Rachel Gonzalez teen activist

@MsRachelRoseG‘s Twitter bio

Yesterday, a sixteen-year-old named Rachel Gonzalez followed me on Twitter. After reading her Twitter bio (above), I immediately followed back and tweeted this:

I then asked her, “Do you want to run for office one day?” to which she replied, “Definitely! Will you vote for me?” At that point, I was hooked.  She’s sixteen. Sixteen! Heartening to say the least. What a breath of fresh air.

I then asked her to write a post for me, and she did, without hesitation. It was in my inbox within a half hour. To put that in perspective, most adults of whom I’ve made the same request take days, sometimes weeks, if ever, to follow through. Here’s the post, verbatim (okay, I made a couple of spelling edits, but that was it):

My name is Rachel Gonzalez I am only 16 years old, but some people may be surprised by my big interest in politics and my hope to one day run for office. It all started when I was 10 years old in 2008. President Bill Clinton came to my home town to give a speech to endorse his wife, Hillary Clinton who was a presidential candidate at the time. I saw it on the news and I encouraged my parents to take me. It was an amazing experience and my older brother was close enough to shake his hand.

In 2012 at the age of 14 I was excited for the ongoing Presidential election. I had multiple political shirts and wore them to my 8th grade classes all the time. I watched all the Presidential debates, The Democratic convention, and the Republican convention all by myself because no one else was as interested as I was. I encouraged my teachers to vote, but I did not tell them who to vote for. The morning of November 6, 2012 I went with my parents to vote before school and I took their stickers and wore them.

In 2013 President Barack Obama came to the Ford plant in Kansas City, Missouri where my father, multiple uncles, and a few cousins work. I begged my father to let me miss school and go with him and he did. It was a day I would never forget. I sat two rows back and got to shake the hand of the one and only President Barack Obama. Next to me in the audience were so many people I realized I knew so much about and was honored to meet. I met Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri and his wife Georganne, Senator Claire McCaskill, Mayor Sly James of Kansas City, former Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius, and the Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander. I took many pictures and a video of shaking President Obama’s hand and showed everyone at school the next day.

Here is that video, along with a couple of the many snaps she sent me:

 Rachel Gonzalez Claire McCaskill

With senator Claire McCaskill  photo credits: Georganne Nixon (Wife of Governor Jay Nixon)

Rachel Gonzalez Congressmen Emanuel Cleaver

Rachel with Congressmen Emanuel Cleaver

I think it is very important to learn about what is going on around the world and to gain experiences. I influence my fellow students in my school as the Vice President of my class, Vice President of my schools History Club, and Vice President of the schools Amnesty International club. I am involved in many other clubs such as; Theater, SADD (Students against destructive decisions), Student council, Spanish club, and NSHSS (National Society of High School Scholars).

I always encourage my friends to make the right decisions and do good things. I love getting involved in many things as possible. I volunteer around my community and make friends with just about anyone I meet.

The next two shots made me smile. The first is a screen grab of Rachel and her pals on the news before the president’s speech, taking a photo of their tickets. The second is their photo of the ticket:

Rachel Gonzalez on news, selfie before PBO speech

Rachel Gonzalez PBO ticket

Are you inspired yet? Her bio says she wants to change the world. I have a feeling she will, and that in many ways, she already has.

Finally, I asked my new BFF Rachel if she would answer a couple of more questions: How had she has influenced her friends? And if they disagreed with her politically, how did that affect her relationship with them? Here is her typically punctual response:

I influence my friends by trying to get them involved not only in school clubs, but also in the community. When there is an event I would like to attend or volunteer at I always try to take a few friends along with me. My friends and I often talk about politics and have many disagreements, but we respect each other’s opinions. To avoid conflict I have two social media accounts: one where I have my friends and family, and the other for posting my political opinions. I am very glad that I go to an accepting school where everyone is so different and diverse. Even if we do not have the same ideas and opinions, we listen to each other respectfully. On my school bag I have some political buttons and no one had ever said anything negative about them to me.

I have very supportive teachers who I want to make very proud. Just the other day I got encouraging comments from some of my teachers My biology teacher said, “When you run for President someday I’ll vote for you, even if you’re in the wrong party.” And my homeroom teacher said, “Rachel, you’re going to do something amazing one day and I can’t wait to see it.” Every year one student from my school is chosen to go to the State Capital to tour the capitol, Governor’s mansion, hear speeches, and talk to Congressmen sponsored by the Federation of Women’s clubs, and I recently found out that this year I will be going. I was nominated by my AP World History teacher. I am very excited and have already thought about every detail such as, what I plan on wearing.

I love this girl on so many levels!

Let me leave you with this photo that Rachel herself captioned, “Encouraging Everyone to vote – 14 years old.” Damn right, Rach, GOTV. Because if we don’t, we can kiss many of our hard-earned civil rights good-bye, including the right to vote.

Rachel Gonzalez GOTV