Behind every great candidate is a crowd of volunteers.

Many upper school students came out during the 2016 elections to take on leadership roles in political campaigns ranging from the local to the national level. Students and alumni participated in organizing and campaigning for candidates, calling potential voters and knocking on doors to raise awareness.

Alycia Cary

Alycia Cary (10) started volunteering for Khanna’s campaign in the summer.

Alycia is involved with educating the community on what Khanna supports and believes in. As a volunteer student, she also knocks on doors and calls local numbers.

“I’ve taken a leadership role in the campaign, and I try to get people out volunteering or canvassing, which is where we try to knock on people’s doors and try to get the word out about his campaign,” Alycia said.

Alycia volunteers for campaigns because she wants to benefit the community by publicly representing candidates that she believes will create positive change.

“I think it’s really great to be able to make a difference in my community even though I can’t vote yet,” Alycia said. “Just by getting the ideas out of the candidate who I support and whose ideals I align with [and] whose issues I support, that’s been really helpful. Also, learning how to get a message in order to convince people of it has been really great.”

Felix Wu

Felix Wu (‘15), an upper school alumnus involved with campaigns, was a senior fellow at U.S. representative Mike Honda’s campaign in 2014.

“[For Honda’s campaign,] I did a lot of training of other young people involved with the campaign, other fellows, a lot of grassroot organization,” Felix said.

In addition to his previous work at Honda’s campaign, Felix currently serves as an organizer on the Iowa Democratic Party coordinating campaign.

“We coordinate with the Clinton campaign as well as with other candidates’ campaigns in Iowa,” Felix said. “I’m in charge of a specific area, that’s downtown Des Moines and River Bend, [and] it’s a lot of coordinating volunteers, planning events, making sure we are where we want to be in terms of voter registration numbers and having enough volunteers to knock on doors [and] make phone calls.”

Haris Hosseini

Haris Hosseini (10) actively campaigned on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

Haris started working for Clinton through exploring her campaign’s website and talking to family and friends who have been previously involved.

He has been aiding the campaign for approximately three months; however, he only continued to be more involved the past few weeks, with the approaching presidential election.

He attended a fundraiser for Clinton in Palo Alto and called local numbers to gain support for Clinton.

Haris enjoys involvement in campaigns because he has learned a lot about the government and general election process.

“[I did it] just to know more about the way our government works and just how important it is to vote and how important it is to make your voice heard,” Haris said. “I think it really showed me a lot about democracy and the benefits for being an advocate for somebody.”

Haris admires Clinton’s policies in terms of minority rights and education as well as her previous work in the government.

“I think she’s always fought for what’s right in terms of women, children [and] education,” Haris said prior to the election. “I really appreciate all the work she’s done, and I think she’s capable, smart and ready to be a president.”

Shannon Hong

Shannon Hong (‘16) serves as a correspondents intern for the Clinton campaign. Her job entailed her categorizing and responding to the correspondents that visit the campaign.

“We finally have the option to elect the first woman president ever [and] in my perspective, someone who’s amazing [and] who is the most qualified person to run,” Shannon said prior to the election.

Shannon officially became part of the campaign in late May of this year and spent her summer in Philadelphia as a special projects intern for supporter housing, working to provide staff with respective housing.

She recently decided to defer a semester at University of California, Berkeley to become a correspondents intern for the campaign in New York.

“Being in the headquarters of the Clinton campaign offices, there’s nowhere else I would rather be. I will always cherish this experience, [and] it’s a learning experience for anyone,” Shannon said. “The past year and a half has always been about winning on that one day, so I think you really get to feel the high-stakes [kind of] environment, and you also get to meet the most wonderful people.”

Prior to her participation in the Clinton campaign, her involvement in political campaigns included making phone calls on behalf of the Obama campaign when president Barack Obama was running for reelection.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on November 16, 2016.