by Gaby Lewis, news editor
On September 28th, Maryland delegate Clarence Lam visited River Hill to talk to the Young Democrats of America club about politics in Maryland and ways to get involved.
Club president Marisa Torre and sponsor Ms. Dubreuil asked Lam to give the members political information from an experienced member of the public office. He believes that having political clubs like YDA in high schools is crucial for the future of the American political scene.
“I think it is very important to have people involved in these types of clubs because it gets people motivated and enthusiastic about the political process,” Lam says, “and we need young people to be involved in the political process because they’re the next generation of leaders.”
Lam informed YDA about the biggest issue facing the Democratic Party in Maryland, which is redistricting while the opposing Republican Party holds control over the governor and county executive positions. As a result, the Democrats’ goal is to replace those Republicans with Democrats, making it easier for liberal legislation to make it through the policy-making process and for less gerrymandering to make Republican-centric districts.
One of the YDA’s purposes is to get involved with politics outside of schools, and Lam consequently told the members about how they can do just that like registering to vote and volunteering for campaigns. Not only will getting involved in these actions help YDA fulfill its purpose, but it will help move towards the Democrats’ goal for the Maryland government.
“[Ways to get involved] outside of school [are to] volunteer for organizations, help people that are in need… get involved in different clubs, [and] get involved in different student groups that are out there,” Lam states. “It really does help develop that sense of helping [and] serving people, and I think that’s incredibly important because we want people to get into public office for the right reasons.”
Students at the meeting also were able to ask Lam questions about the experience of being in public position and further details about the political issues he discussed. Junior Juliana Staples who attended the meeting thought Lam’s suggestions for how to get involved in politics out of River Hill were incredibly helpful. “He gave us some ideas about how to contribute to local politics as a club and as citizens, and I think that definitely made us more serious about our intent to help campaign for Democrats in 2018,” she says.
President Marisa Torre also spoke about how she thought Lam’s words benefitted the club by emphasizing just how important young people being involved in politics is. “I think [Lam’s talk] really contributed to the importance of involvement of young people in politics,” she states, “If we’re not getting young people involved in politics and in change and just helping our community, it’s not going to get any better because we’re the next generation of leaders, so we need to make sure we’re prepared for that.”
Lam was happy to speak to YDA because he wants to be able to help encourage them to make changes for themselves and the world they’ll be living in. He says, “Students really have a good perspective of the entire [political] process because they’re still learning it, and it’s important for us to shape the thoughts and the potential directions of what people want to do in the future. Coming to speak to students is incredibly important.”
With Lam’s visit to kick off YDA, the members now have a cluster of ideas and opportunities to expand from regarding outside political involvement, and this year is sure to bring them exciting experiences.