GCE-US Youth Advocate Alumna ‘13, Melina Hettiaratchi, is currently running to be Kentucky’s 31st State House District Representative. Since her experience with GCE-US as a college sophomore, she has been an educator, a lawyer, and now hopes to become a legislator. GCE-US Program Director for Youth Engagement, Grace Mariana Rector, recently sat down with Hettiaratchi to gain insight into her advocacy journey. 

Tell me a bit about your initial experience with the GCE Youth Advocate Program. 

In the South, I grew up with mission trips heavy on hands-on-experiences aimed at gaining empathy. But my experience with the GCE-US Youth Action Group (now Youth Advocate Program) was different. I learned that you don't have to see the impact of your work in advocacy to know that it makes a difference.  

The program was phenomenal because I had never been to a conference where I was given actual skills and tools to use. I was a college sophomore; I had never done anything like that. All of my organizing really started with [GCE-US Member] Building Tomorrow and the Global Campaign for Education, and it's been a seamless transition to the campaign space.

What else did you learn from participating in the Youth Advocate Program that influences your work today? 

I remember walking up to Capitol Hill and thinking “this looks like a movie set.” I had never felt so patriotic before that moment. We were all thinking, “I can't believe we're here. I can't believe we're all very young people here and we're going to meet with our legislators!”  

The training beforehand taught us how to set up our meeting, how to plan our pitch, and how to speak to the staffer. All were things I had never known you could do. No one ever told me I could. Why can't you call your congressional representative and say, “I need you to do these things because it matters to me?”  

That was the first time I'd ever had a meaningful action experience. It was a beautiful moment of everything being modeled for us, and everything was scaffolded. We weren't dropped into things on our own, but we also weren't over-parented and that was meaningful as a young person finding my own voice. 

Melina with her fellow GCE-US Youth Advocates in 2013:

What made you decide to launch this campaign? 

As an education major I decided to start my advocacy work as a teacher but then realized I needed to be closer to the seat of people who make decisions and actually listen to teachers.  

“What seat is that?” I asked myself. Is it education advocacy in a policy way? Is it representing teachers in a teacher’s union? I chose law school and studied issues that affect families: Families in homelessness, families with substance abuse issues, and families with special education needs that aren't being met. 

Then I moved to Kentucky and started practicing law. Disillusioned after the last presidential election, I thought, what can I do? Which seat do I take? I spoke with my local county party and heard that they were trying to hold on to Democratic power in the district. They told me, “We need your help to keep this movement going.” I joined and then found out that my district was up for election and there was nobody running. It's part of a typical advocate story; I'm not asking to be in the limelight or be the face of anything, but if nobody is going to do it, I have to! I talked to my partner at home and my law partner and considered what to do so that I can run. When the seat opened, I said, "I guess it's time to run now!” 

I love that. You exude a lot of hope. What do you envision for the future of education in your district or in the United States as a whole?

The public school system is under attack in our state and in this country. I believe that children have a right to a free education, a free, high quality accessible education that is free from political gain. It is free from influence from major institutions. That's what I believe. I believe children have a right to a free education, and I believe that it's also our duty as grown-ups to ensure that they can get that.  

As an elected official, my job is to make sure that these schools are funded. Let's make sure that these teachers and their pensions are funded so that we are attracting high quality, highly educated professionals and we treat them as such.  

I hope that people like you are in those positions of power and those seats to make change possible. Thank you for taking the time to talk about your experience with GCE and to talk about the work that you've done. Thank you for everything you've done for education.  

To learn more about Melina’s campaign, please visit www.withmelina.com.