The Email That Changed It All

Imagine yourself as a youth in Illinois — a state composed of over twelve million residents. As each day passes, your family struggles to make ends meet: your mom has to work two jobs, your father has to work four jobs, you can barely afford a two-dollar sandwich from the local 7–11 store. Just as you feel the urge to enact change in Illinois, you recognize that your voice appears insignificant compared to the other 12 million Illinois residents.

You begin to think to yourself When will lawmakers begin to represent my needs? When will Illinois policies represent the conditions endured by mine and countless families across Illinois?

Such a situation is confronting youth across Illinois and America, who fail to make ends meet. As the next generation of our country, we seek to have direct influence over policy and to see politicians represent our interest too. But oftentimes, the youth voice is left aside from the political world — we get deemed as uneducated or not as “experienced” as others in politics. We need to ensure that youth are guaranteed a voice in politics!

On a cheerless winter night in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, I returned home, exhausted from my eight-hour school day and two-hour figure skating session — and slumped into my chair. Immediately, I slowly lifted the screen of my laptop and perused through my emails. I selected…