Thomas receiving a certificate from Nort Schramm along with a check for $500 toward his college tuition.
Thomas Pattee received a $500 Scholarship from the Sanilac County Democratic Party, the son of Marie Willis and a resident of Applegate, he is a graduate of Carsonville-Port Sanilac High School. He wrote an essay on the topic, “What can young people do to help their local, state and national governments?” which was judged to be superior. Thomas will attend Grand Rapids Community College in the fall with a goal of majoring in education. He has been active in band and works this summer at Camp Cavell.
We are the Future
What can people do to become involved in helping their Local, State, or national governments? This question seems straightforward enough. The first thing that pops into my head is to get involved, but how exactly can young people get involved? We ourselves as today’s youth have constantly changed more and more throughout the years. With the high tech means of media and news our government has also changed in ways that allow more people to see it close up and get involved. The one thing that has stayed the same for involved youth is the drive to make a difference.
Probably the most accessible level of government that young people can become involved with is their local government. One of the ways young people can become involved with helping their local government is to attend meetings of decision-making bodies such as local village, township and county meetings. Going to these meetings can provide the participant with a broad spectrum of how decisions are made or seeing things that may be of interest. It can highlight some of the things that could be changed or improved. Not only do these meetings give an idea of what things might interest the participant, but he/she can also find an office-holder that shares his/her similar ideas and volunteer for them. Volunteering may be a good avenue for young people but some of the best ways to help are stuffing envelopes, putting signs up and going door-to-door spreading the word and support for the office-holder.
For young people that want to be more involved, there are many things that can be done for their state government. One thing that a young person can do is identify themselves with a particular representative. A person now has the resources of the internet to help them find a party or representative that share similar ideals. Using the internet efficiently informs people of what is out there; because of this, it has become one of the most important means of media that today’s youth can receive their information from than ever before.
When young people identify themselves with a certain political party or politician, they may not be able to vote, but they can campaign for them. Campaigning for someone means more than just licking envelopes; today’s campaigning youth can expect to go door-to-door passing along information and ideas, speaking out for what they believe, using media to spread the word and helping raise campaign money so desperately needed to run an election. Hopefully by doing this the young campaigner can help get his/her sought-after politician or political party elected, and with this improve the local, state or federal government.
The greatest government that today’s youth can become involved in is the national government. During a presidential election it is essential to support a particular candidate. Ways to show support include attending campaign rallies, using Internet media such as Facebook or other networking sites to spread the word, and getting other youth to join his/her political “crusade.”
In closing, I feel the best way to ensure than our county stay strong is to encourage the younger generation to become more involved with the government. For my whole life I have heard that “we are the future” and with today’s youth taking a more active role by getting involved in their local, state, and national government, I believe that, “When the people become involved in their government, government becomes more accountable, and our society is stronger, more compassionate, and better prepared for the challenges of the future.”