Meet Thaddeus
My story is one of barriers and an ever-bright passion for something greater.
I grew up in what I would describe as the modern American classic. I grew up in rural Texas, in a crossroads town of less than two thousand people. Without a strong connection to that area, divorced parents, struggling to put food on the table, and barely able to give focus to school or extracurriculars, I was incredibly cognizant of the barriers that were set in front of me to have any chance of success.
Even as I nominally succeeded in my studies, I didn’t have a clear vision of who I wanted to be. With this in mind, I joined the Army out of a desperation to remove myself from rural Texas and a hope to find out my true calling in life.
In the military, I found purpose and guidance from many I still call friends. I spent four years of my life in four different places, from Arizona, to Korea; from Missouri, to Washington. That was where I found my joy for life, seeing those around me succeed and thrive in life and beyond. Award-winning in my MOS, consistently expected to be as competent as someone twice my grade, and exceptional at what was asked of me and to find the problems in those tasks.
During this journey, I landed in Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2015 and fell in love with Western Washington from the moment I arrived. I invested myself in the community immediately, and was welcomed in equal parts. I knew that Seattle was going to be my home for the rest of my life.
It was in this candor that I was pushed to apply for and got accepted to Princeton University.
This was a novel item, both for me and the Ivy League institution. None of my family had ever gone to college outside of Texas, and I was considered “Patient #0” when I arrived, being the first veteran accepted in decades under a new administration. The people in charge of this were incredibly open with me on the fact that they were building the bridge beneath me as I crossed.
As such, it gave me great insight and leeway in helping form the basis of support that veterans needed to succeed. Having that support network activated something deep in my soul, and I knew that I wanted everyone else to be able to have a similar vision of the future.
My search to serve and lead new eras stretched into my studies, as I devoted myself to Public Policy and kept a honed vision on Seattle. Everything from social diaspora and gentrification to elections and police, I maintained a locked view on the place that I called home.
Even as a federal employee, my first focus is how to make peoples’ lives better. I fell in love with this city from the moment I drove across the I-90 bridge. Now, I want to use everything I’ve learned and built to propel Seattle even further. My time working with NOAA and the FAA has been incredibly enlightening to the depths at which the government can provide aid and support to the people who need it the most.
Today, I rent in North Seattle and have experienced the precipitous rise in housing costs alongside the city. I am lucky enough to be able to comfortably provide for my cats and my housemates so that they can thrive as well.
I go to White Center on a weekly basis and enjoy the community that has been built in West Seattle even as gentrification threatens the residents there. I am a die-hard Kraken and Mariners fan, with the only thing stopping me from watching the games being local blackouts.
Everything that I do revolves around this city, and I would not have it any other way.
With your help, nothing is impossible.
We are living in incredibly fraught times, and working together as a community and a city is the best way to weather the rising tide of fascism in America.
Will you join me?
