Student politician juggles
three majors and civic duty
University student Randy
Derrick leads a busy life
of school and politics as he
tries to make a difference
By Nika Carlson
_ News Reporter
Imagine that this is your schedule:
Monday morning, you wake up early
and drive 20 minutes from your
house in the Southwest Hills to spend
8:30 a.m. to 10 a m. in the College
Democrats office.
You go to class, but leave early to
make it to a meeting of the Lane
County Economic Development
Standing Committee. You barely have
time to grab lunch before heading to
work as the Management Informa
tion System manager at the Lane
County Drug Court.
After work, you have a night meet
ing with various Democrats, then
head home to do homework for
your three majors: business adminis
tration, political science and eco
nomics. If you are lucky, you've got a
little time with your cat before you
crash out at midnight.
Repeat Tuesday through Friday, add
f work and more meetings Saturday
and church Sunday.
Your name is Randy Derrick, you
■* just turned 22 and, by the way, you
nearly got appointed to the Oregon
House of Representatives. You are a
student politician.
Derrick doesn't call himself that.
He said he is a civil servant.
He also, however, has six different
commitments for the Democratic Par
ty and was the founding member of
the Young Democrats of Lane Coun
ty Caucus. He sits on several local ad
visory committees and was just ap
pointed to another that reports to the
chief justice of the Oregon Supreme
Court. He also is an economic devel
opment assistant for the Lane Coun
ty Community and Economic Devel
opment office.
Derrick has interned for two local
legislators, including spending four
months as head intern in Washing
ton, D.C., for Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.
Not only was the nation's capital awe
inspiring, it afforded him the oppor
tunity to meet a host of famous politi
cians, he said.
-- "Jesse Helms is so funny," Derrick
said.
He sits on his church's board of
trustees, and he is Lane County
Commissioner Peter Sorenson's
campaign manager.
"I have free time, but not a lot of it,"
Derrick said. "It's jealously guarded."
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University student Randy Derrick tells Lane
County Commissioners on Jan. 16 why
should be selected to represent District 8
in the Oregon Legislature.
Despite his busy schedule, Derrick
said he doesn't feel like he is working.
"When you care deeply about what
you do, when you're passionate about
it, it's not a burden," he said. "1 love
everything that 1 do."
His dedication has impressed his
colleagues, most of whom are at least
20 years his senior.
When Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski
appointed former Rep. Floyd Prozans
ki, D-Eugene, to the state senate, for
instance, the Democratic Party of
Lane County chose Derrick as their
second of three nominees to send be
fore Lane County Commissioners,
who made the final selection for the
vacant seat.
"He's done a tremendous amount
of good already, and we're really
proud of his service," Sorenson said.
Derrick wasn't selected, but he said
the honor of the nomination was
enough for him. The night he found
out he was nominated, he gave up cel
ebrating his birthday to work on his
speech, he said.
Derrick's foray into politics began
in eighth grade when he started ask
ing his homeroom teacher questions
about the political process, he said.
He did a lot of reading about gover
nance that year and volunteered on
Springfield Democratic Rep. Peter De
Fazio's campaign with his equally in
volved twin brother, Riley Derrick.
While he continued volunteering in
campaigns in high school, he didn't
become involved with city politics un
til his senior year.
He said a community service re
quirement at Churchill High School
led him to the Lane County Drug
Court four-and-a-half years ago,
where he began with data entry. Since
then, he's written a manual on the
court's old computer system, led train
ing throughout the state and helped
develop a new state-wide manage
ment information system.
"He's amazing," Lane County
Drug Court Administrator Tali McK
ay said. "He just goes after informa
tion, figures things out and does it.
He's pretty awesome."
McKay added that his age has rarely
been a problem.
"He gets along with absolutely
everybody," she said.
Derrick, often seen in a tucked-in,
button-down shirt, speaks with the
confidence of someone secure in his
opinions, using a quick but measured
cadence and the rich vocabulary of a
politician. His speech is peppered
with acronyms that refer to the pro
grams he's involved in.
He may seem older than his years,
but he is the youngest person on all
the committees he sits on, he said.
"1 think that my sitting on those
committees brings a perspective that
wasn't there," he saicl. "There are
times when your ideas don't get taken
as seriously, but it's not as big of chal
lenge anymore because once you get
in there and establish yourself, age is
not really a factor."
Derrick is a self-described "policy
wonk," but he said not all of his
friendships and conversations revolve
around politics.
Senior Daniel Bayley, a friend of
Derrick's, said they met in their busi
ness Freshman Interest Group.
"He's always had a different level
of knowledge than his classmates
and has always been a step ahead of
us," he said. "He was reading books
in addition to the ones in class just
to get that additional information
and perspective."
Derrick said he isn't bothered that
most people his age aren't as intensely
involved in politics as he is, though he
said he keeps voter registration cards
in his car in case he runs across some
one who is not a registered voter.
"That bothers me," he said. "A lot of
students don't take the time to under
stand what the impact of not voting is."
However, nobody should be forced
to do anything they don't want to do,
he added.
So why does he do it?
"It's pretty much the old story
about wanting to make change, want
ing to make things better than you
found them," he said. "I totally know
I'm making a difference."
Contact the city/state politics reporter
at nikacarlson@dailyemerald.com.
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