The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

The Student News Site of Monta Vista High School

El Estoque

Campaign fellowships seek to empower students

The+%E2%80%9CYoung+Money+Democrats%E2%80%9D+collection+showcases+exceptional+student+fellows.+These+fellows+range+from+middle+schoolers+to+college+students+and+are+part+of+a+program+that+allows+students+contribute+to+the+Ro+Khanna+campaign.+Photo+by+Elia+Chen.
The “Young Money Democrats” collection showcases exceptional student fellows. These fellows range from middle schoolers to college students and are part of a program that allows students contribute to the Ro Khanna campaign. Photo by Elia Chen.
On one side of Cupertino’s Ro Khanna campaign office, a collage of black-and-white photos lines the peach-colored wall. Although each photo features a different campaign volunteer striking a pose in the office, all the photos are united under one title — “Young Money Democrats.”

The “Young Money Democrats” collection showcases exceptional student fellows. These fellows range from middle schoolers to college students and are part of a program that allows students contribute to the Ro Khanna campaign. Photo by Elia Chen.
The “Young Money Democrats” collection showcases exceptional student fellows. These fellows range from middle schoolers to college students and are part of a program that allows students contribute to the Ro Khanna campaign. Photo by Elia Chen.

These “Young Money Democrats” range from eighth graders to college seniors, who are part of a fellowship program that introduces students to working in a grassroots political campaign. Currently, the campaign has over 100 students involved, and 24 of them are MVHS students. Despite their ages, these student fellows have been instrumental to the campaign’s growth.

“The nature of the campaign hasn’t changed,” junior Michaela Murphy, social media and recruitment captain said, “ but the success and the influence and momentum and the social and youth movement has occurred because of the youth’s participation.,” junior Michaela Murphy, the social media and recruitment captain, said.

Due to the increase in student participation, the campaign has also begun to focus more on helping its student fellows improve their communication skills and learn more about politics, according to regional vote director and class of 2009 alumnus Tarun Galagali.

“When I first came here, it was all about [Khanna] and what he wanted to do for the Silicon Valley,” Galagali said. “Now it’s actually been more about the students we’ve managed to inspire.”.

Students change the campaign

When Khanna’s campaign first began in the Silicon Valley, it did not set up an office in Cupertino because the campaign did not expect to gain support here. Due to the lack of office space, Cupertino campaign volunteers had to resort to local coffee shops, like the Coffee Society and Bay Club, to coordinate activities. They struggled to recruit more people to join the campaign.

As the volunteers began to reach out to high schools and colleges, the movement started to gain more momentum. Eventually, according to neighborhood team leader and class of 2012 alumnus Krithi Byadgi, on average of, five new peoplewere joining the Cupertino branch of the campaign every week.

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MVHS student fellows often visit the Cupertino campaign office. The campaign’s success in Cupertino led to the development of a local office. Photo by Elia Chen.

Due to the campaign’s grassroots nature — the fact that most of the support from the campaign comes directly from the people — Murphy believes that students were instrumental to campaign’s success because they helped the campaign generate publicity.

Byadgi also believes that the students’ passion for getting Khanna elected drove the success of the campaign.

“When the high school students first joined, they might not have been that [committed to Khanna],” Byadgi said, “but after coming to two few meetings, they understood that ‘this is my community. I want to get the best candidate elected, which is [Khanna].’”

Although the campaign was initially less reliant on students, after seeing the success of student participation in Cupertino, the campaign offices in other cities, like Fremont, also began to recruit more youth through fellowships. The success of local volunteers also brought the campaign’s attenion to Cupertino, and it led to the development of a local office.

Students apply skills gained from campaign

According to Byadgi, the most rewarding aspect of being a student fellow is the opportunity to grow as a leader.

“Every single individual brings something out, and everyone of them has grown to become a leader,” Byadgi said. “It’s inspiring and amazing to delegate tasks to them and bring out qualities that they didn’t know that they had it in them.”

Student fellows’ responsibilities in the campaign range from canvassing — door-to-door campaigning —  to leading discussions about Khanna’s policies compared to Mike Honda’s. Every Tuesday, fellows are also given the opportunity to participate in discussions about politics, which sophomore Zarek

Motivational posters line the walls of the Cupertino campaign office. Since the campaign introduced its student fellowship program, it has focused on inspiring students. Photo by Elia Chen.
Motivational posters line the walls of the Cupertino campaign office. Since the campaign introduced its student fellowship program, it has focused on inspiring students. Photo by Elia Chen.

Peris compares to free seminars, at Coffee Society.

Although Peris finds the Coffee Society discussions interesting, he acknowledges that the skills and experiences that he has gained while canvassing or contributing to the campaign in other ways have been just as valuable to him.

Last year, Peris joined DECA two weeks before the State Career Development Conference, but he was still able to place second because he used his experiences from the voter contact events and meetings as examples for his role play. According to Peris, the judges liked the way that he integrated applicable, real-life examples.

Sophomore Krithi Gomatam, too, believes that canvassing has taught her skills that she can apply at school. According to Gomatam, canvassing has trained her to be more persuasive and to think on her feet because she never knows who she will meet.

“It’s really challenging,” Gomatam said. “You have to convince them that you’re not a random kid, that you’re someone representing a congressman.”

However, although Murphy acknowledges that participating in the campaign fellowship is a learning opportunity, to her, what makes being a fellow worthwhile is being part of the tight knit atmosphere.

“We’ve become a family,” Murphy said. “I know that I can walk into the staff and through that fellowship and know that I matter and am a beneficial member of their community. That is why people stay.”

“We’ve become a family,” Murphy said. “I know that I can walk into the staff and through that fellowship and know that I matter and am a beneficial member of their community. That is why people stay.”

Recruitment brings more students

According to Galagali, the campaign is trying to recruit more MVHS students. The campaign encourages all its student fellows to recruit their friends and to talk to their teachers and counselors about having Ro Khanna talk at their schools.

Last year, according to Murphy, Khanna spoke to DECA members about economics and politics. On Aug. 28, Galagali also came to MVHS to speak about college admissions and briefly about his experience working on the campaign.

Although Murphy and Galagali hope that their efforts at school will recruit more students to join the campaign, they realize that they do not want to force their political beliefs on others.

“We’re trying to be polite and diplomatic about the whole thing, [so] we’re trying to give people more opportunities for people to find out more about the campaign while also not breathing down everybody’s necks,” Murphy said.

Nevertheless, Murphy hopes that students will continue to involve themselves in the campaign because of the experiences and skills that she has gained.

“Of all the potential extracurricular activities that you could be participating in. I feel like the Ro Khanna campaign and the fellowship is going to be the most life-changing [activity] that you participate in,” Murphy said.

Corrections (September 11 at 5:20 p.m.): Krithi Byadgi’s last name is Byadgi.

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