By ALEXIA KADOTA-BROWNER
This past summer I started an internship to help re-elect Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan. Along with over 75 other students aged 12-20, I work to educate voters about Lafazan’s 10 bills and remind them to come out and vote on election day. Lafazan made it very clear on the first day of the internship that we were going to be working with him, and not for him. He told us, “My one rule here is that nobody is allowed to get coffee. Everyone will be doing meaningful work here.”
Lafazan began his political career as student body president at Syosset High School. When he turned 18, Lafazan ran and was elected to the Syosset School District’s Board of Education. At 23 he became the youngest member ever elected to the Nassau County Legislature. Now at age 25, he represents the towns of Muttontown, Brookville, Oyster Bay, Syosset, Locust Valley, Bayville, Woodbury, Glen Head, and East Hills.
I was glad to learn very quickly that Lafazan exhibits a great deal of transparency with his interns. If we are ever confused about a certain task, he always provides us with an explanation. Lafazan has given us the opportunity to take part in the changes that we wish to see in the community.
Lafazan treated all the summer interns to an end-of summer banquet to celebrate our hard work and get us excited for election season. (The author is pictured far right.)
Lafazan provides opportunities to take leadership roles and work on legislation with him for the benefit of our community. As high school students, that kind of mutual trust and opportunity is so valuable, especially since we live in a society where adolescents are constantly told that they are too young, too immature, or not intelligent enough to accomplish great things.
I believe that the most valuable aspect about Lafazan is that he is an incredibly hard worker. With the consistently long hours he puts in and the late nights that he spends writing letters to voters, Lafazan has shown us the importance of hard work and dedication to serve.
Some of our biggest successes of the summer were hosting a 5K run to raise money for Mill Neck Services for the Deaf, canvassing and speaking to voters in over 25,000 homes, and helping Lafazan to pass a food safety bill for Long Island restaurants.
What I most value about my internship are the relationships that I am building with other like-minded teens across Long Island. The networking helps me to come up with new ideas and collaborate with other student council presidents and youth activists as I continue to strive to improve my school and community.
While I’m too young to vote myself, I do hope all eligible voters take advantage of their right and get out the vote on November 5th for whomever they support. If you’d like to learn more about Josh, click here.