Millennials often get a bad reputation in today’s society. Many times, it’s for something as mundane as spending $5 on a pumpkin spice latte. A more important critique of millennials, however, is that they are not involved enough. Are young people staying active within their communities? Are millennials involved with politics and voting?
New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu recently sought to begin resolving this issue within the state of New Hampshire, which has the second oldest generation in the nation, according to the Union Leader. On Sept. 20 the governor appointed two young people to his new Millennials Advisory Council. George Hansel, 31, and Danya Landis, 28, are coming up with ideas to help attract young workers to remain in state for college and work, according to the Keene Sentinel.
Most of their ideas revolve around creating more culturally and artistically pleasing events and locations throughout the state. Their thought is that residents would feel less isolated, more in-touch with modern trends and it would make the state more appealing to younger crowds.
Hansel and Landis are prime examples of millennials taking affirmative action within their community to better something they feel is worth it. They see an issue, (that young people are not remaining in or relocating to New Hampshire for school and work) and they thought of ideas to resolve it. Now, they’re putting them in action.
More millennials need to adapt this mindset. It is important to constantly stay involved in one’s community and local politics. Young people have more power than they believe. By implementing more arts and culture into the life of New Hampshire, Landis could be making huge steps in changing people’s perspective of life in the state. Over time, more involvement like this could help New Hampshire real estate, local businesses, tourism and the economy holistically. Millennials have the advantage of being up-to-date with technology and trending topics. This is vitally important in many facets of economic and political growth.
However, many millennials still fail to see their own potential in making a difference. In this past presidential election, the majority of my friends and classmates that I spoke with said they were not planning on voting. Their mindset was that it was either “too inconvenient with their schedules” or that their one vote would make no difference at all. When a large group of people have that same idea, however, it can be detrimental. Many of these same people were unhappy with the election results when they came out, but did nothing in their power to possibly change the outcome.
Not to say that one person canvassing for a candidate on Main Street in Keene could have changed the outcome of the election, but it could have changed at least a few voter’s minds in the community. If we have that happening in every community, then those numbers add up. This is the importance of involvement. Just like the members of Sununu’s advisory council making decisions that will help create changes they want to see in their community, other young people should be getting involved in ways that will create the change they wish to see. If someone wants to see more arts events near them, like Landis, then they should make strides to see that difference. The same principle applies to any transformation one wishes to see; they must get involved and works towards it.
Rachel Vitello can be contacted at
rvitello@kscequinox.com
