MANSFIELD — Brandon Polak has canvassed for local candidates, volunteered with the county board of elections and helped organize three political rallies in Mansfield — despite not being old enough to vote.
Polak, 16, was recently selected to represent Ohio in the YMCA’s Youth Advocacy Program. The junior at Mansfield City Schools will join 41 other students from across the country for a trip to Washington D.C. in February.
The Youth Advocacy Program is sponsored by the YMCA of the USA’s Government Relations office. Students work with Y representatives in their state and youth advocates across the country to support the organization’s legislative priorities, which focus on youth development, social responsibility and healthy living.
“We go to D.C. and we work on policy. We look at how policies are created. You can kind of see the more inner workings of national government,” Polak said.
Prior to his trip to the nation’s capitol, Polak will attend four virtual training sessions, interview local YMCA personnel and create a community profile.
He’ll also work with the Ohio Alliance of YMCAs to create an advocacy plan that includes his selected legislative priority, a list and schedule of his D.C. meetings and next steps for continued advocacy back home.
Polak found out about the program through Youth and Government, a state level program run by the Ohio Alliance of YMCAs.
Polak has been a part of the Mansfield Senior High’s Youth and Government chapter for the past three years. He currently serves as president of the Mansfield delegation.
Students in the school’s Youth and Government chapter meet regularly throughout the year and take an annual trip to the Ohio Statehouse for a mock government session. During that session, students form committees, run for office and even present legislation.
Polak will serve as Chief Justice during the 72nd annual Ohio Youth and Government conference next spring after running a successful campaign earlier this year.
Polak said he’s always been interested in politics and their role in American history, but that his interest flourished under the guidance of Robert Watson, his social studies teacher and Youth and Government advisor.
“Mr. Watson is the best teacher I’ve ever had in my life,” Polak said. “He understands how to get on a personal level with students.”
Watson said Polak applied for the Youth Advocacy program on his own and didn’t mention it to him until he’d been accepted.
“I was proud of him,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘This kid’s really going somewhere.’
“We’ve been talking. He already had these passions. We’re just giving him an outlet to just flourish with where his natural bend is taking him.”
After Polak was recognized at a recent Mansfield City School board meeting, school board Vice President Gary Feagin said he’d met Polak before and didn’t even realize he was a student.
“I thought he was in his 20s,” Feagin said. “We were talking politics.”
While he’s not old enough to run for office, Polak has already become involved in the local political scene. Following the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Polak and his friend Gerald Vega founded the Mansfield Committee for Community Safety.
The group has held three rallies in Mansfield’s Central Park — one calling for change in firearms legislation and two in support of women’s reproductive rights.
Polak was also recently appointed by Mayor Tim Theaker to the city’s parks board. After graduating, Polak hopes to study political science at the Ohio State University. Ultimately, he wants to run for office.
“I will most likely run for local office at some point and hopefully take that up to state and national level. My dream has always been to become a United States Senator,” he said.
“I’ve always liked parliamentary procedure. I think that’d be nice to represent Ohio at national level.”
