I was blessed to be able to go with two of my dear friends, Savannah & Julia!
Watch out Texas!!
We arrived!!
The Green family hosted a meet & greet BBQ at their home
The capitol is beautiful!
Meeting new people and listening to the speakers was a blast!!
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| Keirstin, Julia, me, & Savannah |
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| Nathan Macias |
Learning how to campaign was one of the highlights for me! This is something I really have an interest in. It was really challenging and pushed me far out of my comfort zone, but it was really fun!
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| My team: me, Lucy, Whitney, Angel, Josh, Jacob, Rachel, & Eric |
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| Rick Green & Tim Barton |
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| Krish Dhanam |
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| Kyle Newton |
My committee members were amazing!! We definitely had the best committee there! I was part of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer committee. "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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| Sterling, Whitney, Josiah, Austin, Leah, Chase, Rachel, Zach, Noah, Nicole, Lucas, me, & Hailey |
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| Savannah, me, Gabi, Keirsten, Julia, Madison, & Maria |
On the House floor!!
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| The entire Patriot Academy group! |
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| The whole group displaying our character |
We met someone related to one of my favorite representatives in OK!
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| Conner, me, Julia, & Savannah |
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| Cliff Graham |
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| David Barton |
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| America is blessed!! |
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| with David Barton |
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| with Allie Stuckey |
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| me, Julia, Eric, Mrs. Mast, & Rachel |
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| Maria, Madison, & me |
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| The 2018 Patriot Academy candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker |
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| Jeremy Boreing |
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| with Rick Green |
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| me, Rachel, Jackson, Brooklyn, Katelyn, Elizabeth, & Hailey |
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| Rachel, Josiah, me, Mark, & Jackson |
They had a beautiful banquet the final night. Everyone got to sign a copy of the Declaration, received a medal, and they had a very special passing of the torch of freedom ceremony that is beyond description (I'll have to try to find a video)!
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| Hannah, Savannah, Grace, & me |
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| me & Whitney |
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| Headed to the banquet!! |
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| The veterans preparing for the passing of the torch ceremony |
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| me & Rosemary (my mentor) |
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| Elisabeth, Conner, Josiah, David, Rachel, Jackson, me, Bailey, & Anna |
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| Lucy & me |
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| Anna, Bailey, Rachel, Lucas, Josiah, Jackson, David, me, & Conner |
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| me, Nicole, Josiah, Rachel, & Lucas |
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| me & Leah |
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| me & Rachel |
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| me, Savannah, & Julia with our character (golfballs) |
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| Jackson, me, Rachel, & Josiah |
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| Something was quite funny! |
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| me & Sterling |
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| Josiah & me |
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| Nat & me |
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| the old cabinet: James, Colton, & Josh |
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| the old and new cabinets: Colton, Austin, Whitney, Josh, & James |
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| Love the Trump impersonations! |
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| the new cabinet: Austin, Whitney, & Josh |
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| me & Rachel |
Final day on the floor! :(
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| my desk mate, Kat |
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| me, Kat, Maria, & Savanah |
With our wonderful, amazing, and sweet roommate, Meagan!!
This sweet lady did our room check every night.
We are official PA grads now!! Woohoo!
Headed home!
We stopped at a friend's home on the back home and got to see their new baby!!
We had such a great time!!!
The golfball was an important part of the week. It represented your character. The idea was that your character is easy to lose and hard to get back just like the golfball. The golfball must be in your hand AT ALL TIMES! If it is anywhere else or you drop it, it can be "stolen" by other students. If you lose your golfball at the next meal you must recite a character quote previously given to you by the PA staff. If you can't remember the quote, didn't memorize a quote, or lost your golfball more than once you had to sing "Oh Where Is My Golfball?" to the tune of "Oh Where Is My Hairbrush?" from Veggie Tales. This was such a good visual reminder for me and made me think harder about things before I said or did them because I wanted to have good character. Feeling that golfball in my hand all day every day was a good reminder about how easy it is to lose your character. It has been so weird to not have it in my hand since I got home!
Patriot Academy was a truly amazing experience for me! I honestly can't put it into words! For those of you who know me, you know I'm a political junkie! Patriot Academy showed me how much I did not know about politics. I was so nervous when I first got there. I'm not very good at public speaking and I was scared to death to present my bill in committee! The alumni were very encouraging and helpful and the more I got to know people, the more relaxed I began to feel! It pushed me hard and got me well out of my comfort zone, but by the end of it I was much more confident, felt more prepared, and was looking forward to presenting my bill on the floor! I wasn't ready for it to end! I felt like I was just getting started and wanted to soak in more, but I feel like I can pick right back up next year! I would encourage everyone to go! If you're a political junkie, it will strengthen, encourage, inspire, equip, and teach you so much (and there are some amazing internships you can participate in)! If you're not, you should still go, because you will still learn a lot (the principles can be applied in your every day life or workplace) and be greatly encouraged by the students! It is such a blessing to know that there is a generation rising up to take a stand and fight for what they believe! You can find out more about PA here: http://www.patriotacademy.com
Here are a few quotes from my time at Patriot Academy:
"Too many people are content with making a living, not enough people want to make a difference." Ryder Erikson
"Successful people invest in themselves, unsuccessful people entertain themselves." Ryder Erikson
"Two to five years from now you will be were you are, not from big decisions you made but from the little ones." Ryder Erikson
"No human creation has had a greater positive impact on more people, more rapidly the free-enterprise capitalism." John Mackey
"If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." Samuel Adams
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph go high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those whose cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principal above all else; the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mobs and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree next to the river of truth, and tell the whole world, no YOU move." Captain America
"Without boundaries freedom doesn't work." Tim Barton
"Don't stand up only for the fights you can win, but also the ones that are right." Tim Barton
"A leader puts in the time to be smarter than everyone else." Tim Barton
"Only error is afraid of questions." Tim Barton
"Truth doesn't play favorites." David Pate
"Wherever you're at, there should be light because you're there." David Pate
"You are free to do whatever you want, but you are not free to escape the consequences." David Pate
"Obstacles are where God shows up." Unknown
"Your success doesn't depend on those that quit." Unknown
"Get comfortable being uncomfortable." Unknown
"Your victory is determined by your commitment." Unknown
"Great success is built on failure." Unknown
"Your freedom is not in jeopardy only when the legislators are not in session." Tim Lambert
"He who dares, wins." Winston Churchill
"It takes about 8% of the population to change the nation." Kyle Newton
"Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present." John Maxwell
"Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less." John Maxwell
"If judges can make the words say whatever they want then the law means nothing." Rick Green
"Great leaders are great communicators." Rick Green
"Communication is not what you intend but what the other person perceives." Rick Green
"It's easier to act your way into a new way of feeling than it is to feel your way into a new way of acting." Rick Green
"Your appearance tells others what to think of you." Rick Green
"You don't ever get rid of the butterflies. You make them fly in formation." Rick Green
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Rick Green
"We have to make goodness fashionable gain." William Wilberforce
"You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know." William Wilberforce
"Duty is ours, results are God's." John Quincy Adams
"Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration." Thomas Edison
"Truth by nature is exclusive." Krish Dhanam
"Knowledge is learned, wisdom is lived." Krish Dhanam
"It's easy to have a cause when there's others around you that support it." Krish Dhanam
"The givers are the ones that sleep peacefully at night. The takers are the ones that stay up all night wondering what else they can take." Krish Dhanam
"Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you can do it well." Krish Dhanam
"Don't complain about things you aren't willing to change." Krish Dhanam
"Plan with attitude, prepare with aptitude, participate with servitude, receive with gratitude, and this should be enough to separate you from the multitude." Krish Dhanam
"Room for improvement is the largest room. Imagination is the largest nation." Krish Dhanam
"If you can't imagine it you won't do it." Krish Dhanam
"Understand other world values but do not water down your own." Krish Dhanam
"I can look at someone and make a connection or stand beside them and make a relationship." Krish Dhanam
"Variety is the spice of life, but monotony brings in the groceries." Krish Dhanam
"Ignorance is not a medal. Stop wearing it." Krish Dhanam
"People, through digital media, are teaching us to be sheeple instead of people." Krish Dhanam
"Nobody remembers normal." Walt Disney
"Conservatism begins by rejecting chronological bigotry." Rob Koons
"When men are selfish the world burns." Cliff Graham
"If you don't have haters you need to revaluate." Allie Stuckey
"Dream create a false sense of who you are and what the world is." Jeremy Boreing
"It is not enough to be fighting against something, you have to fight for something." Jeremy Boreing
"There are no men who have power, riches, and influence who have lived humble, middle class lives." Jeremy Boreing
"Humility is holing back the power you have in service to others." Michael Barry
"Bad facts make bad laws." Michael Barry
"The fastest way to lose your rights is to not stand up for them." Michael Barry
"As people of faith we are not to simply bandage the wounds of those who have been trampled by the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke in the wheel itself." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
"Give me control over a nation's currency, and I care not who makes it's laws." Baron M.A. Rothschild
"Speeches do not change hearts." Thomas Umstattd
"We are the salt of the earth. We are the city on a hill. We will not change the world by standing still." Unknown
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same." Ronald Reagan
posted by Sarah
