It wasn’t that long ago that Jonathan Marinelli and Samad Khan walked the halls of King Philip Regional High School. Now the Class of 2012 classmates find themselves in a different sort of kinship: that of elected officials.
Both young men recently won seats in Wrentham and Plainville’s town elections, held on April 3. Marinelli, a Wrentham resident, won a three-year term on the Board of Assessors as a write-in, while Khan, a Plainville resident, ran unopposed for a three-year seat on the King Philip Regional School Committee.
They have something else in common, too: both hope to attend law school in the future. For now, though, they say this is the time to give back to the communities they grew up in.
Anecdotal evidence suggests millennials are running for office in greater numbers than ever before, and organizations like Run for Something promote public office as a way for people under age 35 to effect change, starting on a local level.
For some, running for public office can be a way to build the skills necessary for their careers.
Whatever the motivation, it can only be a positive to have youth-driven energy in town government.
Marinelli recalls attending Wrentham Planning Board meetings with his father, a local attorney, and says he developed an interest in how zoning and building requirements shape property values. Marinelli graduated from Dartmouth College in 2016 with a degree in history, and believes his liberal arts education equipped him with important critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. His day job as a number-crunching analyst for a consulting firm will also be useful in his new volunteer position.
“Working as an analyst shapes how you think about things and how data impacts other values and outcomes,” he observed.
Marinelli describes Wrentham as an idyllic yet progressive town with good schools. From scenic West Wrentham to the internationally-popular outlet mall and nearby Gillette Stadium, he feels fortunate to call the area home.
“My parents have been in this town for over thirty years. It was always in the back of my mind to get involved in this level,” Marinelli said.
His former classmate Samad Khan says this past presidential election cycle was the motivating factor for his entry into politics.
“If you really want to fight for change, there’s really no better way than actually running for office yourself,” said Khan, a 2016 graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he double-majored in political science and legal studies.
At UMass, Khan helped found a campus chapter of Project Nur, a national social justice organization that combats Islamophobia through education and awareness. Project Nur prepares the next generation of leaders to promote the co-existence of all communities.
Khan says his education at UMass and in the Plainville and King Philip schools gave him an appreciation for the public school system in Massachusetts, helping to pique his interest in the school committee seat. King Philip’s current budget problems and possible program cuts also motivated Khan to run. He wants to ensure the continued availability of Advanced Placement classes he himself took while at KP, like AP Government.
Khan, who is currently working at a law firm, believes his youth offers a different perspective for the school committee.
“Because I went through KP, I know its problems and can empathize a bit more with the students than someone thirty or forty years older than them,” he suggested.
Khan would also like to increase communication between the school committee and residents, and welcomes comments, suggestions, and questions through his email (khans@kingphilip.org).
For now, both Marinelli and Khan were non-committal when asked if they had aspirations for higher office.
Marinelli said his ultimate goal is law school, although he is aware that Scott Brown started his political career serving on the very same Board of Assessors.
Khan simply laughed and said, “My term ends in three years. Talk to me then.”
Issue Date:
May, 2017
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