After growing up surrounded by her family’s political debates, freshman Cailey Hansen-Mahoney developed an interest in local politics, choosing to participate by joining the Community Education Advisory Council.

According to the St. Louis Park Community Education website, the Community Education Advisory Council works throughout the community to help enhance quality of life through lifelong learning and empowerment of people. The Community Education Advisory Council works with City Council to look at how Community Education is administered and the community’s access to facilities.

Hansen-Mahoney said she enjoys how the Community Education Advisory Council makes an immediate impact on the community.

“I like learning more about the community and being able to contribute my ideas to a group that is actually making movement in the district,” Hansen-Mahoney said. “It’s a really good group of people and it feels like we’re moving Community Education in a really good direction.”

Hansen-Mahoney said she thinks the direct influence of local politics on the community emphasizes the importance of being active within the local government, as opposed to state or national governments.

“I think that you feel the effects a lot faster on the local level, so I think it’s more important to be involved in local politics,” Hansen-Mahoney said. “There’s also an opportunity for you to get more involved. It’s a lot easier for you to run for office if that’s what you’re interested in. You can meet your elected officials a lot more easily.”

Kari Hansen, Hansen-Mahoney’s mother, said she believes her daughter has many qualities that make her a good fit to participate in local politics.

“Because of her high interest in politics, she’s very well-read, she participates in local committees and she just has her ear to the ground about what’s going on in St. Louis Park,” Hansen said. “She’s very analytical, so I think she’s really good at looking at systems and thinking about issues.”

Hansen-Mahoney said she thinks her participation on the Community Education Advisory Council has helped her develop skills that will benefit her in the future.

“I’ve learned better public speaking skills,” Hansen-Mahoney said. “It helps you write reports. It’s giving me a lot of experience on how to work with other people and communicate with people that are older than me. I’ll have a lot more experience when I do enter the job market.”

Hansen-Mahoney said she hopes to pursue a career in the political field.

“After college and possibly law school or graduate school of some sort I hope to work on staff for someone in Congress,” Hansen-Mahoney said. “There are a lot of really good internship opportunities for high school and college students at the congressional level. Then, I’d hopefully just keep moving up the ranks.”