Elected officials on every front had to start somewhere, as their desire to enact concrete change did not simply strike them like lightning overnight.
Many had surely first partaken in student government to both fine-tune their political skills and formulate their own stances through first-hand involvement in group action. Others, including one local lawmaker, chose the sidelines at the time – fearing he could not inspire change from within like he ultimately found he could in “the real world.”
“I never pursued running for president, either in high school or in college,” Assemblyman Doug Smith (R-Holbrook), 31, admitted, “because I felt like the position could not effectuate change.”
Passionate enough about a parking issue plaguing the Patchogue campus of St. Joseph’s College, his alma mater, to attend a sole student government meeting, the 2011 graduate found a system in which “you’re funded by the administration your constituents would expect you to push back against when necessary” was an exercise in counter intuitiveness.
According to the Assemblyman (photo left), the solution he witnessed student leaders labor for as a collective – charging a certain amount of dollars extra for campus parking to combat students being towed from the Staples store just across the street – was one he conjured up himself in only 5 minutes time, and knew right off the bat would be less than feasible.
“In my opinion, they were towing cars of students, many of whom were teachers-in-training at a teaching school, who couldn’t find parking [on campus],” Smith reflected. He added, ‘It’s [a proposed parking fee] either going to be too high where no one’s going to pay it, then you’ll have all these empty parking spaces. Or too low, where you’re still going to be met with same problem – except instead you’re now taxing students, which is never the answer.”
His lone grievance with them aside, Smith maintains a strong relationship with the academic institution he chose to attend, to take them up on their promise to help him answer a call to community action. After all, St. Joseph’s is where he would first encounter “Common Core” and its controversial implementation into state education policy- something he could not remain silent on when it was high time for him to use his mathematics degree and certification to become a teacher of the subject.
Now, as one of the youngest state legislators, Smith is the ranking Republican on the education committee. Working across party lines, he and others like him are “able to make a tangible difference.”
Smith believes that, having not served as a member of student government, he plunged ahead – undiscouraged to head down this path he currently travels.
Though the college reported in an interview conducted a year after he graduated that Smith was not interested in pursuing a political career, he clarifies that he will always rebel against the concept of people sitting in a room talking about solutions, instead of finding them.
As it stands today, Smith is proud to be in a position where questions posed can find answers, and at a rapid pace. Moreover, he is often humbled by reminders of what he has accomplished in such a short span, especially when welcomed back to the same college he left behind (though not for long).”
“I was recently invited [back to St. Joseph’s College] to deliver a keynote address at a groundbreaking for a new student center there,” said the Assemblyman. “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to speak – but when they called me up, I was honored to join in the celebration. That said, they still need to work on the parking.”
For every Doug Smith in the world, there’s a Quentin E. Palifka (photo right).
The already politically determined Rocky Point High School Class President sees your student government reduction and raises you a track record of grade school goodness. He possesses a rap sheet of reverent quality, laying the groundwork for other bright-eyed youths of the Greater Long Island area to rise alongside him in defiance of stigmas that presume their generation could not care less about good old-fashioned policymaking. Just because one cannot legally vote yet does not mean their presence cannot be felt exceedingly more so than the twentysomething who can vote, but fails to.
The suit-and-tied, 17-year-old high school senior’s political career commenced in 8th grade, when he ran for president of the 9th-grade class. Endearing himself to the student body with a “Keep Rocky Point Strong” campaign slogan, Palifka successfully secured the first of eventually four consecutive class election victories.
Whereas many on the outside looking in claim to objectively view the position of “Class President” as a mere figurehead title, Palifka knows an alternative truth. Had he not been elected several times over, could he have attained the respect and power needed to convince the school to incorporate CPR training into all its gym classes? Or better yet, agree to host its own “Stop the Bleed” event? Most likely not.
“They [the “Stop the Bleed” program] have already trained over 1.5 million people how to help a nearby person that is severely bleeding,” Palifka specified. “Being that I am Stop the Bleed-certified, it has made the process a whole lot easier, and a date for Rocky Point’s event will be determined soon.”
Palifka’s usage of the finite time he has been given to change his school, community, and the world for the better comes in light of countless stories seen across Internet feeds; bystanders who are quicker to document a stranger’s strife for views and likes, than prevent harm or provide assistance merely for the sake of doing the right thing.
“I aspire to make a positive difference in the community I live in, and America,” Palifka vows.
Assemblyman Smith, who has known Palifka since 2010, sees what the modern-day student-elected leader has accomplished, and is glad he and his younger self have been proven wrong; a high school president can effectuate change.
“Quentin is an outstanding young leader,” said Smith. “I have no doubt in my mind that he will be an elected official one day and look forward to seeing him as a colleague in state government.”
