<\/a>Chelsey Jones
\n<\/strong>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

Two of Jackson State University\u2019s very own are running for Ward 5 and Ward 6 Jackson City Council seats.<\/p>\n

LaCurtis Powell, a sophomore criminal justice major, made the decision to run for the vacant Ward 6 city council position after the former seat holder, Tyrone Hendrix, decided not to campaign for reelection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m running for this position because I have what it takes to bring my community up and make sure their voices are heard each and every day,\u201d said Powell. \u201cI also want to improve the infrastructure and the education system in Jackson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chris Oliphant, a junior entrepreneurship major, decided to run for Ward 5 councilman after seeing a need for change.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the years, I have seen Jackson starting to look rotten, as if we\u2019re dry of love for the city,\u201d Oliphant said. \u201cI will not allow my city to perish any longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Powell is in competition with Aaron Banks, Jonathan Cottrell, Shabaka Harrison, Ernest Slaughter and others for the position. Out of all the candidates, Powell is the youngest. He believes his age puts him at an advantage over his competitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that I will appeal to the younger people because they see a young African-American who is trying to advocate for his community,\u201d Powell said. \u201cI can relate to young adults and will make sure education is their first priority and that there are programs and community centers places throughout the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliphant, who is the youngest candidate for the Ward 5 councilman position, does not believe his age affects his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cA will to change the view of the city holds no age,\u201d said Oliphant.<\/p>\n

Powell believes that it is important that any college student wanting to run for a government position while still in college should stay true to themselves and never forget who you they are as a person.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t let anyone say you can\u2019t do it because of your age,\u201d said Powell.<\/p>\n

Oliphant advised any college student wanting to run for office to not allow naysayers to determine what they do.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve that you can make the change and illustrate the change,\u201d said Oliphant said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chelsey Jones Staff Writer Two of Jackson State University\u2019s very own are running for Ward 5 and Ward 6 Jackson City Council seats. LaCurtis Powell,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9184"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9184\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}