1. By: Kelly Kobbe
Small Town Talent
Fame is what I use to describe Alex Jinkinson. He is young in
age and is striving to achieve his goals. Hard work and patience
is what you need to achieve fame, and Alex is doing this exactly.
Alex is a young man of age 21 born the small town of
Sheldon Iowa. Alex loves singing and he wants it all. Alex start-
ed off with singing lessons at age ten with his instructor Lewis
Gruis of Sheldon Iowa. He sang at church, football games, fu-
nerals and even weddings. He has an act for talent that is bound
to get his name out there. Accomplishment is what Alex desires.
As Alex got older, he was privileged to sing at a Vikings
football game in 2011. Although it wasn’t the Steelers, he said
“it was still cool to sing for a pro football team.” His first song
released was titled, “I’ll Write You A Song.” I was privileged
to see behind the scene footage. I got to see how many people
it took to put a music video together and how even in the worst
weather condition you can still make it work.
“Push hard and
give it your all and
you will fullfill your
dreams”

2. AaronCarterandAlexJinkin
son
“Push hard and give it
your all and you will fullfill
your dreams”
He has met many famous pop stars, his favorite was Aaron
Carter. The best advice Aaron gave him was, “never give up on
your dreams.” Dreams are something people wish for and want
to achieve. I felt like this advice can be very useful to any hu-
man being. Alex enjoys doing other activities besides singing.
He loves playing piano, going to football games, fishing at his
dad’s pond, going out with friends to the lakes and being with
his family. He says the only hard part about this career would
be being away from family for long periods of time. As Alex an-
swers this question he gets quiet. I asked him whats wrong ? He
answered with “ I feel like I have missed out on so many family
events like birthdays and holidays.” Alex flies home as much as
he can. He had a break for 2 1/2 weeks so while he was down in
Sheldon I was glad I was able to meet with him.
In a couple more years Alex plans on being on the top hits
he wants to fulfill his future and compete with the best, it gives
him a thrill and ambition. Every step Alex takes he gets closer
and closer to his dream. He hasn’t given up on his dreams, these
things take time. Just as it takes time for you and me to fulfill
and accomplish our dreams and goals in life. My favorite quote
is “ if your dreams don’t scare you they aren’t big enough.” This
can be related to anyone, dreams, and goals shouldn’t be some-
thing so simple it doesn’t give you a little challenge. If you want
something so bad in life you will do anything to achieve it, this
is what i consider to be a great goal or dream. Alex’s dream is
to have it all, his dream does scare him once and awhile but he
will do anything to push forward and complete his dream!

3. Kelly Kobbe is a transfer student at STI.
“I strive to suceed and i push hard to achieve.” Someday she
wishes to be working as a commercial advertiser. She can’t wait to
show others the talents she holds.
Photos taken by Hannah Jinkinson
Alex’s perfor
manceinhishometownonSeptember14,2013
“Push hard and give it your all and
you will fullfill your dreams”
Talent is explained in so many ways, sometimes it’s
known as a gift someone has. An example for alex would be
singing. For teachers it would be the knowledge they posses to
teach younger men and woman. When I asked Alex what his
definition of talent was, he told me, “ talent is the capacity for
achievement or success.” Some people say it’s where you are
born that makes you who you are today. This isn’t true because
even if you grow up in a small hick town with nothing to do
you can still achieve your dreams. As long as you push hard
and give it your all, you will succeed.
A few weeks passed after I talked with Alex and he al-
ready had to get ready to perform a live concert. He texted me
to let me know that a friend had video taped the whole perfor-
mance for me. It was very interesting and I wanted to watch
more. I remember hearing and listening to Alex in high school
albeit then I didn’t know he had so much potential and drive
to push himself so hard to achieve this much in life. When I
watched that video it made me realize that I want to achieve
my dreams too. I want to show people my talent. I want people
to know who Kelly Kobbe is. When I compared me and Alex’s
dreams and wishes, they were both pretty similar, his was just
based around music and mine was and still is based around
design. This doesn’t mean they were different it means we both
want something so bad in life we will try our best to achieve it.
Even if others don’t believe we are good at something we wont
let them influence us. Even if we fall sometimes, we will never
let that keep us down. We will always stand back up and push
ourselves harder to be ourselves and the person we want to be
in todays society.