High Life : A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Casting Votes for Involvement : Students: Interest and involvement follow when O.C. young people spend summer in Chinese American Political Internship Program.

With few opportunities available for young people to become politically active, it isn’t hard to understand why voter participation in the 18- to 21-year age group is less than impressive.

However, this past summer five Orange County young people cast aside their vacations--not their votes--to take part in the Chinese American Political Internship Program.

“I used to think that most politicians were overpaid, dishonest and insincere,” said Ann Huang, a senior at El Toro High School and one of the participants. “I also thought that the system didn’t care and people couldn’t voice their opinions or have truly effective input.”

Brian Louie said he also didn’t think much of politics before he began his internship. However, the recent graduate from Sonora High in Fullerton now feels a “little more positive toward politics” after working with Matt Fong, a member of the State Board of Equalization.

“I realized that politics isn’t just for the elite and aloof,” Louie said. “Anyone can get involved if they’re really interested. By building coalitions like Matt Fong has, you can gain a lot of (political) influence.”

The internship program was begun last year by Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo in an effort to help the Chinese-American community become more involved with politics.

This year, with the help of Willie Chen, chairman of the Chinese American Assn. of Southern California, the program was expanded to include Orange County.

“This year we got a lot of response from the community,” Chen said. “The first year was a tryout; this year it was more mature. The support from Irvine and our three corporate sponsors (Anheuser-Busch, Burger King and Met Life Insurance) made a big difference.”

University High graduate Winston Chang, who worked at the Orange County Administrative office, said when he first applied for the program he hardly knew what to expect.

“I didn’t know how many people were applying, what types of people would apply, what benefits I might get from the program or what was expected of me,” said Chang, who is a senior at USC this fall.

Another University High graduate, Celena Chen, said her reason to apply for the internship mirrored Woo’s reason to start the program. She said: “One of my main concerns is my realization that Asian Americans, as a group, are truly under-represented in the political world as well as in other professional groups.

“I want the accomplishments of today’s Chinese communities to be recognized and represented in society.”

After she began working at Assemblyman Tom Umberg’s (D-Garden Grove) office, she learned that being a liaison for the Chinese-American community wasn’t all her job entailed.

“When I first heard of the program, I thought the focus would be more Asian-American issues and representing the Asian-American community,” said Chen, who is attending UCLA. “But I discovered that it’s more seeing the entire political process, seeing legislation being passed. I realize it’s given me a closer perspective of the political system.”

Louie, who is attending Stanford, said, “I’ve learned a lot about what makes politics run, the personal contact with the constituents, the personal outreach--generally and what grass-roots politics is all about.”

Steven Huang, a University High graduate who will be a sophomore at Harvard, also had a lot of contact with constituents when he worked from Assemblyman Nolan Frizelle’s (R-Fountain Valley) office.

“A lot of constituents are very angry about the economy,” Huang said. “One man called and said he was very mad at everybody. At the time I lent a sympathetic ear, but when they get irrationally impassioned, you have to learn how to separate the reason from passion.”

Ann Huang said: “I was really amazed at how many people call in the office and make suggestions. Once this guy faxed us a 40-page report about the rain forest. And all message are always sent up to Sacramento so that Sen. (Frank) Hill ((R-Whittier)) can read them and see what the people really want.”

After working six weeks in Hill’s office, Ann Huang says she sees “that there are a lot of politicians who do care and work hard to represent their districts.”

“Before I didn’t realize how hard politicians work,” she said. “For example, I wasn’t aware that they’re up in Sacramento four days a week.

“Even though I see how much time and effort it takes, having this experience has definitely made me more interested in politics.”