After successfully registering more than 3,300 people to vote last week, the Youth Government Association hosted its kickoff event on Thursday. The recently created organization is designed to involve young people in local government. 

The majority of the night was spent listening to a series of guest speakers expressing their support for the new organization. The lineup consisted of a cast of people who all care deeply about Raleigh and the success of students.

Smedes York, a former mayor of Raleigh and owner of Cameron Village, was the first to speak. With his executive history he gave advice about leadership, saying, “a leader sets the goals.” He advised, “instead of catching people doing something wrong, catch them doing something right.”

The second speaker was Zack Medford, a community leader and owner of multiple bars in downtown Raleigh. Medford focused primarily on learning by doing. He spoke about how when he began, he knew very little about how to run a business, much less a bar. “The only way to do something is to jump off that cliff,” Medford said. 

City council member Bonner Gaylord focused on the importance of involvement in local government. “The city council has more impact on your lives than any other governmental body,” Gaylord said. He explained the importance of the city council in determining how Raleigh grows. The tremendous growth of the city at 63 people per day, a figure Gaylord quoted from the Triangle Business Journal, has prompted many new and important decisions to be made regarding infrastructure and quality of life.

The main event, however, was when the president of the Youth Government Association spoke. Michael Occhipinti, also known as Michael Valor, the CEO and founder of Average Joe Promo LLC, spoke at length on the importance of working toward your dreams. Occhipinti said that dreams are some of the most important things we have and that because one man had a dream, everything changed.

“If we start now, and build on what they created, we can do anything,” Occhipinti said. 

The Youth Government Association was intended to encourage young people to associate with city council members and business owners and to become leaders and entrepreneurs in a changing, growing world. “YGA is not [here] to change your opinions—it’s to make sure you have them.”