Youth Got The Power

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We can learn from young people in politics.

In seventh grade, my Catholic grade school held a mock-election for 2008 candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. I remember my class lining up in our matching white-polo and navy-pant uniforms, shuffling one-by-one into the makeshift voting booths set up in the hallway. As I got closer, my forehead started sweating. I was unsure who I should vote for. When I got in the booth and looked down at the two names, I wrestled with my dad’s opinions about politics, and my own ideas of who I liked and who I thought was the better candidate. I eventually checked off a box and left the booth shaking. I had the nerve to go against my father.

While it was only a school election, it was the first time I had ever taken action on my political opinions. It was truly the first time I stood up for my ideas about how the world should work. This moment shaped me in ways I can only understand now, as a scholar who studies youth in politics and as someone who recently voted for the first time in a real election. From the moment I checked off “Obama”, to the frustrating dinner conversation I had with my dad about the school election, I knew in my gut that I was right. Looking back, I am still curious how I knew I made the right choice.

My interest in elections and politics only grew from there and seemed to highlight just about every passion I pursued along the way. When I studied in Beijing for a gap year, I quickly learned the influence government has on my daily life. After I tried to vote in the 2016 election but was later rejected because I missed the registration deadline, I discovered that the system has flaws. It was not built with me or my community in mind. As I studied youth political parties in Taiwan and met young politicians in Denmark, I began to see how important youth can be in shaping their communities. This lesson was solidified when I had coffee with the survivors of the 2018 Parkland school shooting, and further reinforced when they inspired me to create my senior thesis: When Youth Run for Office.

As I sit here today, after spending the past few years researching and sharing the stories of youth candidates, I cannot help but feel incredibly optimistic about young people and their ability to shape the world around them. I too have experienced the power of my voice as a young person: in conducting large-scale research to advocate for students in university policy, creating a local-viral campaign to registering hundreds of students to vote, and speaking up to a city that voted away my legal protections as a gay man.

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