the First Baptist Church of Delavan. In 1985, when Walker was in high school, he attended and represented Wisconsin at two weeks of American Legion-sponsored training in leadership and government at Badger Boys State in Wisconsin and Boys Nation in Washington, D.C. While at the event, he met President Ronald Reagan and had a photo taken with him. Walker has credited the experience with solidifying his interest in public service and giving him the "political bug". He attained the highest rank, Eagle Scout, in the Boy Scouts of America, and graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in 1986. In the fall of 1986, Walker enrolled at Marquette University. Within a few weeks of beginning his collegiate studies, Walker became a student senator and led a committee investigating alleged misuse of funds by student leaders. During the same year, he volunteered for Tommy Thompson's gubernatorial campaign. In 1988, Walker lost a "fiercely-fought" campaign for student government president. Walker led the anti-abortion Students for Life group at Marquette. Walker discontinued his studies at Marquette in the spring of 1990, having earned 94 of the 128 minimum credits needed to graduate. He left in good standing with a 2.59/4.0 grade point average, but without having obtained a degree. Walker has said that he dropped out of college when he received a full-time job offer from the American Red Cross. Early political career Wisconsin State Assembly In 1990, at age 22, Walker ran for Milwaukee's 7th District seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly. He won the Republican nomination, but lost in the general election to incumbent Democrat Gwen Moore, receiving less than one-third of the vote. In 1993, Walker moved to Wauwatosa, a suburb of Milwaukee, and ran in a special election in the more conservative 14th legislative district, based around Wauwatosa. He defeated Democrat Chris Ament, son of then-Milwaukee County Executive Tom Ament. During the campaign, Walker backed welfare reform and opposed the expansion of mass transit. He supported a cap on state spending and said that the law on resolving labor disputes with local government employees needed to be reformed. Walker received the endorsements of Wisconsin Right to Life and The Milwaukee Sentinel, which called him a fiscal conservative and noted his anti-abortion, tough-on-crime, and pro-welfare reform positions. He was re-elected four times, serving until 2002 when he became a county executive. While in the Assembly, Walker was interested in criminal justice matters