Doctoral student John Parsi has a vision for Arizona.
And instead of "sitting on the sidelines," Parsi is seeking to share that vision with others by running as a Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives in Tempe's District 17.
He is a first-generation immigrant from Iran and has been an Arizona resident since 1987.
In 1998, Parsi graduated from Tempe's McClintock High School, where he was involved in speech and debate, McClintock's site-based council and lobbying the school board.
Speech and debate stuck with Parsi after he came to ASU in 1998.
As an undergraduate, Parsi was the forensics team president and taught speech and debate at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe for two years.
Parsi also used that background to give ASU student government officials speaking lessons.
Additionally, Parsi wrote for The State Press from 2000 through 2002.
Parsi graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and Bachelor of Science in political science in 2002. He currently is a first-year doctoral student in the political science department.
Parsi said compliments from several students and teachers prompted him to run for state Legislature.
Political science professor Jack Crittenden, who worked with Parsi on a research project when Parsi was a junior fellow, said he was pleasantly surprised to learn Parsi was running.
"Grad students are here to learn and don't have a lot of time [for other activities]," he said.
If Parsi does win, he will "do a lot of good" for the state, Crittenden added.
"He's going to be smart and that's got to be a welcome addition to any legislature," Crittenden said.
Allocating more funding for higher education would be Parsi's top priority as a legislator.
"ASU is oftentimes being ignored," Parsi said. "The Legislature has not increased funding to ASU for quite a long time."
ASU students contribute to the economy as consumers while in school and later as educated employees, he said.
It is "short-sighted" to think education benefits only the student, Parsi said.
"These are all issues of funding that jeopardize state education and eventually jeopardize the economy," he said.
Parsi said he would like to work to bring clean sources of fuel and universal health care to the state, but said, "The heart of [his campaign] is education."
Parsi is one of two ASU students running for District 17 representative. Counseling graduate student Edward Ableser is also running on the Democratic ticket.
"I'm actually surprised it didn't happen earlier. District 17 is a district where ASU is prominent," Parsi said. "Hopefully it inspires ASU to get involved."
Reach the reporter at amanda.keim@asu.edu.
