To be selected
To attend the Envision Impact Series: Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit 2017, students must:› Have a 3.0 GPA or higher› Show leadership potential by participating in extracurricular activities› Write two essays about his/her future interests
Sale Creek High School junior Samuel "Eli" Fuller has some very specific and lofty goals for his life and, even at age 16, he believes everything starts now if he wants to get them done.
"My ultimate goal is to go into the legal system starting as an attorney, then go into politics and, in the end, I want to be on the Supreme Court bench on the national scale," he says.
He's already done quite a bit to fill out his resumé, including attending Model United Nations conferences in New York the last two years, joining other students from around the world to discuss global issues and possible solutions.
In his latest trip, Eli will attend the presidential inauguration in January as part of the Envision Impact Series: Presidential Inauguration Leadership Summit 2017. While there, he plans to be a sponge, learning as much as possible from as many court and political professionals as he can.
And, toward his goal of being on the Supreme Court, he may get some guidance from such summit speakers as former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, current Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and former Attorney General Janet Reno.
Eli became fascinated with law two years ago through school, but the deeper he delves into the legal system, the more intrigued he becomes.
"I'm fascinated with case law and the legal system and how the Court of Appeals works and how specific and unspecific it is and how cases are argued. It is so minute and intricate," he says.
In addition to witnessing history by watching the presidential inauguration on the National Mall on Jan. 20, Eli will actually spend five days in Washington, D.C., from Jan. 18-22.
While there, he will meet students from around the country and listen to speakers such as Gen. Colin Powell, movie director Spike Lee, Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO Fiorina and political commentator Tucker Carlson.
Brooke Hopkins, who teaches the gifted students at Sale Creek as well as at Soddy-Daisy Middle and Brainerd high schools, nominated Eli for the honor - with a bit of nudging from him.
"He actually brought it to me," she says. "He's an amazing kid who goes out and finds these types of things.
"He's very goal-oriented and self-driven."
Whatever Eli sees, learns and discovers during his trip, Hopkins hope to use some of it in future teaching lessons.
"His experience will be something that he will come back and speak on," she says.
Each student pays nearly $3,500 plus travel expenses to attend the summit, and Hopkins says Fuller has started a car-washing business to help pay for the trip. He's also created a GoFundMe account at gofundme.com/help-me-attend-a-envision-program.
Along with the car wash gig, his other activities include band, soccer, ROTC and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
"I am a very avid Christian, and I trust in God to lead me," Eli says.
Sale Creek Principal Tobin Davidson describes Fuller as "a well-rounded student."
"He also helps facilitate our gifted programs in the middle school," Davidson says.
The Envision summit got its start in 1985 and has since seen more than 800,000 students participate in the years since.
In addition to the inauguration, galas and speeches, the summit offers a chance for attendees to be a part of what it calls the Delegation for Change. Students work together in smaller groups to draft proposals that will be presented to the president in the coming months. Among the predetermined topics are "Imagining Peace," "Erasing Extinction," "Curing the Future," "Drones, Clones and Genomes" and "Pathways to Power."
Eli chose the first three as his preferred delegation choices.
"I wouldn't label myself as OCD," he says, "but I love being able to pull all of the pieces together."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.