Kevin Settee is 23-years-old and will be a father soon. He aspires to be an educator, but for now thinks it's his responsibility to make a contribution as a school trustee in the Winnipeg School Division.
"How are we going to move forward as a younger generation if we're not taking these next steps and going into politics, going into education, going into trades be part of society,” said Settee.
20-year-old Candace Maxymowich declared her intention to run as school trustee for the Louis Riel School Division months ago.
She’s impressed to see other young people deciding to run. "I do think that's a good sign people are interested and engaged and want to be involved in politics. I think it's a very encouraging thing to see," said Maxymowich.
18-year-old Tanjit Nagra said she wants to win to make sure concerns of students today are properly addressed. She’s also running as Louis Riel School Division school trustee candidate.
"In my perspective, I just went through the school division. I graduated in June 2013 from Glenlawn Collegiate and now I think it's a perfect opportunity to bring a fresh perspective to the board and the new issues I do come across," said Nagra.
Dakota Kochie is fresh out of high school too and thinks his recent experience with the education system makes him a perfect candidate. "My incumbents right now, you know they're getting up there so may be a little removed out of the public education so I believe I can bring that refreshed revolutionized approach to how things are run in the River East Transona,” said Kochie, an 18-year-old school trustee candidate.
The young candidates acknowledge their ages could be too difficult for some voters to overlook. Some others say seeing young people running is a good way to introduce new ideas and hopefully encourages more young people to get out and vote to get out and vote.
"I think anytime you have younger people stepping forward to not only get involved i think that is something that speaks well for younger people being engaged in politics absolutely,” said Curtis Brown of Probe Research.
Brown can't say there's a growing trend of young people running for office but voting them in is very rare.
The City of Winnipeg has six school divisions with a total of 52 trustees sitting on the various boards.