Keith,
Today marks the beginning of a new and incredibly exciting chapter in my life.
After 4 and 1/2 transformative years at Young Americans for Liberty, I am stepping down as Executive Vice President.
Keith, I think it’s important you know that Young Americans for Liberty changed my entire life.
It all started for me when I was in high school about to graduate in 2012. I had recently watched Michael Moore’s film “Capitalism, a Love Story” and was following Bernie Sanders. I thought that socialism was the answer to solving the ills of our world.
Thankfully I had a high school teacher who gave me a book and said “you may want to read this.” It was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. That book changed my entire outlook on life and made me realize that freedom, not centralized control, was the key to a more prosperous world.
With my newfound philosophy established, I left high school and went to college with a mission to save the world. I knew that I had to start spreading the word about the ideas of liberty and that I had to find a way to impact the political process.
I attempted to form my own university "liberty" group on my campus, and it was a grueling experience. I had no guidance, no resources, no “know how” of how to actually get things done. After a few months of trying to get things going, I had almost given up.
Then I found Young Americans for Liberty.
At a liberty conference I was attending, I started chatting with the YAL Midwest Regional Director. I told him about my challenges on campus and about how I wasn’t sure if my school was ever destined to have a liberty presence. “Everyone’s so apathetic” I remember saying.
He told me that YAL had resources that could help me. He said that he would work with me as a mentor and show me the ropes. YAL had a proven system to scale campus organizations. What a relief, I thought! I signed up immediately and turned my local club into an official YAL chapter.
The next semester was transformative. Our recruitment swelled, we hosted tons of impactful events like Free Speech Walls, visualize the debt, and anti-war events. Our YAL chapter was growing and creating a community of like minded students on campus. People told me that being a part of YAL was their favorite part of college. We were all a tight knit group of friends advancing the ideas we believed in.
After my first academic year of being a YAL leader was over, summer came and I heard about YALCON –YAL’s invite-only event for top students. I had to go! It was there that I met my liberty heroes like Rand Paul, Ron Paul, and Thomas Massie. I heard a speech from Larry Reed on “Liberty and Character” that changed my life.
Thanks to the skills I learned at YALCON... the next semester was even better than the last. We came out full force for recruitment and had a PACKED room for our fall kick off meeting!
Thanks to the skills I learned at YALCON... the next semester was even better than the last. We came out full force for recruitment and had a PACKED room for our fall kick off meeting!
That year we stepped it up a notch, bringing Larry Reed and recruiting 76 attendees!
I also hosted Michael Malice to speak on the oppression of the North Korean people and brought in 82 people!
That year I decided to step up my involvement as well by applying to be the Michigan State Chair for YAL. I was floored when I got accepted. Now I would have the opportunity to start new YAL chapters in my state and mentor the existing ones to become even stronger.
As Michigan State Chair I worked all semester to recruit for a Michigan State Convention which my chapter was hosting! We had well over 100 attendees present from all across the state!
The more I got involved in YAL, the more I fell in love with it. Through YAL I was making friends, making an impact, and developing my leadership and organizational skills. I kept getting distracted from my school work because all I wanted to do was keep building the liberty movement in Michigan!
In the summer of 2014, I attended my second YALCON and actually got to train on the main stage!
The more I got involved in YAL, the more I fell in love with it. Through YAL I was making friends, making an impact, and developing my leadership and organizational skills. I kept getting distracted from my school work because all I wanted to do was keep building the liberty movement in Michigan!
In the summer of 2014, I attended my second YALCON and actually got to train on the main stage!
It was at that event where I met Cliff Maloney. He came up to me, smiled, shook my hand and said “when are we going to talk about all of these YAL chapters you’ve been starting?” Little did I know that he and I would eventually become partners in taking YAL to new heights at the national level.
But I also met the most important person in my life – my future fiancé and the love of my life, Elizabeth. She was a chapter leader at the University of Iowa, and even though we didn’t start dating until about a year later, there was an immediate love connection.
When I returned back to school I was eager to get back to work on building my chapter and the Michigan network. I worked tirelessly to keep things expanding, and I was proud to become a top performing State Chair in the country!
Then I got an email that would change my life...
YAL was hiring full-time staff.
They needed a Midwest Regional Director. The possibility of going to work for YAL out in D.C. and advance liberty for a living every day of my life seemed like a dream too impossible to be true. I thought “I’ll never know unless I apply.” So I did.
When I actually got the job offer, I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. I would have never guessed that I would have been the right candidate for YAL, but they wanted me to come join their team.
I made the tough choice to leave my friends at school behind and embrace my dream in DC; I would have never guessed what a wild ride I was signing up for.
That year myself, Cliff, and Justin Greiss led the nation in network growth and redefined what it meant to be a strong field staffer. We were starting YAL chapters left and right, hosting amazing events, and empowering leaders to take charge on campus. We even dominated CPAC and helped Rand Paul win the straw poll!
The Midwest region soon became the top performing region in the entire nation. I coined the phrase “Midwest’s Best” which soon became a rallying call amongst the ranks of our chapter leadership.
But I also met the most important person in my life – my future fiancé and the love of my life, Elizabeth. She was a chapter leader at the University of Iowa, and even though we didn’t start dating until about a year later, there was an immediate love connection.
When I returned back to school I was eager to get back to work on building my chapter and the Michigan network. I worked tirelessly to keep things expanding, and I was proud to become a top performing State Chair in the country!
Then I got an email that would change my life...
YAL was hiring full-time staff.
They needed a Midwest Regional Director. The possibility of going to work for YAL out in D.C. and advance liberty for a living every day of my life seemed like a dream too impossible to be true. I thought “I’ll never know unless I apply.” So I did.
When I actually got the job offer, I was floored. I couldn’t believe it. I would have never guessed that I would have been the right candidate for YAL, but they wanted me to come join their team.
I made the tough choice to leave my friends at school behind and embrace my dream in DC; I would have never guessed what a wild ride I was signing up for.
That year myself, Cliff, and Justin Greiss led the nation in network growth and redefined what it meant to be a strong field staffer. We were starting YAL chapters left and right, hosting amazing events, and empowering leaders to take charge on campus. We even dominated CPAC and helped Rand Paul win the straw poll!
The Midwest region soon became the top performing region in the entire nation. I coined the phrase “Midwest’s Best” which soon became a rallying call amongst the ranks of our chapter leadership.
Later that year when Rand Paul announced his candidacy for President, Cliff and Justin went to help his race, and I was promoted to National Field Director. The next year I oversaw our field program, Regional Directors, State Chairs, on-campus events, and major training initiatives. It was a phenomenal experience.
In January of 2017, YAL moved into a much bigger office, and I was announced as Executive Vice President. We had another phenomenal year, training more students than ever before and bringing them the most advanced skills we ever had. Our network was burgeoning.
As YAL continued to grow, we started to look at the possibility of rekindling YAL’s 501c4 efforts and getting involved in state legislative races. We looked long and hard at the question “what is all of our work for?” and decided that we needed to more directly challenge the establishment by taking the fight to them.
Last year, we launched Operation Win at the Door with my dear friend and partner Justin Greiss leading the charge of the new project that would soon become the keystone of the entire organization.
Now we stand in 2019, having earned 38 Operation Win at the Door victories and so much more.
But now it is time for me to enter my next chapter, and for YAL to enter its next chapter as well.
Not only did I meet the love of my life through YAL, but working for this cause to increase human flourishing alongside thousands of spirited activists has been the greatest blessing of my life.
As I look back on the past few years, it's amazing to see how much I have been impacted by the organization and what I've been proud to have had a hand in creating with our team. A few of the major highlights include:
- Growing our national staff from about 9 people to 28.
- Hosting dozens of major events, and through them and online trainings I've been blessed to have trained tens of thousands of young leaders in the skills of leadership, influence, and making their mark.
- Restoring First Amendment rights to over 1 million students nationwide and overturning 51 unconstitutional policies.
- Creating YAL's coalition of liberty legislators and providing them resources to maximize their impact and remain principled.
What's more, in the past 4 and 1/2 years, our country's major wars have ended, more innocent people have stopped being locked up for victimless crimes, taxes are lower, and more and more people are understanding that they should be free to decide how to live their lives, not go-along-to-get-along politicians in D.C. I'm pleased to have had a role in that.
The leaders of YAL have a fire in their stomachs to leave the world a freer and better place than they found it. The spirit of the countless leaders I've worked with have motivated me to keep fighting even in the most discouraging of times for our cause.
Even if I never got to shake your hand personally, please know that I appreciate your support of YAL more than you could possibly know, and I thank you deeply for having shared the fight with you.
You are a part of my family. Although we may not be united by blood we have been united by mission.
What's next for me?
The leaders of YAL have a fire in their stomachs to leave the world a freer and better place than they found it. The spirit of the countless leaders I've worked with have motivated me to keep fighting even in the most discouraging of times for our cause.
Even if I never got to shake your hand personally, please know that I appreciate your support of YAL more than you could possibly know, and I thank you deeply for having shared the fight with you.
You are a part of my family. Although we may not be united by blood we have been united by mission.
What's next for me?
In my teens I dealt with severe, suicidal depression and barely made it out alive. Since then, I've always had a fascination with understanding what is happening inside the black box of the human mind.
I knew that if I could beat my depression and find exhilaration in life, I could help others do the same.
For 3 years I've been studying and practicing results-driven psychotherapy, helping others achieve psychological freedom in record time.
I've been incredibly blessed to have already helped many people deal with substance abuse, suicidal tendencies, relationship turmoil, and reclaiming their true life purpose.
I know now that this is what I am meant to do. Perhaps my life was saved so that I can help others save their own. I don't think that this was a coincidence.
My ultimate life goal is to change the national conversation on mental health and be a thought leader in the field of psychology and personal development. I want to help show the world that the story of your past does not equal the story of your future.
I feel incredibly blessed to have found my true life purpose and to now be setting my sights on achieving it with all of my might.
The path ahead is uncharted, but I have come to find that making limited choices or standing still out of fear of the unknown will never leave us fulfilled.
I knew that if I could beat my depression and find exhilaration in life, I could help others do the same.
For 3 years I've been studying and practicing results-driven psychotherapy, helping others achieve psychological freedom in record time.
I've been incredibly blessed to have already helped many people deal with substance abuse, suicidal tendencies, relationship turmoil, and reclaiming their true life purpose.
I know now that this is what I am meant to do. Perhaps my life was saved so that I can help others save their own. I don't think that this was a coincidence.
My ultimate life goal is to change the national conversation on mental health and be a thought leader in the field of psychology and personal development. I want to help show the world that the story of your past does not equal the story of your future.
I feel incredibly blessed to have found my true life purpose and to now be setting my sights on achieving it with all of my might.
The path ahead is uncharted, but I have come to find that making limited choices or standing still out of fear of the unknown will never leave us fulfilled.
None of my future work would have been possible but for the relationships, the skills, and the life transformation that YAL has provided for me. And my story is not wholly unique. Our ranks are filled with thousands of leaders whose lives have been immeasurably shaped by YAL and its opportunities.
It was through YAL that I made my closest friends, discovered who I really was, and learned that anyone can change the world if they step up to the plate.
I look forward to continuing to support YAL as a contributor and an advisor, and I am grateful to have you standing side by side with me.
YAL is about to embark on a wild new journey as the 2020 and 2022 election cycles draw closer. YAL’s ultimate goal of building a bench of 250 liberty legislators is one I have been blessed to have helped craft and advance, and one I will continue to support in any way I can.
While my journey with YAL began when I started my chapter on campus, my entire life was changed when I attended my very first YALCON. It was there that the real world of possibility was opened to me. Where I learned the skills I needed to actually make change on campus and beyond. And where I met my future wife, Liz. :)
It was through YAL that I made my closest friends, discovered who I really was, and learned that anyone can change the world if they step up to the plate.
I look forward to continuing to support YAL as a contributor and an advisor, and I am grateful to have you standing side by side with me.
YAL is about to embark on a wild new journey as the 2020 and 2022 election cycles draw closer. YAL’s ultimate goal of building a bench of 250 liberty legislators is one I have been blessed to have helped craft and advance, and one I will continue to support in any way I can.
While my journey with YAL began when I started my chapter on campus, my entire life was changed when I attended my very first YALCON. It was there that the real world of possibility was opened to me. Where I learned the skills I needed to actually make change on campus and beyond. And where I met my future wife, Liz. :)
Keith, my final request to you would be to consider joining me in making such a transformative life experience possible. Right now we have students that are eager to attend their very first YALCON, and they have no idea of the amazing world that is waiting for them on the other side. Please help me by sponsoring 5, 4, 3, 2, or even 1 student today!
Your sponsorship could change the life of one of these students and help us Make Liberty Win across the country. Please click here to make a donation.
It costs $140 to sponsor one student for a full day of training.
Imagine the impact your donation could have. Because someone once sponsored me to attend my first YALCON, tens of thousands were impacted and my life was changed forever.
Please click here to make that generous contribution and take part in our mission to achieve liberty in our lifetime.
Bless you for all that you do for our cause. I hope that this isn’t goodbye, but simply a see you later!
For liberty,
Ty Hicks
Executive Vice President
Young Americans for Liberty
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