(Re)Introduction: A Peek at Mike's Life

If this is your first time taking a look at my blog Funding the American Dream, welcome! I'm glad you're here. If you take a look at some of my earlier postings, you'll catch a glimpse of what I am passionate about, my ideas, my values, and my goals. As it is that I am starting a new class in which many of you will be seeing this blog for the first time, I feel that it is appropriate and very much called for that I provide for you a snapshot of who I am, as shown in my earlier posts. I hope you'll find that as the number of my posts increases, so does your desire to read. *Fingers Crossed*

I started this blog as an assignment, as many of you will do with your own blogs. However, I quickly realized the enjoyment which I found by sharing my ideas and views on such a platform. It functioned as a whiteboard for my brain; blank parchment for my imagination. I love the idea of taking raw element and creating beauty and substance. That is my goal with this blog now. It has morphed from extrinsic motivation to earn a good grade, to intrinsic motivation to effectively and concisely translate my mind to text. I have found that it is harder than I imagined at times. Nevertheless, I enjoy the challenge.

Well, let's get on with it. Shall we?

As you know, my name is Mike Knipp. My birth-given name is Michael, after my grandfather. He's an incredible man. If I could live just half of the life experiences which he has, I think I could write a best-selling autobiography. Here, he and I are together after my graduation of Fire Academy, Class 102-16.

I was honorably awarded with the Chief Tom Healy Gold Rung Memorial Award

As a twenty-year-old, I feel that I am fairly experienced. I have been hunting, fishing, backpacking, and enjoying the outdoors since I was old enough to walk. I shoot competitively in both high-power and smallbore silhouette competitions, currently residing in AA class and AAA class respectively. I am skilled in four trades (framing, metal fabrication, welding, and electrical). I'm not fluent in Spanish but I speak enough to know when I'm being spoken about. Throughout high school, I maintained a 4.15 GPA while playing three different sports (wrestling, football, and track & field) and working a part-time job.

Since being in college, I have worked two seasons on a Type III Engine as a wildlands firefighter for Arizona State Forestry and Fire Management. Starting in May, I will be working as a helicopter crew member and firefighter for Wyoming State Forestry Helitac.

Yuma Defensive Firing Operation: July, 2016

State Type III Engine, 38E Fire

As I am finishing my Associate's Degree in Emergency Management and Fire Operations this semester, I will be starting at Grand Canyon University in the Fall. There, I will be earning my Bachelor's Degree in Finance and Economics over the next two years. I greatly look forward to being done with school and continuing on with a career. I hope to one day run for a political position and enter into politics, as it is a major passion of mine alongside economics.

As a Christian, every aspect of my life is focused on one goal. That goal is to honor God and bring glory to Him. The best way I can do that is to love others and to love Him with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. As I have many aspirations, none of them mean anything if I do not love. I could achieve all that I am capable of, and even more, and it would all be pointless if I had not loved those who I encountered and shared the Grace of God with them along the way. I am thankful for each day that I get another chance to let God use me to make an impact on someone's life. To quote a famous philosopher, "That's all I have to say about that."

Until next time,

Good fortune and Godspeed.

Mike Knipp