"Elevator Pitch"

Nice to meet you, I’m Derek Hoot and I’m a political science undergrad at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I’m minoring in Arabic and plan to study in Morocco for six weeks this summer, where I’ll be blogging about accessibility and staying with a host family in the capital city of Rabat. I also run a nonprofit wheelchair youth basketball team in Wisconsin, and I plan to travel to Jerusalem to staff a wheelchair basketball camp for wounded Palestinians. I’m interested in the spaces where philanthropy and politics intersect. I’m really intrigued by the work that your organization does. I think it can challenge my social media and management skills, and interning at your company would be a great opportunity for growth.

About Me

I am a undergraduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in political science and a minor in Arabic studies. I play wheelchair basketball for the University and enjoy the competition and physical challenge that comes with being a student-athlete. I use a prosthetic limb--I have been a right-leg amputee for thirteen years and enjoy having a conversation-starter literally at my hip. I have a one brother, Michael, who is finishing up his freshman year at Yale studying engineering, a father in graphic design, and a mother who works as a court commissioner. They push me to be creative, challenge myself, and pursue what I want to pursue. Recently, I find language and culture especially interesting because it allows me to meet new people and travel to new destinations. Studying Arabic has brought a new dimension of learning into my academic vision; it has put me in contact with individuals from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco who offer different perspectives on my study abroad prospects and my journey as a political science student. I am always seeking opportunities that combine my skills, interests, and identity. For example, my studies have opened up an opportunity to staff a wheelchair basketball camp in Jerusalem that serves wounded Palestinians. This would be an ideal experience for me because it combines the sport that I love and the identity I own as a disabled individual, the language skills I have developed, and would take place in a region of deep political significance.

Culture-Defining Spaces: Geoffrey Frost, Twitter, and my College Decision

Another interviewee in the Roadtrip Nation textbook is particularly interesting to me. Geoffrey Frost, the Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Motorola, turned down his acceptance to Yale to travel Europe and pursue a career in advertising. I found his decision captivating because I have a brother who is a freshman at Yale and because I turned down a top-flight school, New York University, not against the wishes of my parents, but other relatives who felt like the value of Undergraduate education was more dependent the prestige of an institution than the niches that I could carve out. One of the many differences between Frost and I is that the consequences of his decision were far greater—his parents didn’t speak to him for two years and he was virtually on his own in Europe. The family side of my “lifestyle triangle” is of great importance, if I knew that my decision would hold that much gravity in my family life, I’m not sure I would have opted out of the acceptance process. I do however, admire his fearlessness and have a similar interest in science fiction and adventure. Instead of prompting me to drop out of school and travel, the adventure bug pushes me to explore new languages and places within the framework of being a college student, like travelling to Morocco in May and to Jordan in the summer of 2015 to develop my French and Arabic-speaking skills. I was also struck by his yearning to “work in the hot zones,” that is, playing to the zeitgeist and dabbling in culture-defining spaces. It reminded me of my passion for hip-hop and social media, and the excitement that social movements in my generation can generate. Ironically, my essay for NYU’s application was about my passion for Twitter and how it helped me connect with young people who cared about the same things I do. That hasn’t changed, and I think I will continue to seek “hot zones” and hone skills that allow me to thrive in them.

Charlie Trotter and Knowledge for Knowledge's Sake

This week I was reading more of the book Roadtrip Nation and felt a singular connection to Charlie Trotter, a chef in Chicago who cooks for celebrities and politicians. His path was not all that different from mine. Trotter was a political science major who liked to cook and understood the intimacy of food and the relationship between the table and togetherness. He also enjoyed philosophy and reading. What I found most striking about Trotter’s interview was his passion for learning. When he started in the restaurant business he was making $3.10 an hour but still thought “these guys are idiots! They’re giving me $3.10 and I should be paying them.” This is because Charlie was learning a trade he enjoyed. I have this feeling constantly because of my wheelchair basketball and study abroad scholarships—I am being subsidized to play the sport that I love during my time at the University of Illinois and explore the capital of Morocco this Summer. Last summer, even though I didn’t end up seeing myself in retail, I enjoyed the training I received as a sales team member at the Buckle and felt that developing my ability to sell products and put together visual displays was valuable. Like Charlie, I enjoy the pursuit of knowledge and see it as a bonus when I am reciprocated for it. I also subscribe to his philosophy “it doesn’t really matter that you don’t understand everything quickly… Sometimes when we take a little time we gain a more profound knowledge of things.” As a student-athlete I get inundated with things to do and people to meet, and once in a while it’s healthy to sit back and look at the big picture to get a better look at what I actually enjoy doing, what challenges me creatively, and what I can afford not to do.