An 18-year-old runs for school board while still in school

High school graduation is fast approaching, and for tens of thousands of New York students, that often means leaving the area for a new opportunity.

But one Southern Tier high school student is looking to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he’s doing it while he’s still in school.

Nathan Hanzalik, 18, is running for school board.

“I think it’s very important that the younger generation gets involved, like a lot of people are saying, there’s a new thing they’re saying, well we need the younger generation to get involved and that “It’s time, I think, to do it,” said Hanzalik, a candidate for the Union-Endicott school board.

Hanzalik has been looking toward the future for as long as he can remember.

At a young age, he started his own lawn mowing business with his grandfather, which quickly expanded into landscaping and sealing work.

All of this happened while he was taking college-level business classes at Union-Endicott High School in the Southern Tier, a district he hopes to help grow.

“I just want to go back to my school district that I’ve been to for the last 12 years, get better and work together and we can accomplish a lot with this,” Hanzalik said.

As you can imagine, his friends are encouraged by his hard work.

“A lot of us in our class, even in our entire high school, no one, no student has really taken such action. So it’s encouraging to see him fighting for all of us. He represents all of us.” And we’re here to support him,” Drew Karedes said.

“It’s super encouraging because no one else has really done this before in our class. We’ve been through a lot in high school with COVID and just different things, so it’s really exciting to see Nate do something thing like that,” senior Adriana said. Fontane.

Local teachers believe Nate’s hard work, win or lose, is a positive sign for the next generation.

“I think it’s a very good indication that young people need to step up and start doing more things, not just with school boards, with local community services, with government. In fact, just go voting in the general election is critically important,” said Jim Tokos, a teacher at Maine Memorial Elementary School.

This high school student hopes his campaign will also raise awareness of the importance of local elections.

“It’s important for us to think about the school board and improve and make sure things go well because we want to be a place where we can come back and raise a family,” Hanzalik said.

The Union-Endicott School Board vote will take place on May 21.

Dick Testa and Maria Fronek are also candidates for the vacant seat.