Lake Pleasant Clean-Up Crew Volunteer Event,

Elijah Rusk

I have comprehensive experience in the societal sectors of business, entreprenurial innovation, politics, and law. I serve on the Arizona Governor's Youth Commission, a collection of high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors who enact the diversified representation of the youth populous within each county, alongside Honorable Governor Doug Ducey. As a representative for Maricopa County, I have specialized on the GYC’s Substance Abuse Subcommittee. Some of the accomplishments I have spearheaded for our Substance Abuse Subcommittee are:

• A distinguished official partnership with Arizona State University (ASU).

• An ASU “Opioid Dropbox Availability Awareness Proclamation and Campus Recognised Day”; Signed into order by President Michael M. Crow in collaboration with ASU Student Leadership, the City of Tempe, and the Arizona League of Cities and Towns.

• The creation of an ASU funded “Opioid Dropbox Availability Awareness Volunteer of the Year Award” college scholarship.

• Secured ASU funding for our subcommittee’s production of multiple public service announcements, circulated by the university itself.

• The participation of ASU’s sports teams in promoting Substance Abuse Awareness and Opioid Dropbox Availability.

• ASU’s hosting of next year’s Youth Leadership Day, the GYC’s largest annual convention with over 1,000 high school students in regular attendance.

• A prestigious partnership with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

• The successful coordination of Governor Doug Ducey’s “Elephant in the Room” Red Ribbon Kick-Off event.

• Numerous community and school-wide campaigns across the valley in consolidation with other youth led organizations.

Up until this point, I have held a seat on the Buckeye Youth Council (where I learned the skill of design thinking) . I also held one of twelve nationally established positions on the National League of Cities (NLC) National Convention Youth Delegate Planning Committee (the NLC being a powerful congressional advocacy group protecting the will of over 19,000 cities, towns, and municipalities from borderline to borderline, across the United States). As a member of the committee, I attended the 2017 NLC Congressional City Conference in Washington D.C., dually advocating for the resolution of the Salt Cedar Invasive Species Issue in meetings on Capitol Hill, under the guidance of Honorable Mayor Jackie A. Meck of Buckeye, Arizona. Furthermore, I was able to aide in planning the 2018 NLC City Summit on behalf of the City of Buckeye this past November In Charlotte, North Carolina. Where our cohesive team of youth representatives crafted numerous workshops for city council members, mayors, and other political delegates on the subjects of economic mobility, technologically relevant political inventiveness, participatory budget configuration, how to shape the lives of diverse members, the role of minorities in the global economy, as well as safer schools and climate. Keynote speeches were performed by astronaut Joanne Higginbotham (one of the only three African American women to go into outer space), astronaut Mark Kelly, former U.S. House of Representatives heroine Gabrielle Giffords, and Magic Johnson. Not too long ago, I also achieved completion of 5 highly accredited and rigorous entrepreneurial, business, and economic programs. Including Youth Entrepreneurs of Kansas twice, the Youth Entrepreneurship Outreach Network twice, as well as the globally-competitive Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) program course; which I won an all-expense-paid-for scholarship (funded by the Charles Koch Foundation) to attend at Chapman University in Orange, California. Our course was taught by economists, economic philosophers, as well as economic professors.

I was awarded as the 1st place winner of the Buckeye, Arizona, Municipal Court Grand Opening and National Law Day 14th Amendment Essay Writing Contest, winning one year mentoring by Honorable Municipal Judge Maria Brewer. Moreover, I was recently admitted into the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), an organization that recognizes top intellectuals who have demonstrated unsurpassable scholarship commitment. The announcement of my investiture being made by NSHSS Founder and Chairman Claes Nobel, the senior member of the family that instituted the Nobel Prizes (e.g. the Nobel Peace Prize). I am also a newly chosen ambassador for the City of Buckeye, cooperating in the development of the West Valley Youth Council Coalition and its inaugural seminar conference, since nothing of its like has ever been started.