California State Assembly member Mike Fong visited Arcadia High School (AHS) for a question-and-answer session with students on March 20th.

Fong began the session by introducing himself and his job. He first discussed the responsibilities of working in his field, such as voting on bills, his background, and some of the challenges he faced while doing his job. 

“I always try to figure out ways to help people and work with them. Once in Chinatown, there was a proposal to redesign the streets, which a lot of small business owners didn’t like. There was a lot of reaction in the town district, and a lady came up and yelled at me about it. You really have to be willing to take a lot of criticism,” he said.

Additionally, Fong talked about the importance of hard work. He remembered working 60 to 70 hours a week while aiming towards easier college access and college affordability.

He reminded students, “You might not see results the first time, the second time, the third time, you might even need 10,000 hours of skills before you see any tangible results.”

Fong also talked about the opportunities he was given, like the chance to work in local government, which helped him learn many skills, such as better communication. 

Moreover, Fong encouraged students to keep an open mind. As a child, Fong’s parents wanted him to be a doctor, so Fong studied medicine and biology, even though he didn’t enjoy it. He pivoted to psychobiology, thinking he might take on a medical job, but found that he was much more interested in government, democracy, and serving people. Fong ended up with a job at the Los Angeles Civic Center and was given many more opportunities after that. 

For students trying to get involved, Fong suggested doing internships in college.

“You could also even attend city council and local commission meetings. Go and be involved in city meetings,” Fong said. 

Fong supported using one’s voice to advocate for things that one likes or dislikes. 

“Your voices do matter, and if someone tells you that they don’t, they’re wrong, ” he said.

Fong recommended his program, the Young Leaders Program (YLP), where students meet with 25 to 50 other high schoolers to share concerns they have about the civic process, exercise problem-solving skills, and make connections.

Fong reiterated that there were many ways for students to get involved with the government, including online tools such as social media (Instagram, TikTok, etc.) and emailing members of the government and city regarding their thoughts and opinions on new policies and bills.  

“You could simply call the office and tell them, ‘I like this bill, or I don’t like this bill,’” he suggested. 

Fong heavily advocated for getting young people engaged with current events and lawmaking and stated it was necessary for the democratic process. 

“It’s a challenging time in the democracy right now, but the young people give me hope,” he said.