I am a storyteller.

Over a year ago I found myself lost with no direction for what I wanted to do with my life. I was a writer, stuck in the limbo that is writer’s block, and I no longer could put words to paper.

Because I believed in the value of learning a trade, I decided to go to Pinellas Technical College. I figured even if I didn’t get a career out of it, at least I would have a life skill. What I didn’t know was that I would find, not only a career path that fit me perfectly and offered many job opportunities, but also new ways to tell stories.

In the last year of my schooling I’ve built things I didn’t know I was capable of building. I’ve built stories. Pieces of furniture, a dovetail box, a cabinet in a kitchen, all tell stories tailored to someone’s life. When you build something for someone, you think of who they are, and what would make them gasp and say, “This was made for me.”

I thrive for that moment.

I am in love with the magic of creating. I wake up every day excited to go to school. SkillsUSA has made this journey even more rewarding. I’m learning leadership, service to others, and how to be a champion. To build something designed by someone, and to learn ways of construction I hadn’t thought of before, is education in its most poetic form. This field is my passion.

If someone told me a year ago where I’d be today, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. But here I am, at a point in my life where I know I’ll look back on one day, and see as one of the best life experiences I’ve ever had.

Alex