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"We need more people like you": Ongoing profiles of politically active youth
October 22, 2012
Francis Choe, 23, Honolulu, Hawaii
by Izabella Robinson, 14, Y-Press
Francis Choe has been interested in politics and the workings of government since elementary school. In high school, he participated in youth legislature programs and joined his first campaign, for a candidate seeking state office. That only whetted Choe’s appetite.
Also in high school, he joined the Young Democrats of Hawaii, of which he became president at age 20. “I believe I was the youngest state president of a Young Democrats organization in Hawaii and as well as across the nation,” he said.
Choe continues his activism on behalf of Democratic candidates. He is the youngest member of the party’s state central committee as well as the youngest vice-chair of the Oahu County Democrats, an island-wide organization.
What has been the best response to your political work?
Well, I think the most inspiring response is, “We need more people like you”—that’s been a comment by older members of the Democratic Party who have a strong desire to start the process of transitioning out of being “very active” members of the party. There’s going to be a time when you and I are going to have to step up and take on these leadership roles.
What advice would you give to other youth who want to get involved?
My advice is go out there and do it. If there is a will, there is definitely a way. I had no personal connections to the political world at all. My family has no political connections. I didn’t know where to begin, but I just went on the Internet and did my research and started to build my network from there.
I got involved in the 2006 campaign with the statehouse race, and subsequently I got involved with the youth legislature program, and then the next year, the executive director from the youth legislature program remembered me and reached out to me to join U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono’s campaign in 2008. It’s just a snowballing effect.
If you could pass any piece of legislation, what would it be?
At this point it would definitely have to be the DREAM Act. You know, Hawaii is known as a melting pot. Most of the people here are immigrants. There’s first, second, third, fourth, fifth generations that are here now. It just doesn’t seem right for us to know that there are millions of undocumented immigrants here in the country, and we need to find and identify a process in which we can fully integrate them into our society.
John Kennedy, 20, Indianapolis, IN
by Naomi Farahan, 15, Y-Press
John Kennedy has always been interested in politics. Having grown up in a family of lawyers, government policy has always been a part of dinnertime conversation. 
In 2008, Kennedy turned talk into action. He became involved with the Obama for America campaign.
Looking back, he said helping Obama sway Indiana voters was one of his biggest political successes. But his efforts didn’t stop there. He began working on other campaigns, and in 2011 was an intern for Melina Kennedy, a Democrat who ran unsuccessful for mayor of Indianapolis (no relation). While Kennedy says he will always be interested in politics, he’s laying low right now as he enters his junior year at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y.
What was your primary responsibility with the Melina Kennedy campaign?
I was a field team intern, which involves a lot of being on the ground, going and actually contacting voters. But then also it involved organizing events and getting volunteers from all the major campaigns within the Democratic Party. It was challenging to unite all the campaigns but it was really cool when individuals from each group came out to support other campaigns.
What would you say to someone who thought he/she wasn’t affected by politics?
It’s so much money that you don’t take home in your paycheck. It’s whether either you or someone you know can have the ability to marry a loved one of the same sex. I mean, even if you don’t think it affects you right now, I guarantee you there will be multiple points in your life when you will have to decide which side you’re on.
What advice would you give to other kids who are trying to get politically involved?
It’s so easy to get involved. They need you and you should do it. You should at least see if that’s what you’re interested in. We need young people involved because right now young people are bearing the brunt of paying for the cost of everything. We bear the brunt of paying for the cost of Social Security reform, health-care reform. So, since it’s going to affect everyone when you grow up, you might as well get involved.
Cody Philips, 18, Bexley, Ohio
by Shanze Tahir, 15, Y-Press
Cody Philips started his involvement in politics because of a psychology class he took about two years ago. He says he became intrigued by human nature, and politics provides a way for him to learn more about how other people live.
Earlier this year, Philips began helping with the Obama campaign in Ohio, and what he has found is a lot of other families like his, struggling with the ups and downs of the economy. He says Obama, and the Democratic Party in general, most share his viewpoint and values. “The world should be able to function for the greater good of society and not for profit,” he said.
What is your primary responsibility with the Obama campaign?
Just making sure that people have a say. I mean, the whole idea of the Democrats right now, their whole strategy, is basically to get people to vote. The problem is, a lot of people who would vote Democratic have so much going on. They have two jobs. They have a kid, you know. There are a lot of things that they have to do to sustain their barely functioning personal economy. And so they don’t get out to vote as much as conservative voters. According to researchers, the youth vote increased from 2004 to 2008, though fewer youth are expected to turn out for this year’s election.
Why do you think this is?
It seems pretty obvious that Obama promised a lot of things, as any politician does, and he wasn’t able to deliver on all of them. He promised to do something about the college loan crisis. That’s a huge thing. But the congressional gridlock that has occurred has stopped him from doing such necessary actions.
What advice would you give to other kids who want to become politically involved?
Just definitely do your research. Always be ever striving to gain knowledge about the candidate that you support and issues that you support. And then gain knowledge about the other side as well.
I probably wish I would’ve paid attention earlier in my life so I could be more educated about the issues. I also wish I would have had a greater interest in history. I want to be an engineer and I’m really big into math, so like I love math and I tend to see history as boring. But I kind of wish I didn’t because that way I’d understand how history connects to the way people think nowadays.
Betsy Qualls, 19, Peachtree City, GA
by Ali Tahir, 17, Y-Press
Early on, Betsy Qualls felt a little lonely as president of her high school’s Young Democrats club. “It was kind of hard at first because we live in a very heavily populated Republican area, so it was hard to find students who were willing to join the club,” she said.
Still, she managed to get a group of students together, and every Wednesday morning they would gather to talk about current events and national issues, sometimes debating students from the Young Republicans club.
Qualls took these meetings seriously—creating PowerPoint productions and dressing in formal clothes. Generally, response to her efforts was positive, though not always. “People used to come up to me and call me Sarah Palin
— that’s definitely not something you want to be called as a Democrat,” she said. “I would correct people, but they didn’t really get it.”
For Qualls, the club was not only a chance to share her passion for politics, but also to show students “how important it is to be involved and learn what’s going on in our government and current news.” Now at Berry College in Georgia, she continues to stress that message and urge her fellow students to vote.
What inspired you to get involved with the Young Democrats?
I always thought I was headed toward a political future, meaning I followed the 2008 election very closely. I was very interested in watching Obama and McCain go at it. And although I couldn’t vote yet, it was just something that interested me, so I thought that if I was going to head toward a political future, I needed to learn more and delve into it more. So I thought, “Hey, why not join the Young Democrats Club?” and I did.
To be honest, things have changed for me now. I’m not headed towards that direction as much, but I’m still very passionate about keeping up with what the Democrats are doing and what’s going on in the government.
What is the issue that you think is most pressing for our country?
Well, being an environmental scientist now—I’m majoring in that in college—I’ve grown more passionate about environmental issues in our country, including the big things like global warming and clean energy. And from studies, I’ve become more aware of the importance of making new habits and changing regulations in the United States because obviously what’s happening right now isn’t setting us up for a good future.
I think America should step up and be a world leader in becoming greener and taking responsibility for the harm that we’ve done to the environment. And some people say, “Well it’s too late,” but you know, better late than never. I’d like to see some strong candidates or leaders come into the government and try to work on that more because I think that’s going to be important.
What advice would you give to other kids who want to get politically involved?
My first piece of advice would be to inform yourself thoroughly. Read up on important issues. Learn about the views of our current government officials and know who is running our country. In order to form an opinion, you have to first gather the information to back it up.
And then, always keep a strong but open mind. You have to be able to listen to others. If you find yourself in a political debate with someone, listen to what they have to say first. Be the nicer one in the argument, but really you don’t have to agree with them. There’s nothing wrong with a healthy debate because it keeps you on your toes.
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To get a youth perspective on the 2012 Presidential Elections, WKCD has teamed up with the youth-led news bureau, Y-Press, based in Indianapolis. Originally part of the Children’s Express, Y-Press has nurtured young journalists for more than 20 years. Their stories and articles—on local, national, and global topics—appear every other week in the Indianapolis Star. The Y-Press web site is updated regularly and encourages external submissions and comments about youth-written stories and reviews.
Here, Y-Press reporters will be posting: stories about the campaign, the candidates, and youth perspectives on the political process profiles and interviews with young political activists results from surveys they’ve created to gather information from youth nationwide about the candidates and the issues most important to young people reports from the floor at both of this summer’s national conventions. Check back often to keep up with this special “youth beat” on Election 2012.
