At 27 years old, Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois is the youngest member of Congress and the first to be born in the 1980s. Time conducted an interview with him last week, which made it abundantly clear that he is not fazed by his age.
In fact, when he was asked whether he thought of himself as part of Gen Y, he said he hadn't until he was informed he'd be the first Gen Y Congressman. He used that to his advantage, starting a political action committee called the GOP Generation Y Fund.
As I was reading, it made me think about why the publication was asking these questions in the first place. It's not like he's 17 and fresh out of high school with no political background whatsoever. He just happened to climb the ladder early in life—according to the article, Schock won a seat on Peoria's school board at 19, rose to board president at 23 and then won two terms in the Illinois state legislature.
Time asked him whether it is strange to be the boss of people older than him. His response demonstrated his maturity:
"I figure when they apply to work for me, they know who they're applying to work for, so if they had a problem with the age thing, they probably would not have sought employment with me," he said. "What I have found with my colleagues is, if you're respectful with one another and you have a level of professionalism, it's reciprocated."For the full interview,
