October 01, 2007
Monday PM

Hello everyone who's reading this! My name is Allan Manuel and I am a senior at Ketchikan High School this year. I am here to express my support for Gregory Vickrey and his campaign to run for Borough Assembly.

When I entered my senior year at KHS, honestly, I was real reluctant to enroll in "that one mandatory government class" known as American Government. From what I've heard from past seniors, it was a difficult, time-consuming class that either made or broke your chances of graduating. Now, after about a month of school, I find that I am really enjoying the class, not because it's nice to know what our government's origins are and not because we get asked silly questions of the day. Reason why I am really enjoying the class is because we as REGULAR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS can make a difference in our community, whether it be through the School Board, City Council, or Borough Assembly. I think that concept is really, really cool!

Now, to get down to serious business, I'm here to declare my support for Gregory Vickrey.

I've had experience working with Mr. Vickrey since early last summer when becoming a member of Tongass Conservation Society. Because of Mr. Vickrey's affiliation with TCS, people have the idea that he is (for lack of a better term) "hippie". That may be the conflict, but the problem I have with this is that people in general cannot get past the fact that he does have other initiatives and plans for our great city. I've personally spoken to him many times and he has many things in mind, including conservation.

Out of his main initiatives, I've chosen two that have the most affect on me as a student and citizen.

Mr. Vickrey plans to aggressively pursue programs that create and foster leadership, creativity, and personal growth in schools. This means many things like putting more funding into our vocational programs in school, having designated areas for in-school activities, or aiding scholarship obtaining programs for graduating students like me and those to come after myself.

Being a person born in a technology-dependent era, the long overdue use of fiber optics cables for internet access and alternative energy sources is needed. Mr. Vickrey accepts these new technologies as a step forward for our city.

If it's one thing American Government taught me is that this is a democracy and we choose our representatives and through this, we make our own choices. Even though I am not of legal voting age, I urge those who can vote to take some action and VOTE! October 2nd!

Allan Manuel
big_boi_420[at]hotmail.com
Ketchikan, AK

About: "My name is Allan Manuel. I'm 17 years old and moved here when I was 4 from the Philippines. I attend Ketchikan High School where I am proficient in Production Technology, Culinary Arts, and Dance Committee. In community-based organizations, I am a host of KRBD 105.3 FM's Guerrilla Radio, administrator of the semi-defunct student forum Ketchikan Underground, member of KYC, BBBS, occasional KTB and TCS member, and a head of the Totem Spot Wednesday in the Saxman Tribal House."

Received September 29, 2007 - Published October 01, 2007

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