Balancing life’s responsibilities can be tough. Often people have trouble just balancing school and work. But what if you have to balance school, work, family and the demands of running for office in The House of Representatives?
Eastern Michigan University student Brian Hensley is doing just that.
Although he seems to have it all under control, the novelty of his new title of politician has not yet been lost.
“That’s a label I’m not used to yet, ‘A politician,” he said. “There’s always some wild story attached with politicians. They’re supposed to be our leaders. Then you find out, they’re sort of a train wreck. I’m trying legitimately to lead by example.”
Hensley is running for 17th District House Representative and wants to lead by example. But this is only part of the story, Hensley also wants to lead his seven-year-old daughter with the same gusto.
“When I graduated community college [my daughter] got to see that,” he said. “I don’t think she understood it then, but now she’s a little older. I’m hoping that it inspires her to realize that if she works hard enough and follows her dreams, she can do what she wants to.”
Working hard to obtain dreams is exactly what Hensley did to get where he is now. However, the road to success wasn’t always easy.
“I came from a divorced family, and I moved around a lot. I attended four different high schools, so I never really had stability at home, ever.”
As an effect of an unstable childhood, Hensley also had some unstable years after graduation,
“I tried to join the air force,” he said. “Unfortunately I was not allowed to finish basic training. I didn’t have a place to live. I basically had nothing. I didn’t know what I was going to do.”
“So I attended community college,” Hensley said. “I did a couple semesters there and did okay. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I dropped out of community college. I got a job.”
For Hensley, doing this was an important decision that impacted the rest of his life.
“I ended up just working little odd jobs, until I met who eventually became my wife. We started a family, bought a house. My life sort of became normal.”
“Normal” didn’t last long.
“2008 happened and I lost my job because of the recession. Once again, I was at this point like, back to the drawing board. This time I had children to think about. I had a mortgage.”
“That’s when I made the decision that I was going to have to go back to school, because basically anything that was hiring required a degree,” Hensley said. “I went back to community college and I got good grades. That’s when I really started to be more ambitious. That’s when I really started to realize my potential. I transferred [to Eastern Michigan University].”
“I was a little nervous,” Hensley said. “I thought my good grades at community college were maybe a fluke or something. I did really well the spring semester [at EMU]. I did really well the fall semester here and made the dean’s list. From then, the nervousness was gone. I sort of expect good things out of me now. I really hold myself to really high standards, even if they seem unrealistic.”
Sometimes, those standards did seem unrealistic. At this point in his life, Hensley started to dream bigger and bigger.
“I found this program called The Fund for American Studies. They set you up for an internship, and you actually live on campus of Georgetown University. To me, Georgetown University was on that list of major schools that I never thought I’d be able to get to.”
“During my time [at Georgetown University] in Washington D.C., I actually had a class that was called the Internship Seminar. It was sort of like an add-on to your physical internship,” Hensley said. “The professor who gave this lecture, she was the Chief of Staff for congressmen. She would tell us all about how life actually worked on Capitol Hill. Through meeting with her and other people she had come in, I really felt bitten by the political bug and said, ‘You know, I think I’d like to run for office back home.’”
Just because Hensley was feeling more confident in himself didn’t mean he thought he would be successful. “[I] was sort of expecting, ‘You can’t do this,’ sort of pushback,” he said. “What I got instead was, ‘Yeah, you know you’re really smart. You’re charismatic and friendly, I don’t see why you shouldn’t.’”
From there, Hensley found the motivation to run for House Representative. Through hard work and determination, Hensley has found what he wants to do.
“This sort of answers the question: how am I going to give back to the community? How am I going to do something with my life that’s productive? Well, here we go. I’m going to run for office and throw my lot in with the politicians and see what happens.”
If you would like to learn more and contribute to Hensley’s campaign, you can visit http://www.votehensley.com/
