Nicholas Fortin is a seventh grader at Discovery Charter School and was born and raised in the region. He’s best recognized for his writing in the school newspaper, and he also writes for nwindianalife.com as a Ideas in Motion Media #1StudentNWI!
Fortin is a journalist for the school and covers mostly political events.
“I’ve written articles on the county council after the election. Then I wrote the article on Congressman Pete Visclosky, and now I’m writing about the Peoples Summit,” he said.
He mentioned that he loves writing political articles and that political coverage is all he ever wants to cover.
“I thought it would be interesting to talk about what is going on, and it is fun.”
He was inspired to start writing political articles by none other than Bernie Sanders during the 2016 election.
“He [Bernie Sanders] talked about full heath care, and free college tuition. He talked about getting more young people involved, and I think that just got me excited!” he said. Writing was a way to express his own political views wince he was not able to vote in the 2016 election.
Fortin basically lives, breaths, and sleeps political news, whether it is local or national.
“What I do in my free time is, I watch the news, I read what’s going on, and I write articles, things like that!”
For a seventh grader, he has great ambitions once he becomes an adult, he claimed. Although he doesn’t quite know which college he wants to attend yet, he does know that he wants his degree to be in political science.
His big plan is to run for a political office, and help others campaign.
“I think I will run for County Council Member or County Commissioner,” he said. These positions are the best local seats to be in to help his community, he explained.
And then, with experience under his belt, he plans on running for bigger and better.
“Yes, I think I will eventually run for the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate.”
Fortin has already started his own political career. He attended the Peoples Summit in San Francisco, where he met Steven Jaffe and is now helping his campaign. That is the Us house of Representatives, Steven Jaffe…
Fortin goes into each interview ready and excited to learn more about that person and his or her seat in politics. He contacts the interviewee, asks the good questions that will get him the awesome quotes and then heads back to write the article. After the article is approved he is able to send it out so that his friends, family, and for those written for nwindianalife.com, the entire Northwest Indiana community can read and enjoy it.
Some people may be intimidated to ask people their opinions, especially when you’re in middle school and that person is a councilman or state senator, yet Fortin’s confidence and passion for his work shows others how easy it is. His initiative and strong will shows that people his age do care about what is going on around them.
He’s had a good deal of success in contacting political officials having already interviewed: Colin Murphy out of Portage, Sylvia Graham, Councilwoman at Large, Tom McDermott, Mayor of Hammond, and Pete Visclosky, House of Representatives of the First District.
When it comes to keeping tabs on the political events throughout the region, Fortin is right there with pen, paper, and a smile.
“I go to a lot of political events, and on Memorial Day I walked in a parade with Pete Visclosky. I also walked in the Peoples March,” he said
A couple of weeks ago, Fortin went to a training event at the Union Hall in Chesterton. He learned the basic steps of how to run for office, including knocking on doors, campaigning, and phone banking.
Keep eye out for the name, Nicholas Fortin, it may be on a ballot in the next few years!