30 April 2015

347 Simplicity Dr.

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

Judges
10800 South Carolina 707
Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

Dear Judges,
My name is Pete Davis. I am a junior at St. James High School born and raised in the Murrells
Inlet area. I am also a part of the St. James Future Business Leaders of America. Recently, I
competedalong with teammates Alyssa Koziarski and Conor Sloanin an entrepreneurship
competition hosted by FBLA that was at the state level, and ultimately went on to win over 16
other groups that had previously won their respective district competitions. I will be going to
Chicago this June to competeand hopefully winthe national competition. I have certainly
had to overcome my fair share of obstacles, but have had the full support of my family in
whatever endeavors I have decided to involve myself in.
I decided to research the harmful effects of the two-party system due to a natural inclination to
political issues. While deciding on what topic I wanted to research, the conflict certainly wasnt
whether or not I should research a political issue. Instead my internal conflict mainly dealt with
deciding what political issue was most important to myself. Throughout this undoubtedly
rigorous processcompared to the typical high school English projectI am able to walk away
from this entire experience with a much deeper understanding on an issue that Ive been largely
been on the fence with. I learned that, although my opinion on the issue may be justifiable,
identifying a solution is the much more difficult portion of dealing with the issue at hand.
Throughout this process, Ive mainly just dealt with the typical issues any high school kid is
going to deal with throughout a strenuous project. Maintaining focus has been genuinely
difficult, honestly. The day-to-day workload wasnt much of an issue for me. I sometimes found
myself diving too deep into the topic, until I found myself on an entirely different topic. Politics
can be so far in between black and white that I sometimes felt as though I was lost within a topic
I felt so strongly about before really looking deeply into both sides of the fence. After discussing
my topic with my former 7th grade history teacher during my completion of service hours, I was
able to truly level my thinking back down to a fundamental plane. Being able to take information
from both sides of the argument and come to a conclusion on the matter is something I have
always prided myself on. I certainly tested that ability throughout this process.
I just want to thank all of the judges for taking the time to listen to my presentation. This entire
experience has been unforgettable, and will undoubtedly help me going forward. My interest in
politics has been truly validated after delving into such an interesting topic. Once again, I would

just like to thank you all for openly listening and viewing my presentation, as well as engaging
with me on my topic.

Sincerely,
Pete Davis