by Meena Ganesan

Listen to the story!

 

Mahatma Gandhi left us with a beautiful adage, "You are the change you wish to see in the world.” The young people in Alaska know exactly what this means.   From elections to civil engagements, teens in Anchorage are actively participating. In the recent mayoral election, 19-year-old Nick Moe was a noticeable candidate.    He received just three percent of the vote in the April election, but came in third out of four candidates.   Moe says that it is critical for young people to share their opinions.

“It's really important to get the voice heard and people really do listen. And that's half the battle. A lot of young people don't think that their voice gets heard or that there vote counts and it really does,” Moe said.

Before the election, Chugiak High School's Junior Statesmen of America hosted a mayoral forum, opening up the dialogue between the teen community and the candidates involved. The forum was entirely hosted by teens, and attended by all candidates, including Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

“Actually in most of my campaigns I have not seen one well done like this, in sense of it's organization. The questions were real questions. And the students performed just incredibly well,” Begich said

The real wonder of the evening's forum was the number of young people in the audience. Students, both in and out of JSA, came to listen and learn about the issues important to each candidate.   Rebecka Smith, a sophomore at Chugiak High School was one of the forum's moderators.

"I'm here to support the Junior Statesmen of America and we wish to promote political activism, in specifically the Chugiak Eagle River area, and to engage our youth more in the political scene. "

David Dunsmore, another Anchorage young person who has attempted to run for mayor, was at Election Central.           

”Well, I think the big message that anyone interested, of any age, especially young people, is to just go out there and do it,” Dunsmore said. “There is this idea that you have to be part of a party machine or have a lot of money, but politics is supposed to be about people going out and talking to their neighbors about how they want to make their community a better place. And my advice is just to dive in there, look for any opportunity, boards or commissions to serve on. But if you think your office holder is not doing a good job, don't hesitate to jump in and run against him.”

Also at Election Central, was 23-year-old Matt Moon, who is running for State House in District 20, this November.

”There are a lot of talented young people, that, it really doesn't matter if there are republican, democrat, independent, liberal, conservative. But they represent the young community here and if they can come up with the ideas and really show their talents, it really legitimizes the young community here,” Moon said.   “Because what do you hear in the news about young people? It's gangs, it's crimes, it's kids skipping school, it's kids doing bad things. That's all the press that we get. If we can get more press about the young people doing good things. I mean the only real press you can get is young people running in politics. Part of the reason why I am running and part of the mission that I have…Politics is Politics, if you love it, you can't stay away from it.”  

For these young Alaskans, there seems to be a spark about the political process, which inspires them to be involved.   Young people today are using politics as a catalyst to voice their opinions.