I represented the 180,000 public school students in the entire state of Hawai'i when I was 17 and 18 years old (my senior year as a "high school kid") as the only student member on the state Board of Education. I chaired committees. I drafted policy. I personally had fifteen statewide policies that I wrote passed by committee, passed by the full BOE, and promulgated by the state superintendent and his Department of Education. I wrote three pieces of legislation (that were significantly modified by lawyers, but the intent of the laws never changed) that made it through the committee processes of both houses of the Hawai'i State Legislature, were passed by both houses of the legislature, and were signed into law by the governor of Hawai'i. To this day (it wasn't that long ago), my policies and legislation affect, control, and benefit, in my opinion, the lives of every single one of the 1.4 million residents of the state. Any "adult" who discounts the intelligence and dedication of young people has probably already lobotomized themselves.
