Chase Serota, 20, a junior at the University of Pennsylvania who was a legislative intern for Mr. Lafazan in 2018, has been politically engaged since he ran for treasurer of his fourth grade class. He now heads Mr. Lafazan’s re-election campaign. As the youngest campaign manager in Nassau County, Mr. Serota dedicated his summer, as well as his weekends through the Nov. 5 election, to leading Mr. Lafazan’s internship programs.

“Young people are told that because they don’t have a vote, their voices don’t matter,” Mr. Serota said. “We are showing that the opposite is true here.”

The unpaid internship combines education, collaboration and fieldwork to give the students a sense of how local politics work. Each student is assigned to one of three teams: research and policy; communication; and social media. Students report on current events and policy positions weekly…

“Here I’m part of a team, and I feel like my stance on issues is really validated,” Lily said. “Parkland was a real wake-up call that young people were the ones that were going to have to do something to make a change,” she continued, referring to the student activism that erupted after the mass shooting in 2018 at the Florida high school. “That’s what sparked me to realize that I was the perfect age to start getting involved.”