I could not be more thrilled that someone in the community recognized me enough to nominate me for the Fox Cities Future 15 Young Professionals Award!!! I’ve known a fair amount of folks that have been nominated and another handful that have had the honor of winning Future 15 as well. 

So…what is this “Future 15” thingy that I speak of?? Simple. It’s an award granted to 15 young professionals that excel in their respective place of employment and also give back to our community. 

There are also other criteria that the panel of judges look for as well, but that is for another time….like if I make it far enough to have a shot of winning a place among some great folks in this area. 

When it came to filing out the application…oh boy…it took awhile. I never actually thought about the things I did until it came to writing them down and listing them in chronological order. In the past five years, I’ve gotten so many amazing opportunities to serve this community that I call home and am still in awe that I’ve met so many friends that also share the same love for selfless service and community. I owe so many thanks to the Appleton Area Jaycees and one of my mentors that has helped me grow in that organization, Paul Schmerse.

More than six years ago, I meet a photographer named Lisa Ann. She is the first person that introduced me to the Jaycees (Junior Chamber of Commerce). I had just returned from Iraq and started to settle back into my hometown after being gone for many years for school and work. Having been away awhile, I really didn’t have a lot of friends in the area and I just wanted to do something MORE. Yes, if you know me, I always want to do more, be more, just make more out of life. (it can also be rather annoying….for people that are…say…my siblings and my spouse? haha) When Lisa Ann spoke to me about the Jaycees, I immediately sought out the local chapter. Paul was there person that responded to my request for more information. This was somewhere in the beginning of 2011…yup…that long ago. It actually took me until October of 2011 to finally attend a meeting. And from there, I was hooked. Five years later, and I’ve continued my community efforts and now I’m leading the Tuesday’s Together Group for the Appleton area as well! I don’t think I would have ever thought that my life would turn out the way it has. In the past five years alone, I’ve finished my time in the military after a 12 year stint, ran multiple events and served in multiple positions for the Jaycees, helped out numerous local companies and local volunteer events through my photography business, went back to school for my graduate degree and most recently, my leadership of the Tuesday’s Together group. It must have been 3 years ago or something like that, that I was first nominated for Future 15. At that point, I hadn’t felt like I’d done enough to service our community. I’m so grateful to now have the opportunity to be up against so many amazing people. It’s really a wonderful thing. I wish there were thousands of nominations and hundreds of finalists. In the end, it doesn’t matter if I win, because we have sone kick awesome people in these fox cities. And we are lucky to have so many people that want to positively influence our community! So, win or lose, we all win if more folks are involved and more folks strive to be better. Here here!