From a young age, my dad introduced me into a life full of adventure and outdoor hobbies. We spend our weekends hunting for a variety of animals, fishing Lake Superior for trout, or working on projects outside. It has made me very passionate about nature and being a productive person. Throughout my childhood I have also been influenced by extremely hard working family members and friends. This work ethic has been shown in many aspects of my life. When I was a freshman, I promised myself that I would work hard in all my classes and get a 4.0 unweighted GPA. With some determination to accomplish my goals, I ended high school with a perfect record. Not only did I care about my academic achievements, I was really big into sports and worked very hard to be the best I could at soccer, tennis, and powerlifting. In soccer I was a captain and an all conference player. In powerlifting I was a four time state qualifier and trained every day. My upbringing taught me to always work hard and achieve greatness. As you get into high school, everyone has to figure out what they are going to do after high school to be successful. This is a very challenging question for every teenager. Many people expected me to go into a 4 year degree based on my grades. But one day, my dad told me about a certain job that fits my interests much better than any old boring job. This job is the lineman trade. He told me all about the benefits and details about the job and I was intrigued. Immediately, I started doing as much research as I could to learn what the job entailed. It seemed so perfect from what I was learning. It's an outdoor job, the pay and benefits are really good, the education is affordable, and it is full of adventure. Not only is the description something I would be interested in, the job is also very meaningful and important to society. Without lineman, our country wouldn't be able to function. They maintain and build our electrical grid which is necessary for almost everything that we have in the modern day world. I didn't want to make a decision based on online research, so I reached out to multiple local power cooperatives and scheduled job shadows. The three job shadows I did were by far the most influential experiences in my career planning journey. The brotherhood and teamwork I witnessed was something i've never seen before and made me realize how truly special this job is. I felt a sense of belonging while being around that environment which instantly drew me in. From that day on, I knew that I wanted to pursue this career in my future. I hate the idea of spending the rest of my life doing a boring, meaningless job. I want to make a difference in the world and contribute my good work ethic to helping the functionality of our country. In conclusion, my childhood and upbringing has taught me many valuable lessons about the type of person I strive to be. I dream of being a successful individual in all aspects of my life and expect nothing less. I may not be taking advantage of my academic achievements, but I hope to make an impact in a field of work that often gets overlooked. I recognize the importance of this job and am passionate about helping people and our society.