In April of 2018 my school decided to participate in a competition that granted us the opportunity to travel to the Fox Theater to see the Broadway Musical Hamilton. Now if you knew me at all, you would know that this wasn't really my forte. I wasn't really interested in plays or musicals for that matter, and I definitely didn't want to become the "theater kid." Strangely enough, I eventually decided that getting out of school was a better option than staying. Little did I know how much of an impact watching and listening to this musical would have on me. After attending the show I came out learning more about history and the way our country was created than I ever could have learned from textbooks.

Alexander Hamilton was an immigrant who came to New York to become more than what he was raised in. At the young age of 10 his father left him and his mother, with nothing to build from. Two years later they both became very sick, which soon caused his mother to pass, leaving Alex as an orphan. Alexander pushed himself to become something better by gaining knowledge on basically anything possible. He attended college shortly after he arrived in America and began writing documents about government, and his views on how our nation should be ran.

After years of standing true to what his beliefs are, Hamilton proved to us how he can benefit our country, so he joined Washington's staff and worked his way up to become the Secretary of the Treasury. Not only was he appointed Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton wrote several books, and documents such as many essays in the Federalist Papers, and his own book Full Vindication. Of course, every good thing must have a downfall, in 1791 Hamilton committed adultery during the time he was trying to run for president. Once a few of his competitors found out, they spread the word which caused his approval ratings to go down, and people lost trust in him as a leader. I believe that Hamilton never got the full credit that he deserved.

Now I feel as though it would be doing a disservice to the creator of the musical, Lin Manuel Miranda, if I didn't also mention him. The reason I loved the musical so much was the way the characters were brought off of the page of boring history textbooks, and made more relatable and accessible to someone who wasn't ever interested in theater. If it wasn't for Alexander Hamilton and Lin Manuel Miranda, I would have never gained an interest in history, and wouldn't have been able to see that your mistakes do not define you. Alexander's tenacity and hard work ethic has showed me what it's like to come from nothing and become everything you could ever imagine. Hamilton may not have been a President, or someone that everyone remembers, but for me Hamilton has changed the way I look at things and overall my aspect on life.