So who am I
...and what am I doing?
My name is Robin Thomas, and I'm currently a proud 18 year-old working in service for our nation. I was born shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, in April of 1989. The first eighteen years of my life were spent in Oxford, Ohio, as the son of a piano professor at Miami University, a freelance editor, and the brother of a sister currently majoring in Theater at New York University. These days, I'm living on the blustery New Hampshire coast.
In seventh grade I got my first taste of how individuals make global change
during a Model United Nations conference, as part of a team from the outstanding McGuffey Foundation School in Oxford.
That experience must have planted a seed of idealism and passion for change in my mind. Since then, I've been living with a dream of becoming the manifestation of change, dedicated to learning from this nation's people and history about where we are today and thinking about how to move the world forward. It's this dedication that has led me to the accomplishment this website seeks to bring about.
The only problem is, there's a hefty seventeen years to wait.
Plenty of time to build up a voter base.
As President of the United States in the year 2024, I will be committed to instilling the honesty Americans are entitled to in the White House, and of which Americans have been deprived. I will be devoted to ending the selfishness and corruption that's twisting American politics and blowing government bureaucracy out of proportion.
Young age isn't a curse for a President; it's a blessing. It allows for charisma and clarity of thought, and provides for the energy to get out and do what needs to be done. It leaves plenty of room for learning, and for things to expect and hope for that have yet to come.
It does not allow for years of corruption, old habits, and closed-mindedness to chip away the incredibly important morals and potent lessons learned during life.
Looking forward to the year 2024 is a reminder to me of how to live every day, and fuels a desire to adhere to standards of excellence, responsibility, and profound respect and love for those around me. I look forward to the year when the name of America will shrug off any negative connotations, and an undivided America will blossom into the leader it has for so long claimed to be.
But actions speak louder than words:
•Attended the German Concordia Language Village Waldsee for three years and the French village Lac du Boisfor two years, earning a year of high school credit after a four-week session in 2005 and achieving semi-fluency by 2007.
•Earned an award of scholarly excellence from the United States Marine Corps in 2007.
•Participated in Ohio Mock Trial for three years in high school, earning an 'Outstanding Witness' award at the county level in 2007 and advancing to the state level in 2006.
•Was a nominated to attend the American Legion's Buckeye Boys' State mock-government camp in the summer of 2006, and was elected to the position of Secretary of State from over 1,000 young men.
•Was invited to attend weekly Rotary International luncheons on four separate occasions, and was nominated for a Rotary Youth Leadership Award in 2005.
•Respectfully declined advancement to the state level of a Business Professionals of America 'Extemporaneous Speech' competition.
•Gave a graduation address in 2007 as Senior Class Vice-President, graduating with Highest Honors.
•Attended Model United Nations five years; was honored with a state-wide 'Outstanding Delegate' award three different times and an 'Outstanding Resolution' award.
•Deferred admission from Stanford University to participate in the Americorps 'City Year' program for 10 months.
•Served on the winning team of a volunteer service competition sponsored by the Anothony Muñoz Foundation through the local National Honor Society chapter in 2006.
So where am I now?
As a member of the City Year, New Hampshire, program (www.cityyear.org), it is my responsibility to mentor, tutor, and more importantly inspire and motivate all shapes and sizes of middle school children in the Hampton area.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and it's vital to make sure that kids in this crazy stage understand that life in the United States is always blooming with opportunity, and that each kid has the power to live their own lives.
The 43 of us in City Year New Hampshire, and the 1300 nation-wide, among others in the underfunded and under-appreciated nonprofit sector, are working hard to put idealism to work, and get things done.
I encourage other teens and young adults to do themselves and the global community a great service and take a gap year between college and high school, put off their post-graduate work, or consider an alternative to swimming into the work force, and engage themselves in a year of volunteer service. The possibilities, options, and most of all the benefits are limitless.
It'll be the best decision of your life.
What are you up to this election?
I'm an avid supporter of Mike Gravel, the former senator from Alaska who is seeking to be the Democratic Presidential candidate in the 2008 election. He almost single-handedly ended the draft after the Vietnam War, was the only Presidential candidate to march in the San Francisco 'Gay Pride' parade, and is notorious for shaking the foundations of other candidates with his loyalty to the honesty Americans are looking for.
Unfortunately, even though Mr. Gravel's views tend to reflect those of your everyday Democrat far more than the views of the leading Democratic candidates, he needs all the help he can get.
Please have a look at this video. It might very well change your mind.
--Thanks for reading,
Robert George Fahnestock Thomas