Democratic assembly member and MHS alumnus Alex Lee visited campus as part of Action for Change’s (AFC) Q and A event at the library, open to all students, on March 26 after school. The library was filled with students, surpassing the number of RSVPs, according to AFC President and sophomore Jonathan Choi.
The meet and greet began with Choi and his fellow AFC officers presenting Lee with a list of questions gathered from attendees.
Growing up in a place as diverse as Milpitas supported his philosophy as someone who represents a vast group of different people, Lee said.
“Almost everyone who lives in Milpitas goes to this high school, whether rich or poor or athletic or a nerd,” Lee said. “That is a rare opportunity because once you go off into the workplace or university, there’s a filter in which you’re all similar in some way.”
After a rapid-fire Cantonese culture Q and A between Choi and Lee, the room was open to students to ask Lee any questions they might have.
Lee hadn’t always wanted to go into politics, but had an interest in film, and had parents who were eager for him to go to medical school, he said.
“When I was applying for colleges in 2012, it was during the reelection of Barack Obama, so at the time I thought, ‘Oh politics seems like something I could do’,” Lee said. “I applied for political science, got into UC Davis, and I never changed my major.”
One of Lee’s hopes is to get more and more young people to step forward and be leaders in their community, Lee said. There have been students who have proposed successful bill ideas, and one instance when a 19 year old was elected to the school board, he added.
“The political world is different now, with social media and people’s criticism of the current president,” Lee said. “From my point of view, political and civil literacy has gotten better.”
The hardest part of the job is workplace politics, as it can get in the way of passing policy, Lee said. In every workplace, there are instances where, because you don’t like a person, you will not do a necessary or fair thing for them, he added.
“The most difficult conversations and colleagues are those who are not upfront,” Lee said. “A lot of times, I do tend to get along with Republican members more so than members of the Democratic Party, simply because they are upfront about their intentions.”
Choi met Lee personally during his time in the Youth Legislative Program, started by Lee, which ended this past January, Choi said. He joined the program and started AFC out of a deep interest in civics and government, he added.
“I had been doing a lot of research about local politicians, and Alex Lee’s identity as a Cantonese person really connected with me,” Choi said. “Meeting him changed my perception of politicians as not very receptive people, as Assemblymember Lee has always been very engaged with every person he meets.”
Senior Asha Balu heard about the event through her English class and decided to go alongside a friend because of their shared interest in law, she said. Balu has interacted with local politicians through her father’s work, she added.
“I’ll go up to politicians I’ll meet through my dad and shake their hands, but then I walk away,” Balu said. “With Alex Lee, we had a very informal, one-on-one session with him, where it felt like he was being very open and himself, which was cool.”
School Board Vice President Kelly Yip-Chuan received an invite to the Q and A session through Choi, who had persistently asked her daughter to invite her, she said. The kinds of questions asked by students were thoughtful and impressive, and unique to their generation, she added.
“Youth today are so aware of what is going on in the world,” Yip-Chuan said. “These are high school kids asking these questions that we as adults would ask sometimes, and it makes it so interesting for us to think about what is going on through their minds, and what they are thinking about in today’s world.”
