Young Candidate Wants to Give Back, Give Young People a Voice

By HANNAH BESSO
DAVIS HIGH SCHOOL

Chris Ramirez, one of the youngest candidates in the 2008 Washington State election, is all about giving back to the community. In fact, that is one of the main reasons the 22-year-old Democrat says he decided to run for state representative.

He’s vying for a 14th District state House seat against Republican state Rep. Charles Ross on the Nov. 4 ballot. At 36, Ross (R-Naches) is also considered young for the job. But he has 14 years on Ramirez.

Ramirez says he believes young people need to be taken more seriously in the community. “Just because they’re young doesn’t mean they don’t have something important to say,” he says.

Ramirez also says he believes state government needs new voices and people who won’t be afraid to stand up for what’s right instead of getting caught up in party lines.

“Partisanship divides us even more when we need to be working together as a community and as a whole,” says Ramirez, who advises aspiring young leaders — teens and twenty-somethings — to get involved now.

Demand a voice, he encourages young people.

Ramirez lists Ron Bonlender, a Democrat, former Yakima city councilman and owner of the Sub Shop of Yakima, and Kelly Hennessey, a biology teacher and Associated Student Body adviser at Davis High School, among his mentors.

Ramirez says if he gets elected he wants to focus on quality-of-life issues such as education, economic development and gang enforcement.

And he’s already starting to make a difference. He’s talked with gang members about what might have prevented them from joining when they were younger. Their answers were the same: someone telling them there were other options.

One of those options is College Bound. Through this program, low-income middle school students sign a contract, promising to graduate high school with a grade-point average of at least 2.0 and demonstrate good citizenship. In turn, the program pays for their college education.

Ramirez says he hopes to increase the number of youth who take part in this program.

“People have lots of options, but there’s no one telling them about those options, and eventually they end up falling down the wrong path,” he says.

Ramirez, a 2004 Davis High School graduate, graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma in May.

“I’ve known him for a long time, and I can’t speak highly enough of him,” says Hennessey, his former high school teacher and current mentor. “He’s someone who cares passionately about the community he lives in, enough to get involved to the level that he feels he can make a change. I mean, lots of people care, but Chris jumped in with two feet.”

In high school, Ramirez was involved in wrestling, football, cross-country, track and baseball. He also participated in Key Club, student government and the International Baccalaureate program.

“(People should vote for him) because he is open and honest and will have the best interests of the community in mind,” Bonlender says.

Ramirez comes from a long line of farm workers.

“Their lives were difficult in Mexico, otherwise they would not have uprooted their families the way they did,” Ramirez says of his mother’s parents — his grandparents — who moved here in the 1940s.

His father, 56-year-old Art Ramirez, a retired security officer, also worked in the fields. He placed high expectations on his sons. Ramirez and his brother were expected to meet his standards in both school and athletics.

“Follow your heart, your code of ethics, be an asset to the community. That’s what I’ve always preached to my kids,” Art Ramirez says.

“People helped my family members along the way,” his son, the young candidate, says. “When my life is all said and done I think people will judge me on the impact I have had on the lives of others.

“Jackie Robinson once said, ‘A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.’ I completely agree.”