The Alabama YMCA Youth in Government media staff asked each 2018 youth gubernatorial candidate the same three questions. This is the first installment of the Q & A with 2018 gubernatorial candidates:
What is your personal mantra and why?
Claudia Hubbard: “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.” I first heard that quote a few years ago and it has stuck with me ever since. “Do good” has become my personal mantra. Even on my worst days, I try my best to share love and encouragement to the people around me.
Claudia Hubbard is a junior at Saint James School in Montgomery. Her parents are Sabrina and Bryan Hubbard.
Olivia Pride: “Always do your best, so you can’t blame yourself for anything.” This is my personal mantra because there is no worse feeling than knowing you could have done something better. When you don’t do your best and work hard in everything you do, you constantly beat yourself up and waste time, when you could move on to what the future holds. Vowing to put your all into everything you do gives you satisfaction because you go to sleep knowing you did your best and you can’t blame yourself if everything does not fall in line. It will save you from the “what ifs” of life.
Olivia Pride is a 16-year-old junior at Spain Park High School in Hoover. She is the daughter of Kimberly Pride.
Jezzia Smith: Coca Cola’s “Open happiness” mantra is an embodiment of my own. As we all know happiness is a key factor in life. We each judge our day on whether we are happy. But, what we should also realize is that no one else is in control of our happiness – only we are in control of our lives and only we have the opportunity to make our lives better. We do this by reaping what we give to others and finding the great things that exist within life’s everyday activities. So, to me this says YOU can make the day better – even if it is with something as simple as a smile. Therefore participate in the activities that make you, you; and find the happiness within because only YOU can “open happiness.”
Jezzia Smith is a 16-year-old junior at Baker High School in Mobile. She is the daughter of Kacey York and Kenny York.
Abbreviated versions of the above responses will appear in the Feb. 24, 2017, edition of TomorrowToday, the Alabama YMCA Youth in Government newspaper.
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