When I am not at school or doing homework, I am usually out with my friends, or either reading or cooking. School is very important to me, and I am trying to get the best marks possible. I will be leaving school at the beginning of summer, after which I start an apprenticeship as a chemist. I want to get a good training and then ideally go and study – for which I will have to leave my home valley. After that, I will probably live in the city or even abroad. But I would like to return one day and live here again in the Lower Engadine.
My mother is involved in local politics. When my brother and I were younger, neither of us were interested. Now we notice how much we talk about politics at home, especially when there is a referendum around the corner. It has become quite exciting. The latest proposals – the initiative on pesticides and the initiative on clean drinking water – affected our family directly, because my parents run a farm. We had to make a podcast about these proposals at school, when we looked at the politics in detail. I always try to form my own opinion. While I think it would be great to be allowed to vote at 16, I also think the issues would be too complex for me. There are many things I really have no clue about! When you are 16, there are more important things than exercising your democratic duty. However, I would happily change our climate policies. We could do so many things better. I can very well envisage getting involved in politics one day. I don’t need to be Federal Councillor or anything like that.
Elena Niederhauser
Born in 2004, living in Tarasp in Lower Engadine (canton of Graubünden), and about to begin an apprenticeship as a chemist. Elena can well imagine going into politics.
The portraits of all 16 young people interviewed
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