I was born and raised in Michigan, and like many young people, I thought that my future lay somewhere else. I thought there wasn't enough for me in Michigan, and that I needed something...more. So I moved to Miami and then New York City searching for that distant place to call home. On September 11, 2001 while living in New York City I learned an important lesson: the place you call home is where your hope resides. Your future is not what happens to you, but what you create. I moved home, to my Michigan, to Grand Rapids where I could start a family and create the life I always hoped for.

Michigan is my hope because it offers my children the things I find important: access to culture and nature. Within a half hour drive, we're on the beach of Lake Michigan, or hiking trails, or in the heart of Grand Rapids visiting a museum. Michigan offers variety in which a family can thrive.

It is my deeper hope that Michigan can address its weaknesses by transitioning from a state dependent on manufacturing to a state that manufactures access to natural wonders like the sprawling sand dunes in Empire, the pictured rocks in Marquette, the bright theater lights of Detroit. Michigan is not simply a place where things are made. It's a place we're things are possible.

I hope in the future, Michigan will invest more heavily in providing competitive education to children from preschool to college. A future doesn't simply happen; it is built. And, in short, I believe if there's one thing Michigan knows, it's how to build things.