Whiz Kid - Meet Jesse Abruzzi

Jesse Abruzzi seems to have it all figured out.

Political science studies in college through the Army ROTC program, followed by four years of active duty with the Army and then four years as a reservist.

After all of that, at some point, Jesse, 17, of Horsham, a rising senior at , hopes to “run for some public office one day.”

Talk about life planning.

And Jesse, a goalie for the Hatters boys lacrosse team, seems to have gotten a jump-start on his future.

While his peers were relaxing this summer, Jesse spent his break from school interning at the North Wales district office of  Tasked with carrying out the office’s “grunt work” in terms of researching legislative support for various bills and answering constituent phone calls, Jesse said the six hours per week internship has taught him invaluable skills that “correlate” with being a politician.

On even the hottest of days, Jesse, in his khaki pants and long-sleeve black dress shirt, canvassed the community, distributing fliers to the homes of Stephens’ constituents.

“It strengthens my want to go into politics,” Jesse said. “It’s made me more interested.”

Stepehens’ District Office Manager, Zach Shamberg, said Jesse was a big help with the office’s door-to-door initiative.

“Everybody’s happy to do it,” Shamberg said of Jesse and the other interns.

Shamberg said he was pleasantly surprised with the high school talent pool, Jesse included, that worked alongside college students this summer.

“I don’t want to overwhelm the kids that are in high school,” Shamberg said, adding that all have helped with regular constituent, township, and state issues. “They exceeded our expectations.”

Judging from his commitment to college, country and, eventually, community, Jesse Abruzzi is sure to be a name synonymous with various levels of service. Stephens certainly hopes so.

“Hopefully this is just the beginning of a lifetime of civic involvement,” Stephens said.