Orange County students take action

Over the last few months, students across the nation have come together to call on Congress to take action on gun violence. The following are photos taken from walkouts and marches in Orange County organized by Orange County students to make a change, including the Saddleback College walkout, the San Clemente March for Our Lives and the SOC4Change march in Irvine: 

A professor participates in Saddleback walkout.

Walkout participants bring signs against gun violence.

Student attending the San Clemente march.

Lead organizer Jackson Hinkle manages the march.

Adults supporting students at San Clemente march.

Students listening to Molly Bergan sing at  SOC4Change march 

South Orange County high school students at rally in Irvine.

5 questions with Jake Rybczyk: a student running for San Clemente City Council

San Clemente High School senior Jake Rybczyk announced his city council campaign Monday evening at the Democratic Women of South Orange County meeting. The young progressive will run for San Clemente City Council and plans to address issues such as Sunshine laws, homelessness and the environment:

What inspired you to run for city council? 

I wrote a letter to Darrell Issa asking him for a town hall to find what his opinions would be on gun control after what happened at the Parkland shooting. Jackson Hinkle, another young progressive running for city council in San Clemente, and I marched up to his office. We knocked on his door and nobody came. When finally somebody came, they were just a staffer.They disregarded us and they tried to push us to the side and had no comment on our letter. We got over 100 signatures from students all across the 49 in two hours, and we never heard a response from Darrell Issa. So that in action really made me reflect on where I am and the power that I can bring to where I live, so I decided have to step up. I have to make the change that I want to see.That really inspired me to run. 

If elected, what do you plan to see through in San Clemente? 

The first thing I think is really important is that we have Sunshine laws. These are laws that our state has adopted and it allows our cities to have all information be public within different agencies. San Clemente hasn’t adopted that. For 20 years citizens have been wanting San Clemente to adopt these laws so we know what is happening, so we know what the conversations are, so we know what different legal documents say. It's really important that we know that. We also need to protect our coast. I think it's really important that we move towards 100 percent sustainable energy, because when we see cities in Kentucky and Texas going towards that there's no reason why we here in California where we are going to be affected by climate change aren’t adopting their policies. We also need to focus on homelessness. Homelessness is something that San Clemente can't fix, but we can lead and encourage our sister cities in creating the change that we need to have a positive influence on these homeless people. They don't have a house and if they do it’s temporary. The number one thing that we can do to help is get them housing. My number one  priority which really encapsulates everything I believe in is safety. Safety goes beyond the police. Safety is our environment. It's the community that we're having our children grow up and it’s ensuring that every citizen has their voice heard. That really is the value that I want my campaign to carry through. 

What motivated you to co-found OC Students For City Council? 

All across Orange County we need to inspire young people to vote. Beyond that, if we show that our ideas work, that progressives can win, that young people can Inspire, then we can create change all across the nation and that's what has inspired me to want to found this. As you see with the momentum after the Parkland shooting, students, not the adults, but students are saying we've had enough and it's really changing the whole landscape. 

What can students do to become involved with the organization? 

If you have the passion, if you have the resources and the time to jump on and run in your city, you can go to our website and there you can get the information that you need. You can sign up to support our campaigns, you can sign up to run for yourself, and that's really the best thing you can do. If you really believe in young progressives, you can go to our website and our social media links on the website, you can support our individual campaigns and you can really step up and be a part of the voices that are coming together to create change. 

Any other thoughts on your campaign or the organization as a whole? 

I'm really excited for what we're going to do this movement. It's about we the people because that is something that our whole political landscape has kind of lost side of. If you really respect the Constitution, if you really respect the vision of our founding fathers, it's to respect we the people, not we the corporations. The elite should not be running our entire government. It should be we the people because that is what we’re founded on. 

OC Students For City Council officially announce campaign

OC Students For City Council officially announced their city council campaigns this evening at the Democratic Women of South Orange County meeting at the San Juan Hills Golf Course. 

The coalition co-founded by San Clemente High School and Saddleback College students Jackson Hinkle, Jake Rybczyk and Perry Meade was created in order to inspire progressive students across the country to run for political office and to change the discourse of Orange County politics. 

Candidates running for city council include Jackson Hinkle and Jake Rybczyk for San Clemente and Mahmoud El-Farra for Rancho Santa Margarita. The organization is still encouraging Orange County students to run for office, whether it be to serve on a city council, city commission or another position that best suits the student. 

The candidates plan to hold their first press conference over the summer and are looking for progressive students to support and join their efforts. 

We are a group of young progressive students running for city council seats all across Orange County. Hit us up at ocstudents4cc@gmail.com or send us a message if you would like to get involved or run in your city.

A post shared by OC Students For City Council (@ocstudents4cc) on May 6, 2018 at 9:14am PDT

Students lead the political discourse again

In an article titled “The Stupidity with March for Our Lives,” radio host Kevin McCullough expresses his annoyance with young students leading the current political discourse. The piece published by Townhall.com attempts to invalidate the students’ experience during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and aims to discredit all students who are exercising their first amendment right due to the students’ ages and political beliefs.  

“It is not a ‘personal attack’ on these kids to say that they are ‘misinformed, arrogant, and misguided.’ It’s a statement of fact,” McCullough says.

Misinformed? Who is more qualified to speak about school safety than the students who experienced a horrific shooting in an educational environment? These are students who are taught how to research, think critically and review credibility of news sources. Arrogant? These young leaders are brave and courageous for speaking out knowing that people like McCullough will criticize their every word and knowing that by taking a stance on this issue, they are susceptible to harsh criticism and even death threats. Misguided? How and by whom are they being misguided? These activists are working together along with other students across the country to call on Congress to do their job to protect students. It’s McCullough who is misinformed, arrogant and misguided to declare that these brave and powerful students are such things.

“You don’t get to use your victimization (as real as it was) to advocate for an even less safe school for my children,” McCullough says. 

McCullough’s words here are appalling. They are inappropriate and heartless. Yes, the students were victims of a horrific attack, an attack that very well could have been prevented with common-sense gun regulations. It is these youth that are having to worry about whether or not they will come home safely from school each day, and while this notion may seem like an exaggeration, that is the reality of what students are concerned about. 

Today’s young leaders do not simply “have little more than a junior high level of education under their belt.” It is not just a person’s level of education that defines their awareness and credibility to speak on a topic. It is also their experience. McCullough undermines these students’ credibility to speak on the topic, which is concerning given that the students know first hand about the detriment of loosely restricted gun laws. 

The young activists’ qualifications to speak out and lead the nation in a movement are that they are survivors of a mass school shooting, and if McCullough and the lawmakers in Washington had experienced the event that the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had endured, they too would be pushing for more gun regulations and would have been marching proudly on March 24. 

“The political left, driven by a leftist media, and financed by uber-rich and hard-left celebrities are willing to use them, and to continue to use them to advance their socialist utopia ideals,” McCullough says. 

Why the radio host decides to describe the students as manipulated robots is certainly alarming. These students are not fabrications of the entertainment industry. These students are taking action because they experienced a massacre in their own school. They are not taking action to enjoy a “fifteen minutes of fame” type of ordeal, nor are they going on television and radio shows to become popular. These students are taking action because they want to see change in this time when gun violence is heavily present in schools, restaurants, movie theaters and other public places. They are using their voices to make a change because the majority of elected officials in local, state and federal government are not doing their job to keep their constituents safe.

The language he uses to describe how the students acquired money to organize the march and fund the March for Our Lives event on March 14 incorrectly portrayed how the young organizers received donations for the organization. 

From a historical perspective, it is frequently students who lead the political discourse that advances, strengthens and reshapes American values and politics. If we think back to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, it was students who spoke up and took stance to make a change. Seeing students take action is nothing new; it's history repeating itself once again.

Since elementary school, students are continually reminded that they are the leaders of tomorrow. It seems as though people like McCullough need to wake up and recognize that the leaders of tomorrow are now the leaders of today. 

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Saddleback College students organize candidate forum

Saddleback students gathered in the Science and Math lecture hall Tuesday afternoon in an event organized by the Associated Student Government and the Pre-Law Society to engage in dialogue with candidates running in the primary elections. 

With over 200 students and members of the community in attendance, the audience heard candidates running for congress, district attorney, Orange County sheriff and U.S. Senate answers questions about gun regulations, education, immigration, homelessness and income inequality. 

Candidates at the forum included Mike Levin, Doug Applegate, Katie Porter, Dave Min, Hans Keirstead, Derrick Michael Reid, Duke Nguyen, Lenore L. Albert and Suzie Price who represented Tony Rackauckas. According to Saddleback College law professor Emily Quinlan, all local candidates running for congress as well as the incumbents were invited to the forum . 

The event was emceed by members of both the Associated Student Government and the Pre-Law Society and included questions from audience members. Students were also able to interact with candidates after the forum to learn more about their stances as candidates asked the students how they could best serve them. 

“I thought the event was very informative and productive to give a good number of individuals from the new generation an inside look to these candidates’ views and outlooks on what change we want for this country,” said Bret Landen, a student who attended the forum. 

Throughout the event, the audience was continuously encouraged to vote in the primary and general elections. Attendees were able to register to vote at the voter registration booth and were encouraged by the candidates to consider volunteering or interning for their respective campaigns to develop a greater insight of the political process. 

"It is important for students to go to to events like this," said Perry Meade, one of the lead organizers of the event. "Students need to be educated voters and become involved in the political process because they decide the fate of our present and future." 

Students listening to congressional candidate Mike Levin.