With local elections coming up in November, city and district candidates are not the only ones busy campaigning. The legal voting age does not stop students Felix Wu (12), Shannon Hong (11) and Rahul Shukla (10) from having a say in local politics in their own ways.

Those ways include making phone calls to undecided voters, organizing precinct walks and brainstorming campaign strategies, among other responsibilities. Currently, Felix serves as a field director on Anthony Phan’s run for East Side Union High School District Board of Trustees, Rahul is a fellow on Ro Khanna’s campaign for Congress, and Shannon works on Yan Zhao’s campaign for Saratoga City Council.

“My favorite part is meeting this very diverse group of people,” said Shannon, who runs the campaign’s precinct walks. “You’re spending three hours walking with them, so you’re going to learn a lot about them and have that connection with people who believe in similar ideas of how you want the city to run and how you want the country to run in general.”

As a part of their candidates’ teams, the students work more often with adults than people their own age. They commonly find themselves the youngest in the room.

“Some people tend to underestimate you or think that you don’t have what it takes to do certain work, and that can be challenging,” Felix said. “At the same time, young people are very open-minded to change, and they’re still developing their political views. For politicians and people running for office, young people are an opportunity to really make change in society.”

Both Shannon and Felix began their involvement in politics as fellows on President Obama’s 2012 campaign. They have since transitioned to campaigning for local candidates and causes.

“It seems like [local politics] doesn’t affect much, but it really makes a big difference on our daily lives,” Shannon said.  “While federal government does a lot of large things, the local government does all the things that immediately pertain to us.”

The students also benefit by gaining political experience. Rahul feels that the campaign has broadened his political awareness and opinions.

“It’s shown me how campaigns are done and what’s happening internally in a campaign, like how the Obama administration’s campaign ran and how Hillary’s campaign was running,” he said.

In addition to helping on campaigns for individual candidates, Felix has also lobbied for certain causes, such as immigration reform and an end to the death penalty, through a movement called Organizing for Action. His interest in social issues began while he was attending an international school in Shanghai.

“Living in that sort of insulated community where I was an outsider looking into lots of the injustice of society when I was living in China, it really inspired me to want to make changes and made me passionate about acting on the injustices we see in society,” he said.

All of the students encourage young people to be aware of politics on a local and federal level.

“Young people are going to be the ones voting. Young people are going to be the ones influencing politics, and it’s their right to vote and their right to shape politics,” Rahul said.

Shannon also hopes to introduce California Secretary of State’s Debra Bowen’s student mock election to the school as a way for young people to cast a vote and participate in politics while still underage. Felix, who serves as chapter president of Junior State of America (JSA), has interviewed local politicians as a part of the Harker Podcast Series in the hope of raising awareness among the school community.

“In every interview, I ask our guest what advice they have for young people who want to be involved with politics or help their community — I think those are important messages for all of our students,” he said. “It’s also inspiring to hear about the  experiences that drove my guests into politics. Hopefully hearing those stories can change our viewers as well.”

As the campaigns continue into the school year, the students plan to continue their involvement and look forward to the presidential elections in 2016.

This article was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on August 29, 2014.