Oak Park High student shows passion for politics




POLITICALLY CHARGED—Alex Goldbeck, a junior at Oak Park High School, greets Gov. Gavin Newsom at the Youth and Government civic engagement program last year in Sacramento.

POLITICALLY CHARGED—Alex Goldbeck, a junior at Oak Park High School, greets Gov. Gavin Newsom at the Youth and Government civic engagement program last year in Sacramento.

Oak Park High School junior Alex Goldbeck was determined to be your next governor.

Despite the Woolsey fire threatening her neighborhood, Alex found a way to attend the YMCA’s Youth and Government conference in Fresno last November so she could campaign to be the program’s youth governor for the upcoming session.

“When I ran for youth governor at the November conference, I went the day after the fires started,” Alex said. “I did not know the status of my house or many of my peers’ homes. It was a really scary time for me, and taking the step to go away from my parents in such a scary time (was hard). It was the first time my delegation had not gone to that conference, and I ended up going up with another delegation to make sure I could still run.”

Youth and Government is a statewide civic engagement program offered through the Yarrow Family YMCA in Westlake Village. The program models California’s government operations.

While she didn’t win, Alex was one of six out of 25 delegates to make it past the primaries.

Alex made it to the short list of candidates based on her representation of the Poppy Party, one of six political parties used in the program. The Poppy Party promotes affordable housing and healthcare, protection against sexual assault, environmental protection and a woman’s right to safe abortions.

“The Poppy Party is unique to the YMCA Youth and Government programs,” Alex said. “We have six parties as part of a program area called Issues and Activism: the Avocado, Trout, Redwood, Poppy, Gold and the Grizzly Party. Delegates take an ideological test to place them in a political party that aligns the most with their views. It has nothing to do with the actual national political parties.”

Alex has been active in the Youth and Government program for three years, and although she didn’t win the governorship, she will keep busy this year with a variety of projects for the Yarrow YMCA delegation.

Andy Goldbeck, Alex’s father, said his daughter will be busy this summer with the program despite not winning the governorship.

“It opened all kinds of opportunities,” he said. “She is the chief of staff for the newly elected youth governor until spring 2020 (and) is on the board of directors.”

Alex said she’s excited that she was selected to represent California at the YMCA Youth Conference on National Affairs next month in North Carolina and be part of the California delegation heading to London for the YMCA’s 175th anniversary conference in August.

“I was also chosen as my delegation president and to be a youth board member on the board of directors for the state of California YMCA,” she said.

She considers herself a political activist and is focusing on teen issues.

“The main issue is the fact we as teens cannot vote, yet so many laws are passed that directly affect us, especially concerning gun violence,” she said.

Alex participated in Model United Nations at Medea Creek Middle School for three years before joining the high school Youth and Government group.

The election process in the Y&G program mimics a real gubernatorial run, Alex said. The year’s first Youth and Government Conference in November was similar to primary elections.

“For me, there were three other candidates (for youth governor) in my party, and I was voted as the nomination,” Alex said. “Going into that conference, there was a total of 25 delegates running for the position, and at the end there were six delegates.”

At the program’s second conference in January, the playing field was narrowed from six to three.

“I campaigned to all 3,500 delegates and talked in front of them but, sadly, did not make it past that round,” Alex said.

She attended the final conference in Sacramento over President’s Day weekend, when the youth governor was elected. The honor went to Aidan Blain of Santa Monica High School, who will serve as governor for the six-month Youth and Government program beginning in September.

Alex described the various program areas in Youth and Government.

There are legislative houses, the Senate and Assembly, where bills are proposed, as well as a board of education and EPA, which allow the delegates to debate issues important to those groups and come up with solutions.

In the midst of keeping up with her political responsibilities in the coming school year, Alex said, she will serve as the co-editorin chief of The Talon, Oak Park High’s newspaper. She will also participate in mock trial.

“If you do not find me in one of these programs, I am either studying or trying to get a little amount of sleep,” she joked.

After high school, Alex plans on studying international relations and expects to run for president one day.