by Stevaughn Bush · March 26, 2014 4:48 PM

Welcome to our ongoing interview series highlighting young elected officials and young candidates. This month we spoke with Rory Slatko, a 21-year-old American University student who is an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner representing the area around his school.

Rory ran for office at the age of 19 and was elected in November of 2012. Seeking to improve relations between D.C. area students and their neighbors, he entrenched himself in his local community to build, and in some cases rebuild bridges, shoring up better lines of communication between residents.

Rory was motivated to run by what he perceived to be a lack of student representation in the community. “There was a pretty significant dearth of representation for our generation and students, in particular,” Rory said. “Our neighbors were having conversations about us, without us.”

It’s no secret that politics is not about what you know, but who you know, and this is an area difficult for a younger, less-established candidate – however idealistic – to compete in. As a young candidate, Rory’s campaign was not without some of these obstacles. “I think my biggest initial obstacle was getting on the ballot, and the reason is pretty straight forward when you think about it. The petition time period,” Rory explained, “is over the summer, and the way the [Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner] election worked during the 2012 cycle was with an especially limited time period. It ended up being between June and July, squarely in the middle of the summer.” But there are resources that help mitigate this disadvantage, like organizations that specifically support students running in local elections.

Rory says the most challenging part of holding office for him has been realizing and understanding the context of political discourse in his community. “Most people say that you have to develop thick skin, not take things too personally. For me, the questions have been why don’t certain possibilities exist, why are there bridges that are burned, and achieving a real understanding of that context instead of getting irritated, fired up, angry. Because that’s the easy way out – to take it personally, to take offense.”

When asked if he had any words of wisdom to impart to others under 35 who were considering making a difference, Rory emphasized the right backing and mentorship, “I have a ways to grow in the position, but I think that young people have to be dynamic, that they need to have the right mentors that come from the right sources. That’s where LaunchProgress comes into the picture: to get that support from people who are developing an expertise in representation for young people.”