Garza Independence

High

School
April 28, 2014 Hello: It's my privilege to write to you in recommendation of Jake Johnston, a graduate of Gonzalo Garza Independence High School , where I am currently employed as a teacher assistant. Jake is a young man of integrity, intention, and balance, among many other traits. His unique voice and perspective, his effort, and his commitment to mutual respect and cooperation leave a lasting and very positive impression. In the time I have known Jake, I have had the opportunity to observe in him a frank, straightforward , and decisive nature; a warmth and facility with both peers and school staff; an enlivening and endearingly puckish sense of humor; a tremendous predilection and respect for practical and concrete thinking; a persistent and clear sense of right, wrong, and fairness; and a fervent, potentially rOllsing desire for social change and betterment. Jake is intelligent, thoughtful , confident, and considerate. He is relaxed, easygoing, and adaptable, but focused , and purposeful. He is at once self-assured, yet earnestly open. He knows his beliefs, and is secure in them, but genuinely wants to know yours, as well: He is eager for discourse, enlightenment, and the transmission and interchange of ideas. Above almost all else, he seeks knowledge and truth, and wants to share them. At least as much, though, Jake cares about people. "We need a humanitarian," he writes, with regard to Presidential leadership, "Someone not focused on getting ahead of the other 1sl world countries, but rather [on working] together to get ahead as a planet, as a species, and as a society." Not coincidentally, Jake lists "helping people" first among his interests, and says "the thought of saving someone's life makes [him] feel alive." Indeed, he wants to be President someday - he calls it his "dream job," in fact - because he "would finally be able to give help to all those who truly need it." Now, consider that. Most people, myself included, shied away from Oval Office aspirations long ago (or were never attracted to it in the first place); it's a nigh-absurd level of responsibility that threatens to thoroughly boggle the mind and exhaust the conceptual-energy reserves of the considerer - assuming we take a moment to consider it at all. But Jake's hungry for it. Why? Because he wants to help. Jake Johnston is a great kid. I'm excited to see where he goes from here . We've been happy and fortunate to have him here at Garza; chances are, if you admit him to your institution or team, you'll end up feeling the same way. Either way, you may end up voting for him.

// ;'-' .

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Brian Vi II alobjs/ I Facilitator ~tant,

Brian Villalobos
Facilitator Assistant 5 12-414-8638

brian. villalobos@austinisd.org
1600 Chicon St. AUStill, TX. 78702