I learn by following the question.

HOW I WORK

Curiosity gets more useful when I make something with it.

Milspur began as a joke: what if wizards treated magic like coders treat code? Adam asked how it would work, and I tried to give the question a consistent answer. I worked backward from what the fictional particle needed to do. That led to states, materials, countries, and stories—and eventually to a proposed physical toy and a patent application.

Working in a patent law office made the process less abstract. I became familiar with how an application takes shape and began asking where a design might be used and who might help develop it. Preparing my own application forced me to describe several possible forms clearly. It also made me more aware of the difference between a documented possibility and a finished product.

But I do not want one invention to define all of my interests. As a kid I was absorbed by minerals; my grandfather’s 1957 guide to rocks and gems helped start that. Spanish immersion gave me an early interest in how cultures work. Writing Milspur pushed me toward history, politics, and the choices countries make around scarce resources.

LEARNING BY DOING

I want to understand how things work before deciding what they should do.

At West Michigan Aviation Academy, I have had the chance to learn through projects as well as textbooks. My classes have included Build a Plane, Biomedical Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, and Computer Science. I like the moment when an idea meets a practical constraint and I have to rethink it.

I also attended Michigan Boys State at Hillsdale College, where I was elected mayor of Jefferson. That experience made my interest in policy more concrete. I love technology and policy, and I want to build real technical skill so that, one day, I can contribute to policy and foreign policy with a better understanding of the technologies involved.

Outside class, I love to read and have played hockey since I was three, through my senior year of high school. Reading keeps opening new questions; hockey has made teamwork a regular part of my life.

WHAT MILSPUR TAUGHT ME

Serious work and curiosity can belong together.

I used to worry that growing up meant setting aside the questions that fascinated me as a kid. Milspur changed that. I found that I like building a system, testing it through writing, and following a technical question into its social and historical consequences.

I want to keep developing the skills to make ideas real—and the judgment to ask what they could mean for the people who use them. Milspur matters to me because it showed me a way to do both.