At the University of Oregon Fall Street Faire, Alex Aghdaei manned the booth for the Democratic Party of Lane County along with other members of DPLC. “We’re here to tell people about a little-known politician from California named Kamala Harris,” Aghdaei jokes. 

For the three days the fair was open, Aghdaei spent 12 hours a day, from setup to shutdown, providing information on Democratic candidates, both local and federal, and encouraging people to vote and help campaign. Most 19-year-olds wouldn’t spend 12 hours at a booth trying to convince their peers to learn more about Harris or Rep. Val Hoyle; but then again, Aghdaei’s level of activism is rare, even those well into adulthood. 

A student approached the booth and smiled at Aghdaei. “I talked to you yesterday!” He remembered her and explained to her how she could get involved with the upcoming election.

Far from delving into the they’re-all-bad nihilism that many young people subscribe to, Aghdaei is acutely aware that elections matter and how much is at stake. “We now are having a growing group of people that have no values, have no morals and shift the goal post constantly in what they believe and what they’re willing to fight,” Aghdaei says. “And that will keep us from ever reaching a consensus on anything, because being a contrarian is not a belief system that you can go out and propose policy and say, ‘We have to do something,’ and have a conversation.”

A person walks the booth, shouting “Go Trump.” Aghdaei shrugs his shoulders, unperturbed.

When not engaging with approachers at the booth, Aghdaei enjoyed deep-fried Oreos, garlic fries and macaroni. He pointed out cute dogs, talked about his favorite movie — “Pulp Fiction”  — and many people who walked by waved at him — he was president of the now-defunct Oregon Student Association, an organization that aimed to represent and advance the shared interest of Oregon college and university students,  and is a common fixture at the Erb Memorial Union, usually manning a booth or walking around and asking people if they’re registered to vote. 

Gov. Tina Kotek, during a speech on the University of Oregon campus before the 2022 midterms, even gave a nod to the then-17-year-old Aghdaei for his volunteer work for her campaign as well as registering people to vote, despite not being old enough to vote himself. And four weeks ago he helped register 150 students to vote.

Aghdaei has had a myriad of achievements: graduating from high school early, being an emerging fellow with the Roosevelt Network, an organization dedicated to supporting emerging progressive policymakers, an organizing fellow for Stand for Children, a group fighting for equity and racial justice in education, and was a delegate at this year’s Democratic National Convention where he cast a vote to nominate Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. 

“It was the most incredible experience of my life,” Aghdaei says of attending the DNC.

Aghdaei doesn’t hail from a particularly political family. His father is an Iranian immigrant who fled the Iranian Revolution and his mother grew up as one of eight children in a middle-class home in the U.S. “It’s a very new thing for my family,” Aghdaei says of his political engagement. “But they’ve been supportive of my journey.”

He says, “I would say my political awakening was when I was in high school during COVID-19, and it became blatantly obvious to me that my teachers were completely unsupported by the district, by the state.”

He became involved with a group called Oregon Student Voice and testified over Zoom to the Oregon State Legislature in support of House Bill 2001 — a bill authorizing school districts to retain educators based on diversity and cultural merits.

Aghdaei is quick to admit how lucky he is to have people who have supported and encouraged him, especially since many people his age haven’t been given the same investment. “I see all the time, people who are my age or older, who have never had someone in their life be like, ‘Speak up, your voice matters. Like, here’s the microphone,”  Aghdaei says. 

One of the mentors who inspired his political journey has been Joy Marshall. Marshall, who worked as a director for Stand for Children for over 20 years, says “I’ve never met anybody like him at his age. He may be a once-in-a-generation person.”

Marshall says that Aghdaei’s greatest strength is that he asks: “‘What can I learn from this situation?’” She adds, “I don’t know if that’s even conscious, but that is his MO.”

Marshall says, “I really hope he runs for office.”.

Aghdaei says he is unsure if he’ll ever run for office. He’s considered it, saying that it wouldn’t be so much his decision as it would be him being chosen to run, but he thinks he’d be just as happy being a lobbyist for education-related causes. “That’s my dream,” said Aghdaei

But Marshall says that we can’t rely on the Aghdaeis of the world to solve all of our problems. “People should get more involved and learn more, and it’ll seem less foreign,” said Marshall. “He’s brilliant, but even us non-brilliant people can do it, and should do it.”

Though being engaged is a core part of who he is, it isn’t always easy for him. “It can be alienating to put as much of my life into this as I do,” Aghdaei admitted. But though sometimes alienating, he’s not alone. 

“I could literally sit here and list like, 100 [students] that have similarly interesting stories or levels of involvement,” he says.