Elliot Friar (@elliot_friar), an Emerson College journalism student down in Boston, interviewed me for the Online Observer about running for office & serving in the Maine House.

Rep. Justin Chenette, D-Saco, earned a perfect pro-education rating based on his votes during the 2013 legislative session from the Maine Education Association, a statewide education advocacy group.

"Education reform and education funding were two major priorities for me going into my first session," says Chenette. 

A number of important votes were taken including bills to increase public school funding, improve teacher evaluation rules, train school employees to recognize and address suicidal adolescents, and to require charter schools be not-for-profit. Votes against bills that aimed to harm public schools including allowing the government to take over "failing" schools were also taken into consideration for this score.

"We must continue to push for reforms to ensure students are able to compete in the global marketplace with 21st century skill sets and provide state education funding at levels mandated by Maine voters in 2004 at 55 percent."

While studying at Lyndon State College back in 2011, a course paper I wrote for a humanities class was chosen for publication in a Russian book about World War II. The paper centered on my grandfather, Jack Minthorn, who fought on the front lines, earned three Purple Hearts, and lived to tell the tale. It is important that stories like my grandfather's is told to remind us of what our brave men and women have done and continue to do today to preserve the freedoms we sometimes take for granted.