The chances of meeting a former U.S. president may be slim, but through the Clinton Foundation “Ideas Matter” Essay Contest, senior Drew Carnahan had the opportunity to stand side by side with Bill Clinton.

“My 11th grade AP Lang teacher [Tim] Sisk gave me the scholarship,” Carnahan said. “I knew that I needed to start on scholarships soon and this seemed like a good one to start with. Mr. Sisk encouraged me that I had a good chance of winning.”

Students were asked to define a challenge, propose an idea to alleviate that challenge, and develop a strategy for putting that plan into action. Possible topics included health and wellness, increasing opportunity for girls and women, reducing childhood obesity, creating economic opportunity and growth, and helping communities address the effects of climate change.

Carnahan chose to write his essay over childhood obesity. His vision was not clear at first, but with help from faculty and infographics, his platform came together.

“Mr. Sisk gave me the idea of using propaganda to promote the idea,” Carnahan said. “I also knew about the huge influence of social media and so Mrs. Childress helped me to create a hashtag called #youngfitstrong that I could use as a memorable slogan to spread childhood obesity awareness on popular social media apps such as Twitter and Facebook.”

The Clinton Foundation notified finalists through email. As a high school senior, Carnahan receives multiple emails a day and initially skimmed over the message. It was not until Sisk brought up Carnahan’s third place finish that he realized his success.

“It didn’t really register in my head because I was still shocked at winning 3rd place,” Carnahan said. “I hadn’t at all expected to win anything. I was shocked because Mr. Sisk had told me a lot of the winners came from the more commonly known high schools in northern Arkansas. I was grinning randomly for the rest of the day.”

Finalists gathered at the Clinton Library in Little Rock Nov. 24 to meet President Clinton and be recognized for their awards. The Clinton Foundation also invited the finalists to bring their family and a teacher. Carnahan was asked to arrive at 4 pm, however, the events were put on hold upon his arrival.

“We ended up waiting in the room for nearly three hours because President Clinton was running late and was having to fly down from Russellville,” Carnahan said. “After the first three hours, we were taken to one of the upper floors of the actual Clinton Library where we waited about another hour while President Clinton changed and got ready in his suite. We were told that he would have to go straight downstairs after taking pictures with us to give a speech for an event that was going on directly beneath us.”

The three finalists were told to stand in a specific spot against a wall while Clinton came down the elevator. As the moment drew nearer, Carnahan’s nerves began to heighten.

“I certainly didn’t want to make a fool of myself by stuttering or freezing or looking unprofessional,” Carnahan said. “I was also trying really hard to remember what I had said in my essay because we were told that he’d read all of them and that he might ask questions about them. It’s hard to remember everything you’ve said in an essay while trying not to be nervous in front of a President.”

Despite being told that President Clinton was on a tight schedule, he took time to meet each finalist and their loved ones. The chance to meet a former president is slim, so Carnahan did not take the opportunity for granted.

“Although I did not win any scholarship money, I was very grateful towards the Clinton Foundation for allowing us all to meet President Clinton,” Carnahan said. “I’ll never forget that moment because I was able to smile and be proud of something that I had worked hard on while also being surrounded by my biggest supporters in the entire world.”