Up to Us has given me and my teammates the opportunity to raise awareness of our national debt. Yes, I know this is a competition against other schools and universities, but it is more than just that. I see it as a duty that we have to educate our communities. I have appreciated more and more throughout this competition the openness of my fellow peers on campus to understand the debt crisis.

Our country has done so much for us. It has protected us, raised us, and given us multiple opportunities to succeed in life. Now it is our turn to give back to our country. It is time to come up with some innovative ideas that will place our nation in a more fiscally secure position.

On Stockton College’s campus, we can come up with bipartisan ideas. Our nation should have the same mindset that my peers at Stockton College have. We do not approach a problem with the mentality of “this is the only answer, and that is it. If you disagree with me, then you are a loser (Nah nah nah boo boo!).” We Ospreys see a problem and we say “how about this?” Or we ask “what if?” We give a typical answer, but then we always add a twist to see a different outcome.

I always knew this was the culture at Stockton College, but I’ve never seen it work at full capacity until the Up to Us campaign. Students have rallied together and asked how many ways can we solve this problem. And they do it not because it is for extra credit, or because they want to win a gift card. They do it because they know that this is an issue that affects us all. It will take the whole entire community to come up with a remedy to cure our debt crisis.

Now if our political leaders in D.C., in our State Capitals, and in our City Halls start creating a culture like what my college has, I believe that we’d need no longer fear a debt problem in our future. We would actually solve more issues besides the debt crisis too, but that is a topic to talk about some other time.

I lastly want to thank my Up to Us team at Stockton College and the Up to Us competition as a whole for giving me this opportunity to serve my country by raising awareness on this crisis. I want to give thanks for this opportunity to witness great minds voice their opinions and raise awareness in the most creative ways. It gives me hope that we as a nation still have a bright future.