This election season, Harmony High School senior, Rafiul Shefar, is learning all about the inner workings of a political campaign while advocating for ideas he believes in through his internship at the Thomas Horrocks campaign.
“I am currently interning for the campaign of Thomas Horrocks who is running for the 62nd district of Indiana’s House of Representatives. We are trying to break the Republican supermajority in the state house currently, and make it so other parties have some voice in the state house,” Shefar said. “Thomas Horrocks wants to fight systemic injustices in Indiana which have a big effect on people in poverty, people of color, women, and LGBTQIA people. He wants to make it so they are protected by the law and not targeted by it, and I want to help him do it!”
Shefar’s internship duties include tasks such as putting up flyers around the community, writing postcards to encourage people to vote, or entering data on spreadsheets. Shefar said he hopes to gain some general work experience and learn what it is like to work in an office.
Shefar said he also hopes this internship will prepare him for his senior project. All Harmony School seniors complete a senior project in the spring semester that they report on just before graduation in May. For Shefar’s project, he hopes to intern for U.S. Congressman Andre Carson in Indianapolis, where his goal is to learn even more about the complicated system of representative democracy in the United States, including the contrasts between state and federal government functions, as Congressman Carson serves in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Originally from Bangladesh, Shefar has a unique perspective on life outside the United States and the impact of government. In addition to the work experience he hopes to gain from his internship, he is also passionate about the stated values of the Horrocks campaign.
“As someone who was born in a brutal dictatorship and has seen what happens when the government becomes oppressive, I hold the value of Individual liberty very dearly! When I went back to Bangladesh after spending 5 years in Malaysia I was 14. I was old enough (then) to understand things around me, and things around me weren’t looking good. The education system was completely corrupted by the education ministry, and it was based on memorization,” Shefar said.
“I found Harmony School at that time through a website. The democratic values and the project-based learning intrigued me, and I wanted to be a part of this community. With the help of the school I came to the United States where I was allowed freedom of expression, and access to works of literature that would change my values and views on life forever! So the reason I am doing this is that I want Harmony School and the United States to stay the beacon of hope it was for me for many generations to come.”
Shefar’s ambitions for positive change won’t conclude with this election or his senior project completion. After graduating from Harmony, Shefar plans to study economics and help solve problems with the current economic system, such as exploitation of labor, too much power in the hands of corporations, and the capitalization of medical treatments.