Q for Obama: What did you want to be in high school?
By Mark Schwenker
First Vote
Sen. Barack Obama was drilled on questions pertaining to his leadership experience and foreign policy objectives. When my turn came to ask him a question, I thought I’d go easy on him.
“As my friends and I are talking about what career fields we might go into, I was wondering, what did you want to be when you were in high school?” I asked, breaking the serious tension in the room as the Senator looked me in the eye while drinking out of an unmarked water bottle.
The senator, chuckling to himself, replied “in kindergarten I wanted to be President, then I went through wanting to be an astronaut and basketball player.“
“By the time I was in high school, I actually thought I wanted to be an architect,” he said. “I thought the idea of designing buildings would be fascinating.”
I find it very interesting that Sen. Obama wanted to be an architect. As an architect, one most likely wants to leave their mark on the world by having a lasting impact with their designs. Although the senator isn’t an architect, he is still leaving a lasting impact on the landscape of America today.
“How I became a lawyer instead is a sad tale,” Sen. Obama, said.
I also dabbled on the thought of being an architect, but new interests and opportunities came up as time went on, which Sen. Obama experienced as well.
Who knows, maybe I’m going down a similar path as the senator. How does “Mark Schwenker in 2048” sound?
Mark Schwenker is a student at Davenport West High School.