Neal Tandon might still be in high school, but his sights are set on higher office.
The 17-year-old Kenner resident has served as secretary-general of YMCA Louisiana’s Model United Nations, a mock U.N. proceeding meant to help students understand global issues. He is also a member of Louisiana’s Legislative Youth Advisory Council, which lets high schoolers propose state laws. Last year, Tandon and his council peers worked with Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, to develop a bill to restrict advertising to minors on social media. The bill passed unanimously and was signed into law.
Recently, Tandon learned that he’d been chosen for his biggest opportunity yet: a prestigious leadership program in the nation’s capital.
He and another student, Emily Nevils of Winnfield, will represent Louisiana in the United States Senate Youth Program, which sends 104 high schoolers from across the country to meet the nation’s leaders in Washington, D.C., and awards them a $10,000 college scholarship.
A senior at Haynes Academy for Advanced Studies, a selective public school in Jefferson Parish, Tandon also swims, dances and does theater. But his true passion is public service, which he said can bring communities together and give you “a sense of purpose in the world.” He said he hopes to one day run for office to craft policies to improve people’s lives.
The Times-Picayune | The Advocate recently spoke to Tandon about his early accomplishments and his big plans for the future. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
When you head to Washington for the U.S. Senate Youth Program, what do you hope to get out of it?
Interacting directly with the government is something very cool to me. Meeting different public officials, picking their minds about different policies, getting to ask meaningful questions.
Also hearing from other youth leaders from across the country. They usually pick a very diverse group of students who range in perspectives, beliefs, ideologies. I really want to be part of that community, understand what other people think and what I can take away from that.
One of my biggest goals in life is to be someone who’s actually working in government. I want to be a representative or a senator, creating legislation and representing a constituency.
A lot of people today are distrustful of the government and believe it’s more a problem than a solution. What makes you want to be part of it?
If I didn’t have faith in democracy or government, then I wouldn’t be doing this. But I want to be part of a government that actually works.
My goal is to affect that change, where I’m actually working to make sure our government is more trustworthy for constituents. It’s worth fighting for.
Even with political alienation, a lot of good happens in government, especially at a local level. That’s where policy is most effective.
Tell me about working on the new state law to protect minors on social media.
(The Legislative Youth Advisory Council) really wanted to address the teen mental health crisis. We kind of came to the reasoning that social media and its targeted advertising proved to be detrimental to teen (mental health).
The bill did two things: Basically it banned specific data collection on minors. And it banned selling that to third parties in order to limit that advertising to students.
The bill passed unanimously, both in the House and Senate, which was incredible to see. Our entire council was very proud of it.
Did the bill have any personal significance to you?
I really talked about my own mental health struggles with social media.
I usually found myself “doomscrolling” through Instagram reels or TikTok a lot. In that process, I saw very harmful advertisements that made me question my own worth, my own body, my own image. And it was very detrimental to me, especially as a young teenager, feeling like I wasn’t enough.
What did you take away from the lawmaking process?
One of the main experiences I had was when I testified for the bill. Sen. Beth Mizell was the chair of the committee, and we had a conversation while I was testifying about the importance of actually taking in youth perspectives, especially on issues like these.
They obviously care about our perspectives and beliefs — it’s just the methodology of getting there.
Also, we sat in an amendment discussion with Rep. Kim Carver, talking about proposed amendments from Meta (the tech company that owns Facebook and Instagram). It’s important to negotiate, to tailor legislation to both sides.
Government actually has the ability to be effective. It’s just about having those hard discussions.
What are your plans for the future?
The plan is to first major in political science in college and maybe go to law school.
My main goal in life is to really use my public service to the benefit of the community, making sure that those who are generally underrepresented have the ability to be represented.
However long it takes, that’s what I want to do with my life: to eventually get to that level where I’m actually making a change through legislation.
Do you feel like you’ve already started to make an impact?
A lot of the youth right now feel very bogged down by a lot of issues, by the state of the world. It’s important to have hope and to make that change as you go.
You’re never too young or too old to do something. There’s never a point in your life where it’s like, now you can start. You can make the change you need right now.
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