When Warren Seay Jr. walked across the stage at his DeSoto High School graduation he was already thinking about how he could give back to the school district.

The former high school student body president said he had major issues with declining quality of the education in his district and was determined to do something about it.

“We saw a lot of racial diversity disappear and what really bothered me when we saw that ‘white flight,’ the quality of the education began to go down and that really bothered me,” Seay said.

Seay, 20, now a SMU senior political science major, said he decided to step up and take direct action by running for a seat on the school board. Seay was the youngest person to run for the position in his hometown of DeSoto, and second youngest in Texas.

“I never thought I would be helping in this capacity,” Seay said.

In May he faced two opponents, a public school teacher and a college professor, easily young enough to be the child of both. All were vying to fill the spot of retiring former school board trustee, Don McKinley.

Seay said his youth was a major factor in the race. He said he was worried people would not take him seriously, saying they might think he was running as a school project or something.

His goal was to show the public that his perspective of a visionary who had been through the system was exactly what the board needed.

“There has never been anyone that had the student perspective, someone who has been through the system. That was what, I felt, our school district, and many across the country were missing, to help better assess what works and what doesn’t,” he said.

When he was first considering running, Seay cited many issues common with traditional candidates such as the direction of the district, falling standardized test scores and low SAT test-taking rates and scores.

He was very conflicted at first weather to make the leap into a race for public office, but made his decision after consulting a higher authority.

“I prayed about it a lot,” Seay said. “I asked for direction and it was just a gut feeling that it was the right thing to do.”

Seay said his rural upbringing played a major roll in his desire to seek change in his troubled school district.

“I grew up where everyone was dependent on your neighbor to help you out,” he said. “I just feel that once someone helps you out, you have the obligation to reach back and help them out and pull them along.”

Seay said he kept his decision to run tightly within his close personal network of family and friends. Once word spread, however, he said people began to open up when he approached the race with his fresh perspective.

The campaign kicked off when he received his first donation. A $5 donation made by a college freshman and former DeSoto graduate kicked off his grass roots campaign.

There were still many critics however. In a debate among the three candidates, Seay said that there was a lot of “blanket in your face ageism.”

He said he was asked questions directly about his lack of experience in running a business and was asked how he thought he could run the largest business in the city.

He said although it was true he had never run a business, neither had his opponents, and he felt his economics training at SMU provided him with the knowledge he would need to be successful.

With so much criticism over his age, he never let the naysayers beat him down.

“I never let them phase me, I knew people believed in what I was doing, and why I was doing it,” he said.

On the night of the election, May 9, Seay said he had a feeling of anticipation. When the results came in, he had won in a landslide, securing 73 percent of the vote. He said he “saw a community that was ready for a new voice, and change.”

Seay said since he announced his candidacy in March through campus visits, the district has seen improved test scores and higher quality ratings for several DeSoto schools.

He said he is just some proof that the youth generation has the power to make a difference.

“People underestimate the power of young people and our perspective, they often confuse experience with length of time,” he said. “As young people we have a lot to offer back to our communities, and we have an obligation to give back to our communities.”