 At 22 years old, Elizabeth City State Senior Montravious King became the youngest elected official in the state of North Carolina. This is his journey from wide-eyed freshman to national political figure. My godmother is a 1972 graduate of Elizabeth City State University. She told me, she said, Montravious, you can apply to whatever college or university you want to. But you're coming to Elizabeth City State University. Eliana Thomas was SGA president when I came here. I said to myself, I want to be the SGA president my senior year. That's what I'm going to do. I want to work hard to become the SGA president. In between my sophomore and junior years, I really started to become more active politically and in the NAACP. And I noticed that the NAACP on campus was kind of struggling. So they did a leadership. And I joined the NAACP chapter here, ran for president. I became the president of the college chapter here in Elizabeth City. And I strengthened that chapter. And the NAACP college chapter became the largest college chapter in the state of North Carolina in the whole entire state. And we did a lot of things. We spoke out against tuition increases. We provided seminars for AIDS awareness. And that's really when I really began to be more involved in the larger Elizabeth City community. Getting elected to City Council wasn't easy. Montravious's residential status was challenged. And he had to fight just to get onto the ballot. Giving up, not an option. I realized it was something greater than myself. I didn't know it when I filed for election and signed those papers. I didn't realize that I would become the poster child of this movement in North Carolina. I didn't realize that my election and what it would do for ECSU. So I said to myself, I can't give up. Because if I give up, they're going to say, well, yeah, he was an ECSU. That was the ECSU student that gave up. But now they can say that was the ECSU student that won. It was unbelievable sometimes. For example, even when I'm going to an at a council meeting and my colleagues are talking about, you know, their jobs or what other things they've been doing. And I say, what, well, Councilman King, what have you been doing? Well, I just got a class, you know, just they've never heard that before. It's exciting. You know, and even in class, I've been a political science major. It really makes the material more, you know, relatable. Because I can, I can butt in and say, yeah, you know, well, this is how it relates to the city government. It's really a good opportunity. I got my first phone call yesterday for getting something done for one of my constituents. When she called me and said, Councilman King, thank you so much for getting this done for me. That makes your entire week, because you know that you've done something using your power in the right way, not using your power in the wrong way, but using your power in the right way to help the people who have elected you to serve. So it's just, it's really, really a humbling experience. And I just, I thank God for being able to do it. Despite making history, Montrevias has yet to reach his biggest goal. The major thing is graduation. And no matter how much I love my position, my number one priority right now is graduating. Because that's going to be my biggest accomplishment to date when I graduate. I'm so thankful and honored that I'm one city council, but it's not going to feel nearly as good as when I received this, my degree from Elizabeth City State University. This is a wonderful school. And it truly is, you know, your place to succeed. The opportunities that I've received here at Elizabeth City State University have had an impact on my life. And it will have an impact on my life forever. The people here truly care about you. They truly, truly care about you. They want you to grow. They want you to succeed, not just academically, not just about memorizing some things in the textbook, but it's helping you become a better person. A stronger woman, a stronger man. I definitely have aspirations too, to go higher up. Because I realize that the higher I go, the better I look for E.C.S.U.