In third grade, senior Morgan Yurosek sent a letter and an American soldier Build-A-Bear to then President George W. Bush. Three months later, the president responded with a personal letter, signed photographs, stickers and bookmarks.

“It was the first time I felt like I could connect with the government,” Yurosek said. “It gave me the overall sense that it is the government of the people and you can have a personal connection with the most highly elected representatives because at the end of the day, they work for us. [The president’s response] sparked my interest in U.S. history and politics and began this journey that I’ve been on for a few years now.”

To recognize her political involvement, Campaigner featured Yurosek in “Rising Stars: 18 Members of America’s Next Political Generation” on Feb. 14. After spending a year speaking to dozens of student activists, Campaigner chose 18 of them to feature as political youth leaders, one of them being Yurosek.

Yurosek, co-president of the SM Young Republicans Club, grew up in a household where the news is always on and current events are frequently the topics of dinner table discussions. Her elementary and middle school U.S. history classes also sparked her interest in politics.

“At the beginning, I didn’t have a set identity in politics but merely wanted to follow current events,” Yurosek said. “The middle school years was when I began to identify myself as a conservative Republican and it came from starting to pay attention to the elections. Basically my whole political life has been under [the] Obama presidency and my analysis of his work and my family values have all gone to shape my political ideology.”

Yurosek labels herself as moderate on social issues and conservative on economic and foreign policy issues. On social issues, Yurosek is pro-life but does not oppose gay marriage. On economic issues, Yurosek supports low taxes and low government spending. On foreign policy, she desires a tougher Iran deal and a tougher attitude towards terrorism.

“I see elections impacting our economic and foreign policy standpoint,” Yurosek said. “I don’t think the president concretely can affect the way that our country views social issues. That’s something that has to evolve with the changing population and it has been doing so without the involvement of the government.”

Along with attending a Georgetown University American politics camp, Yurosek spent the summer of 2015 working at the Republican Party of Orange County as its first high school intern. During her internship, Yurosek assisted numerous republican campaigns in voter outreach, planned fundraising events and was the organization’s principal media liaison to local and national news outlets.

“At this school, people generally associate me with ‘the girl who’s super interested in politics,’ and that’s something I’d want to bring into any college or job environment,” Yurosek said. “I want to be that image of conservatism and someone who’s really interested in the political stage no matter where I go.”

Yurosek plans to pursue a law degree in college. So far she has been admitted to Texas Christian, Southern Methodist and Santa Clara University. She is still waiting to hear back from other schools including Amherst College, Washington University in St. Louis and Dartmouth College.

In college, Yurosek plans to join conservative groups and openly advocate her conservative viewpoints. She is determined to break away from the stereotypes of a “classic” Republican who decides to stays silent on the predominantly liberal college campuses.

“Though there’s a growing need for ethnic and cultural diversity [on college campuses], I feel like ideological diversity is something we need to hold on to even stronger,” Yurosek said. “Hopefully I can work on making different speech more acceptable so that it’s not just one streamline ideology. If we want to keep politics an open and free environment, then that starts with acknowledging that there’s range of different viewpoints.”

Although Yurosek is not aiming to become a career politician and believes that “the office finds you instead of you finding the office,” she is already playing a significant role in political discussion and will continue doing so regardless of what career she ends up in.