote about the topics that interest me including disinformation, local law, stress management, etc. Especially as students at UT, some issues happen every day that have an incredible impact on the community. Especially with how polarized and secular our political discourse has become, I felt it was an obligation to point out some hypocrisy over how students reacted to very politically charged events happening in our West Campus neighborhood. In this experience, I had the opportunity to learn about how a newsroom operates. Meeting tight deadlines, reaching out to sources, and independent research are some of the skills I have learned while working for the Daily Texan.

In the fall semester of my sophomore year in college, I took a Modern Political Campaign class taught by the Hon. Karl Rove. In the class, Professor Rove imparted the valuable knowledge and expertise he has amassed in his colorful career as a political strategist. While I was working on my final project in class, a 20-page paper chronicling the impact that presidential debates have on election outcomes, I was introduced to Kathy Fragnoli. An arbitrator and mediator disappointed with the trajectory of the political institution, she decided to engage in her civic imperative and run for United States Congress in the 24th Congressional District in Texas. 

Early in her candidacy, she was approached by numerous organizations claiming that they could get her elected if she allowed them to run her campaign the way they best saw fit. It didn't take long before Kathy became disappointed with the direction the strategists were taking. Her social media presence was non-existent, fundraising was negligible, and the campaign was flailing around without direction; so much for campaign strategy. I soon managed several aspects of the campaign: social media, email fundraising, endorsement opportunities, and the volunteer program. I had no experience in WordPress and quickly learned about graphic and website design, SEO, MailChimp, NGP VAN, and other modern tools that campaigns utilize. 

I've always been a researcher. A curiosity about the world around us is something that, in the social media age, has been taken away from us. We're no longer driven to learn about the obscure intricacies of why and how things function the way they do. 

 In the spring semester of my sophomore year, I was a government research intern. During this internship, I worked with a team of 15 of my peers to develop and administer Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to local law enforcement agencies on their booking reports of arrested criminals. The purpose of this internship was to develop statistical trends of police bookings in low-income communities. Through our research, I extensively used the statistical analysis programs of R and R Studio. I also used Microsoft Excel exclusively for that vast data-entry program of inputting the different report information. 

Through this experience, I obtained a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system, policing, and criminology. As a government major, it has always been interesting to experience the minute workings of what makes the institution function and the potentiality of certain malicious actors in policing specifically. 

It has been a dream come true being able to learn at UT. The intellectual challenge this school has presented me with over the last four years has allowed me to hone my skills and ideologies in a way I don't think possible at any other university. From Saturdays at DKR to midnight study sessions in the PCL, there isn't a thing I would change about my time at UT. Hook 'em horns!

Notable Activities:

• Dean's List Honors

• Texas Sigma Oasis, Master of Finance

• The Daily Texan, Opinion Columnist

• Department of Government Honors

A little unorthodox to include my high school, I know. No story of me can be told without including Jesuit. The four years I spent at Jesuit were the most formative of my life. Jesuit taught me how to be a man for others, a quality I cherish and hold dear in every new experience and position I'm in.