I was born in Montcalm County and raised in the village of Palo, under the values of the United Methodist Church and blue collar traditions. I came of age under the lessons of my father, who taught me the value of integrity, tradition, honesty and hands on work. A fierce independence was ingrained into me early on, which led to the fortitude necessary to endure unforeseen hardships, such as the loss of my father and later our family home in Palo.
Through the experience of enduring that homelessness firsthand, I developed the perspective of advocacy and a thirst for overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges. This desire manifested as a personal need for self improvement, which led me to build up a wealth of experiences in the Stanton community while working to support the family. Later, I met my wife Melissa at the time I enrolled at Montcalm Community College to study accountancy and business. After graduating from MCC, I enrolled in the Seidman School of Business at GVSU. It was with great regret that in my final year, I was forced to withdraw from GVSU, due to rising tuition, capped financial aid, and a loss of student family housing. This experience however, informed me of the challenges working students face and also presented an opportunity later on to enroll with West Michigan CDL.
The career which resulted from my new CDL and employers in the field of logistics, granted me many new opportunities for personal and professional growth. Through the experiences of the last 8 years, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges facing everyday Americans throughout every state in the mainland United States. In addition, I have been given the knowledge of seeing the condition of our union and it’s infrastructure throughout all shipping hubs of the continental US. Lastly, this career has given me the opportunity to return to GVSU and complete my bachelor’s degree under the LEADS program in Integrated Studies.
Over the last year, my experiences with GVSU and the students of the LEADS program have renewed a sense of purpose within myself. Due to this, I am ready to take the lessons of the last year and the greatest experiences of my lifetime and advocate for restorative change in Lansing. I have decided to run and cast a light on the systemically broken in Michigan, in order to provoke restoration and improve representation within Lansing. What we need in Lansing is true statesmanship and true solutions for everyday Michiganders. What we have received instead are the typical scapegoat politics and popularization of token issues, which do not improve the lives of Michiganders.
