The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Nathan K. during the 2007-2008 League.
Ten hours of volunteer work for a nonprofit.
Our family was recently invited by Representative Fulton Sheen to attend the Mackinac Island Republican Leadership Conference held September 21st through the 23rd, Our mission: walking billboards for the Michigan FairTax Organization! We had gotten to know Fulton Sheen (who is the leading force behind the FairTax in Michigan) through trips my brothers and I had taken with him down to Mississippi. Those trips were incredible, but that's another story for another time! We arrived in Mackinac City around 12:00 noon, got our luggage checked and got in the boat to go over to the Island. On the boat ride over I began to feel a little bit nervous about what we were going to do. Fulton had told us that we were going to be walking around talking to people about the FairTax. Well I knew about the FairTax but I didn't know all the ins and outs. Once we arrived at the island we got checked into our hotel, and went to get instructions from Roger Buchholtz, the coordinator of the FairTax in Michigan. He supplied us with FairTax signs and we made our way to the Grand Hotel to get signed in. Not much happened that night; we went and ate supper on the Grand Hotel porch, milled around for awhile looking very bright in our white FairTax T-shirts. Several of us went down to Mission Point to hand out information and talk with people there. The next day was incredibly busy filled with everything from the tax panel to football parties. Someone from our group (the FairTax volunteers) was supposed to be at every event; the idea being that we get the FairTax image imprinted in the public's mind. It was crazy, but fun at the same time. The work was enjoyable but uncomfortable for me; we were suppose to be striking up conversations with anybody who would talk to us and I have a hard time just randomly striking up conversations with people that I don't know. I was able to help my mom explain what the FairTax will do once it is instated, but never struck up a conversation on my own. Learning experiences were many. I learned that the political process is one filled with not only a lot of hard work, but also must involve an immense amount of character, self-discipline and trust in God to be able to accomplish the task at hand. Let me explain: while I was at Mackinac Island I was watching and listening; trying to discern the true purpose for the convention. I guess for the first time I saw what politics accomplishes, and it sickened me. Then God began to show me that we have brought politics to the place that it's at by letting down our guard in things that one would think were small, but in God's eyes are the foundation of sin: pride, selfishness, and a lying tongue. These are the things that I see in the majority of politicians; not only in our State but in the nation as well. The conference (as you can see) was truly an eye opening experience for me, one that I will remember for a long time. One of the things that I remember the clearest was hearing people say that just our family walking around in our FairTax T-shirts left an incredible imprint on the conference, which was our goal. Mission accomplished!
