CURRENT AGE: 21
YOUNG POLITICAL ACTIVIST: PALO ALTO, CALIF.
Molly Kawahata, 17, from Palo Alto, Calif.
Molly Kawahata takes the term "campaign worker" to a whole new level. The high school senior rearranged her school schedule to have an earlier release in order to have more time to work as the national high school director for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Weeks before the Feb. 5 primaries, she put in hours before school as well as after, such is her commitment to the campaign.
Molly began working for Obama as the state's high school director soon after he announced his candidacy in February 2007, and by August California had the strongest high school campaign in the nation. Molly has since been promoted, and now she works to help organize similar successful programs in other states and to train others to run these programs.
As the primary season draws to a close, Molly is trying not to look too far ahead but instead is focusing on the few remaining state contests. However, she is also optimistic that Obama will prevail and win the Democratic Party nomination. Whatever happens, she says that she is sure she will continue working, though she knows the general election will be "very, very different."
Why have you decided become so involved instead of just attending
meetings for a Students for Barack Obama group?
This is such a historical election on so many different levels. The
participation we're getting with young people … the amount of new
voters that have come into play, I mean, it's all so big. I think it's
kind of hard just to be watching and not really involved in this
process.
Has anyone given you advice while you've held this position?
There definitely have been a lot of incredible people I've gotten to
work with that have given wonderful guidance and advice. They told us
about things that have and haven't worked in other campaigns in which
they've worked and in other organizing experiences, particularly on
campuses. But I think it's important to stress that students have a
lot of, I'm not going to say power, but a lot of freedom in this
campaign to just kind of do what they think is best for the campaign
and the best methods of reaching out and talking to other students.
What do you think has changed to allow young people to feel a part of
the political process?
I think that for a very long time, because of past records -- young
people not necessarily turning out to vote and their enthusiasm not
really translating to the polls, as we've seen in previous elections
-- politicians and campaigns just kind of disregarded that vote 'cause
it wasn't something they could count on. I think what changed was that
students acknowledged that problem and said, "We need students leading
other students, and we need this to be truly student-run and that's
how we'll make it successful."
Do you see yourself as remaining politically involved in the 2012 election?
Absolutely. I mean, I'm not planning on leaving the political process,
I guess you could put it that way. I have loved what I've done, and I
think it would be hard to sit out another election.
What advice would you give to other kids who want to get politically
involved but don't know where to start?
Mainly, there's nobody that's going to hold your hand or tell you
what's out there. It's really up to the student to find those
opportunities because they do exist. I think just talking to people
and using the resources that might available to you locally can really
help you get started, and then beyond that I think really just your
own initiative and finding out what you want to do and therefore
what's available to you.
Copyright 2008 Y-Press