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YAF Activist Profile: Adam Ochs

YAF Activist Profile: Adam Ochs

By

katrina

April 4, 2017

Adam Ochs is a junior at Liberty University majoring in Government, and he currently serves as the chairman of Liberty University Young Americans for Freedom. Adam has been involved with Young America’s Foundation since 2013, when he attended his first YAF conference as a senior in high school. Shortly after attending that conference, Adam began the process of bringing a YAF chapter to his high school. Since then, Adam has remained consistently involved with the Foundation, attending numerous conferences, seminars, and trainings; volunteering for the Foundation frequently; and joining the YAF chapter at Liberty University. Adam showed up ready to work and to make a difference on his college campus, quickly expressing his interest to get to work advancing conservative ideas. He has served in various leadership positions within the chapter, including recruitment officer, vice chairman, and now chairman of LUYAF. Adam has helped organize several campus initiatives each year, including YAF’s 9/11: Never Forget Project, Freedom Week, and others. He also has helped bring in prominent conservative speakers to his school, including Lt. Col. Allen West, Timothy Goeglein, Dinesh D’Souza, Star Parker, and Steve Forbes. Something tells us, though, he’s just getting started. The New Guard: How did you first realize you were a conservative? Adam Ochs: I grew up in a very conservative home with very conservative parents, so I have always been conservative. I first started to get into activism in 2008, when I knew the country was getting into trouble. I would watch Glenn Beck on Fox News every day. TNG: What inspired you to get involved with YAF? AO: I first heard about YAF when I was a senior in high school. I attended my first conference at the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara and was immediately hooked on what the Foundation was doing to advance everything that I believed in: Limited government, constitutional rights, free market economics and free speech. After attending my first conference I wanted to go home and start a chapter at my high school. TNG: Your favorite thing you’ve done with YAF? AO: Visiting the Ranch, by far. Few people in the country get the opportunity to see where Ronald Reagan lived during his presidency. The Ranch embodies so much of President Reagan’s ideals that you can only truly understand when visiting. I also love organizing the 9/11: Never Forget Project. Knowing that it is honoring the men and women who lost their lives is something that is incredibly special–holding the event is a small tribute that we can do to remember them. TNG: What’s the best resource YAF has provided to you as a student? AO: The ability to bring in speakers to give lectures on campus. Without a doubt, there would have been no other possible way of having such great events without the help from the Foundation’s staff. TNG: Who is your favorite YAF speaker and why? AO: I love listening to Dinesh D’Souza. He is such an amazing man to hear from. As someone who was not born in America he truly understands the meaning of American Exceptionalism and he really believes that America is the best country to live in. His insight on the matter is great because he is an immigrant himself. TNG: If you had to go back and change any part of your journey, would you? Which part? AO: If there’s anything that I would change, it would be to attend a more liberal school. Liberty University is wonderful, but I felt that my impact on a liberal campus would have been of greater benefit to the Conservative Movement. TNG: What advice would you give your high school self or other students? AO: I would say get involved as soon as you possibly can and do as many activities as you can during your time in high school and college. Before you know it, your time as a YAFer will be over and you’ll be moving on to other things. TNG: What has been the most rewarding part of being active with YAF? AO: The most rewarding part of being involved with YAF is meeting a lot of great people from across the country. While attending YAF conferences you really meet a lot of genuine people that become your longtime friends. Also getting the chance to meet all of these speakers that you usually never get to see in person–YAF gives you the opportunity to meet face to face and listen to amazing conservative leaders. Adam and LUYAF are busy preparing for their next event: hosting Judge Jeanine Pirro for a campus lecture later this month.

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