By: Austin Cowley - Ronald Reagan: An Essay on the Legacy of an American Icon

2022 General Electric Reagan Scholar; Student at the University of Michigan

American, patriot, actor, communicator, President Ronald Reagan was a true leader who inspires so many today, including myself. Governor and President Reagan stood strong and fought on many important values, those of which are still everlasting due to Reagan’s strength as the 40th President of the United States. The Republican Party is molded by Reagan’s stance on small government, economics, and “Peace Through Strength,” many of which that the conservative movement embraced starting with the 40th President and still hold true today. Although I was not yet alive during President Ronald Reagan’s administration, his legacy is personal to me.

Bryan Cowley, my father, was from Dixon, Illinois, only minutes away from where Ronald Reagan grew up and was my father’s favorite president. Both him, and my mother, Tammy Cowley, raised me on the values of family, country, and citizenship, all values Ronald Reagan stood firm on. During my junior year of high school, Bryan unexpectedly passed away only months before my senior year of high school and the application process of my higher education career. During the time of uncertainty there were many questions. During my senior year I came across and applied to the GE- Reagan Foundation Scholarship Program, and I was speechless when notified I was a recipient of this prestigious award, becoming a full-circle moment when I knew my father from above was moving around the pieces and smiling down.

The GE- Reagan Foundation Scholarship Foundation and Ronald Reagan gave me the chance to attend higher education. Through my hardwork in high school and especially those times when there was heartbreak in my household, Ronald Reagan’s legacy through his foundation gave me the opportunity to attend the University of Michigan. Because of Reagan’s legacy, I am pursuing an undergraduate degree in Political Science, inspired to stand firm on conservative beliefs and inspired to make an everlasting legacy. My dreams are to run for office as a Republican. After receiving this honor from the Reagan Foundation, I was inspired and created my own non-profit, the Cowley Legacy Foundation in honor of my late father, which will be “Turning Loss Into Legacy.” I can’t thank President Ronald Reagan and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation enough, thank you