USC teen’s passion about politics inspires young voters
With politics in southwestern Pennsylvania on the national stage in recent weeks, an Upper St. Clair teenager is urging his contemporaries to be politically engaged.
After graduating from Upper St. Clair High School in 2017, Justin Corbin decided to take a gap year before college.
In that time, the 18-year-old has started his own political consulting firm with Michael Hanna, also 18, called Jumpstart Strategies.
“I want to get teens involved,” Corbin said. “Walking the halls, kids will complain about everything going on, but they don’t actually care to change anything that’s going on. I was tired of the complaining; I wanted to do something. That’s why our target was initially getting teens involved in the political process.”
After graduating high school last year, Corbin had wanted to work during the summer and fall to make money and then possibly intern for Tim Murphy, the former congressman who resigned in disgrace last October.
“As you can imagine, that didn’t work out,” Corbin said, referencing Murphy’s resignation. “I had to find something to do, so I wouldn’t be just playing video games in my basement all day. I wanted to do something productive with that time.”
Corbin said he understands that politics isn’t everybody’s passion. He still believes, though, that it’s crucial for teens to be involved in the process.
“It’s not just getting teens to vote,” Corbin said. “Informed voting is what we’re targeting. Teens should know what they’re voting for, why they’re voting for it. All of our ideas get challenged, but it’s just giving it a shot. We’re young, and we’re still learning, but that’s why we should do it – to learn about the people who really do influence our everyday lives.”
Corbin said Jumpstart Strategies has a “three-pronged approach.” The first is by going into the community to encourage young people to be involved and to also volunteer with the firm if they’re interested.
On Feb. 7, Jumpstart Strategies hosted a “Pizza and Politics” event at Pizzaz Italian Restaurant in McMurray to offer teens the ability to register to vote or get an absentee ballot for upcoming elections.
The second and third tenets of Jumpstart Strategies is working for political candidates.
One way Corbin thinks Jumpstart can help candidates is with social media.
“It does make me mad when I see a post by someone who is 65 years old running someone’s (social media) that just doesn’t relate,” Corbin said. “It doesn’t make sense honestly why you have someone who is so much older than the people who use the platforms. … Instead of having someone who doesn’t actually understand those, have the kids who do.”
The other way Jumpstart works for political candidates is getting them on the ballot through petitioning.
“We want to get these guys on the ballot so they can start campaigning and getting their message out,” Corbin said. “The one thing we do stress to people when we are getting petitions signed that is signing a petition is not an endorsement for that person. It just gives them a shot to run…It just gives them that chance to put their names out there and actually start getting their message heard.”
While Corbin is a registered Republican, he said it’s not about partisanship.
“This isn’t about Republican or Democrat,” he said. “This is about getting teens involved in politics.”
Corbin said it’s important for young people to understand the amount of influence politicians have on their lives.
“There’s so much that goes on around us that influences us in ways we don’t even understand,” Corbin said. “Walking through the halls in schools, people disagree about so many things, and they’re not little things either, they’re big things. Just to learn more about those things that affect each of us every day. Getting into these things that really do affect us rather than accepting them like many do.”
Corbin will attend Grove City College in the fall, while Hanna, who hails from Peters Township, is choosing between Penn State or American University.
Visit jumpstartstrategies.org for more information. For the May 15 primary election, April 16 is the last day to register to vote and May 11 is the last day to submit an absentee ballot.