John Jackline, right, met former presidential candidate Ben Carson in Pittsburgh. At left is John's his younger brother, Kurt. John won a Ben Carson Scholarship.

Sixth grader John Jackline is a winner of a Ben Carson Scholarship, a national nonprofit scholarship fund for students who demonstrate excellence in school and humanitarian events.

John, 12, is a student at St. Wendelin Catholic School, which had to nominate him for the scholarship, according to Principal JoLynn Clouse.

To be nominated, John had to have a 3.75 GPA and be involved in community service, Clouse said. The scholarship is for students from fourth to 11th grade. St. Wendelin is a pre-kindergarten to eighth grade school.

John received $1,000 to invest for his college education.

He had to fill out an application and submit an essay talking about his worst fear. Inspired by current events, John wrote about his fear that the United States would soon to go war.

“Anything else would have been pretty elementary,” he said, stressing that he did not want to say something similar to being afraid of the dark.

Terrorist attacks worldwide and the presidential race impacted his decision to write about war as a potential threat to the country, he said.

John hopes to intern with a local or state lawmaker, and he hopes to be president one day.

He enjoys learning about history, watching the news and keeping up with the presidential election. He also enjoys writing historical fiction.

Free time can be sparse for John, who plays football, baseball, golf, swimming and ice hockey. He also is a YMCA Trail Blazer, a member of the Butler Teen Advisory Board and part of St. Wendelin’s student council.

John is the school’s sixth scholarship winner. Past winners were Amy Mitch in 2007 and 2008, Kyle Smith in 2008 and 2009, Tracy Geibel in 2009 and 2010, Jenna Geibel is 2010 and 2011 and Brianna Bell in 2015 and 2016.

Students who have won are able to reapply for the scholarship without needing to be nominated by the school again, Clouse said.