This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Carson Rolleri.

Nicholas Hladick said some were skeptical when he announced his plans to run for a seat on his Montgomery Township school board of education.

With 1,765 votes, the freshman placed first out of five candidates vying for three spots on the board. He said he received plenty of support from his friends, with 119 votes from mail-in ballots.

“My parents thought I was a little crazy thinking I could come back and forth from D.C. to Montgomery,” said Hladick, an economics major. “It wasn’t until the end of the campaign when everyone kind of got on board.”

Hladick plans to return to New Jersey twice a month to sit in on business and workshop meetings and telecommute once a week to committee meetings for his three-year term.

An active participant in his local government, Hladick had previously worked with the school board before running for the position, he helped to pick the district’s new superintendent and filmed past board meetings to increase transparency between the school board and the public.

After regularly attending and filming the meetings, Hladick became frustrated with the lack of public input during the meetings, which sparked his pursuit for a seat.

Hladick said his campaign was informal, mostly relying on small donations to make signs, craft flyers and spread word through social networks, his church community and canvassing.

Some community members were enthusiastic to have the fresh perspective of 18-year-old Hladick on the board.

“One woman that I met while posting flyers commented on how excited she was to have someone so young get involved,” Hladick said. “She thought change was needed just because parents are elected and do what is best for their individual child and progress isn’t made. She said that people who went through the school sometimes are the best to govern it.”

He said he hopes to bring both parents and students for teacher evaluations, create committees that involve students and parents and introduce an internship or service hours program for credit.

“Education should start and end at the local level,” said Hladick. “No one knows what is best for this individual student except for the parent, the teacher and the school board. Washington D.C. really doesn’t know what is best for the student in Montgomery, the people in Montgomery do.”