As a sophomore at Moss Point High School in Mississippi, Jeramey Anderson became interested in politics, and it's a good thing, considering that those years in high school prepped him to become Mississippi's youngest legislator, at age 22.
Anderson is a senior at Tulane University's Gulf Coast campus in Biloxi, Miss., where he studies homeland security and public relations and will have to juggle his legislative duties with his studies.
"I'm going to do what needs to be done,” he said. “The people of this district come first, and I will manage the two."
After graduating from Moss Point in 2010, Anderson attended Pearl River Community College on a soccer scholarship. At Pearl River, Anderson earned an associate degree in criminal justice.
Anderson defeated former Moss Point Mayor Aneice Liddell with nearly 61 percent of the vote on Tuesday to win the District 110 seat vacated by Billy Broomfield, the Associated Press reports.
His biggest issue to take on once in office: education.
"We focus too highly on standardized testing," he said. "We teach students to memorize the answers to specific questions and ideas, but what we don’t teach them is how is they got those answers. We need to get back to the foundation of understanding why things are what they are."
One of the biggest challenges facing Anderson once in office will be learning to navigate the mostly Republican state legislature as a freshmen Democrat. But Anderson welcomes the challenge with the support of the people and his dean at Tulane, who is going to allow Anderson to take online courses to fulfill his degree requirements.
"My goal is to bring all these concerns together and all these solutions together and sort out the best way to fix the problems we’re facing," he said. "My vote is going to be the vote of my constituents, not myself."
Read more at the Times Picayune.