For most high school students, looking to become President at such a young age would be crazy. But freshman Cameron Greenwell aims to turn such dreams into a reality.
“I don’t think that anyone in this school or anyone in this state or maybe even the country at this age, is as serious as I am about it (becoming President),” Greenwell said.
And in light of his ambitions, Greenwell already knows one main thing he would change in today’s Presidential office: the way opposite parties of the white house interact.
“-If you ask a boy, ‘who’s better: a boy or a girl?’ the-the boy’s gonna answer he is and if you asked a girl, the girls are gonna answer girl. That’s-that’s the same thing, republican or democrat, republicans will answer republican, democrats will answer democrat,” explained Greenwell.
In Cameron’s opinion, America needs opposite parties to agree on a general idea in order to work with other nations globally.
“It’s harder to get things done in other countries, like dealing with North Korea and dealing with Russia when your country is in total chaos,” Greenwell stated.
Another aspect that Greenwell would be changing in politics is the fact he has had these ambitions since such a young age. This dream didn’t evolve over one to two years of college or as a teen, this dream has developed since kindergarten.
“You might find some kindergarteners that say they want to be President, but you don’t find a kindergartner that ten years later still says he wants to be President,” Carol Greenwell, Cameron’s mom, said.
As for today, Cameron was the President of student council during his time at Summit Lakes Middle School, and though just starting in debate, is already striving to participate in the competitions. That’s how he readies himself for the obstacles of the job to come and how he tries to show other people how realistic he is with his goal of becoming the President.
“A leader is someone people want to follow… A leader can motivate. Um, a leader is also good with solving problems. A leader also has to have good communication skills because a leader can’t do it all by himself. He’s leading, he’s not doing it by himself… Leaders have to be smart enough to put good teams around them… Do I think Cameron has those things? Yeah I do… I think he could do it, absolutely,” Mrs. Julie Gerling, Cameron’s eighth grade teacher explained.
To others, it’s not hard to see that this ninth grade student is not only very serious about his high goal to become the ‘top dog’, but also that he has a lot of passion for it.
“I think he was very well respected because he paid attention and he learned and he had his ears open and could have a conversation about anything that was going on in the world, that you would hear about online, and on the internet or on the news…I don’t think anybody looked down on him,” Mrs. Gerling mentioned.
And truly, it stands out when people can say that they respect Cameron as a leader, when Cameron has never had a real job as a politician. But because of his hard work and willingness to take the time to be well-versed in what is going on in the world’s current state, has gained that reputation.
Notably, Cameron said he takes this dream very seriously; by focusing and willing to go the extra mile, Cameron is taking steps towards achieving his goals rather than simply dreaming of what he wishes to accomplish.
“He’s a researcher, he researches anything and everything before he dives into something because he wants to know all the facts,” said Denise Norton, Cameron’s grandma.
And whereas it is thought that many politicians are born into political families, Cameron has developed this passion for debate and politics with no current politicians in his family.
“Coming, you know, from the background that he does and knowing that… he goes the extra mile for everything… I think will give him, in my opinion a little bit more of an-an advantage than just… the people that grew up in it, and that’s just you know what their grandfather or their father or brother or whoever did. And it kind of separates him,” said Norton.
With the passion that has developed, Cameron does not want to follow custom and leave room for a ton of time between college and serving his term as President; ideally he hopes to run in the earliest election possible, taking in his age restriction.
“I want to be the President young and win twice hopefully… If at all possible be thirty five, I think thirty- thirty eight is an election year when I could run and you know that would just be a dream if I could win it that first year,” Cameron said.
Though young, Cameron Greenwell has a willingness to fill the position of the ultimate leader, and has tried to show people how far he’s willing to go to be someone who can accurately answer the questions and problems of the public, making his future dreams that much more of a reality.
