The Author

I wrote this for my law school applications as my personal statement. I've never written anything like it, so it was actually helpful for figuring out who I am and how I've been affected by life.

Prior to 1988, I just wanted to be a fire truck. Fortunately federal law requires 5 year olds to go to Kindergarten where they learn that they cannot be inanimate objects. This epiphany forged my elementary school thesis: figure out what do I want to do when I grow up. Being overly civic minded for a 5 year old, I immediately settled on police officer. I simply wanted everyone to follow the rules.

As I grew up in my rural Southern town of 10,000 people, I began to realize that some of the rules weren’t very fair and probably should not be enforced. It struck me that people like me (white and male) were able to force my friends, teammates and classmates (mostly not Caucasian and some female) to follow rules that we deemed appropriate. My passion for justice was established in these inter-racial, inter-gender relationships. My train of thought naturally progressed to the idea that the rule makers needed policing.

My community interaction during high school as an Eagle scout, national athlete and involved church member led me to the mayor’s office. My interaction with local politics showed me that public policy can be effective, life-changing and ultimately rewarding. At the urging of my local community, I began to see myself as a future rule maker.

Following high school I was awarded an athletic scholarship to play tennis at Southeastern Louisiana University. An injury ended my college tennis career and left me with 20 extra hours each week for my last two years of college. I filled my free time by tutoring kids at one of the worst public schools in New Orleans
During college, I spent three weeks in South Africa and Mozambique, ten weeks in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia and six weeks in Costa Rica. The South American trip still weighs heavily on my outlook in life. I found a team of guys and raised the funds to travel through the Amazon during research for local development agencies. Part of the job was to live in abject poverty with the people we were sent to survey. I began to see injustice in a new light and it forced me to reevaluate my elementary school thesis. I realized that I had to figure out who I wanted to be before I could begin working on what I was going to do.

I applied to Fuller Theological Seminary where I would seek out three things: a concrete ethic from which to operate, an historical perspective on the interaction between church and society, and practical ways of initiating effective third world development. Fuller allowed me to perform graduate level research under the former Vice President of World Vision while also completing a six month internship with Congressman Adam Schiff.

I’m finishing up my time at Fuller in March and will be attending law school in August. I’m not sure where I’ll end up, but I have a few solid options: Loyola, Pepperdine, USC, Fordham, Columbia, Harvard. My wife wants to stay in L.A. as long as possible to pursue her acting career. I’ve always wanted to live in New York, but I’m not choosing based on location. I really just want something challenging that will open up policy opportunities after I finish.