Political neophyte learns to campaign

Andrew Yee reflected on his campaign and all the things he learned about politics.

“Life is hard,” he said. “Never underestimate your opponent.”

Mostly what he learned as a first-time candidate was about promises: what you can and can’t promise, what you should do to keep your word.

Yee, a 9-year-old fourth-grader, ran in a crowded race for student body president of Maemae Elementary, a public school in Nuuanu with 700 students in grades K-5.

Yee carefully planned his campaign strategy.

“I did lots of interesting things,” he said. “I printed different Disney characters with the speech-bubble thing that said, ‘Vote for Andrew Yee.’”

Such celebrity endorsements, he decided, worked well.

Yee made it through the 10-candidate primary and began preparing his general election speech for the school assembly.

“I did a long while of thinking, of brainstorming. I thought, ‘I have to fix a problem to be elected,’” he said.

He settled on the threat of e-cigarettes to his generation and came up with a way to engage the voters. He would write a pledge and have every student on campus raise their right hand and vow never to try e-cigs. That would be a strong platform.

The day came, and in his big speech, Yee began by saying how responsible he is and how he wanted to help the school succeed.

“I didn’t really say anything specific. Just that I would do good things, like, ‘If I am elected, I will execute a ton of fun activities.”

Then, he went for the clincher.

He told the students that if they made the pledge to avoid e-cigarettes, he would get ice cream for everyone in the school. This was huge! However, the second time he said it, it came out that they’d get ice cream if they voted for him.

That was a violation of school election rules, and school counselor Matt Nakamura had to take the microphone and make a clarification.

After the controversy, the students voted, the ballots were counted. Yee lost the election.

“He took it in stride,” Nakamura said.

Yee said he was sad, but after a day or two, he decided he should make good on his promise anyway. He went to the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop in Ward Village and asked for help. “Basically, I just walked into the store and asked. I already knew the manager because I go there all the time,” Yee said.

He explained his idea of the pledge to never use e-cigarettes. Ben & Jerry’s Hawaii franchise holder Han Choong liked that initiative, so on Thursday, the last day of school, everyone at Maemae Elementary got ice cream.

“I told them to bring their most popular flavors,” Yee said. Then he wrote his pledge and led the school in reciting the words.

As Yee finished his cup of berry-flavored Ben & Jerry’s, a classmate with a chocolate-smudged smile came up to him and said, “Thanks, Andrew!” The winning candidate, president-elect Logan Lee, came to thank him as well.

Yee said he’ll probably run for office again in middle school and in high school, but he absolutely does not want a career in politics.

“No,” he said. “I’m probably going to be a scientist.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.