By Kendra Gastin — Two of GlenOak’s students have decided to join the Democratic Party to support Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton. Seniors Casey Likouris and Graham Hess have devoted their time and effort to give back to their party.

Hess and Likouris are both “fellows” with the Ohio Coordinated Campaign; they are campaign interns for the Clinton Campaign primarily as well as the Strickland Campaign and all local races being run in Summit County. Being a fellow entails phone banking, assisting with voter registration, and canvassing.

“I do anything I can to help and make sure stuff is getting done efficiently,” Likouris said.

Ironically, Likouris saw Hess was involved with the party and wanted to become a fellow also. Hess gave Likouris the contacts she would need to join the campaign.

“I’m so glad I asked him because I wouldn’t be so sure about my career choice if I hadn’t reached out to him,” Likouris said. “ Its [politics] always been a choice in the back of my head for my career and I’m doing this internship to make sure this is something I would also enjoy.”

Likouris was not sure if she would end up with a career in politics, but after this experience, she has realized that politics is what she would like to be involved in when she gets older.

Hess believes that this election is one of the most important elections in this country’s history. He realizes that the next president’s decisions about war, peace, education, health care, taxation, civil rights, privacy and other issues will be the first issues to directly impact his adult life.

“You have two candidates who are almost polar opposites of each other and have very different visions for the future of the United States,” Hess said.

Likouris has always been interested in politics since a young age. She finds that working on an actual campaign has been an awesome learning experience and a great resume builder.

Unfortunately, neither will be 18 years old in time for the election so they are ineligible to vote is this year’s presidential election.

“Since I cannot vote in this election, I feel that through my internship I am doing my civic duty by trying to make a difference and express my voice in government,” Hess said.

In the future, Hess and Likouris would like to seek careers in the government field. Hess’ plan is to get a Masters degree in Applied Political Science and then continue onto law school.

“I would like to pursue local or state level elected office in Stark or Summit County,” Hess said.

Likouris’ ultimate goal is to work her way out of American Politics and into international politics. She is not sure where she wants to go to college yet but would like to major in political science. Her dream job is to work for the United Nations as an officer.

“I would love to help solve and prevent international issues and make the world a more peaceful place,” Likouris said.

Hess and Likouris are both happy with their decision to join the party and hope to learn more about the government and about their career choices in the future.

[Updated Aug. 19, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]