EAST BRUNSWICK–Continuing their journey of political and civic service, residents Daisy Cherian and Dennis Cherian served as interns at the White House this summer.
To commemorate their time, the two received honorary proclamations from Mayor Brad Cohen’s office for completing their internships. Due to Cohen’s absence, Councilwoman Camille Clark read the proclamation for Dennis Cherian and Councilman Sterley Stanley read the proclamation for Daisy Cherian on Aug. 13 during the East Brunswick Township Council meeting.
When Dennis and Daisy Cherian’s family first moved to the township, Stanley said, “I met [their] father at I think 6:30 a.m. in the morning waiting at the bus stop … and I said, ‘Hey my name is Sterley’ [and he said] ‘I’m Mathew I just moved into town.’ It shows you what we see in ourselves and how they got themselves involved within the township. That is what we all strive for, to have our citizens of East Brunswick get involved, and it’s a great honor today to be reading this proclamation.”
Throughout their time at East Brunswick High School, Daisy Cherian said that she and her twin brother, Dennis, were involved in a lot of different organizations and activities within the community.
Daisy Cherian said she and her brother were involved with the Best Buddies program, which was affiliated with the East Brunswick Youth Council, and both were chairpersons.
“Basically they paired students at the high school with kids who have developmental disabilities and together they do different events and different social events and that was something that we both were very involved in,” Daisy Cherian said. “We grew a lot through that program. Also in addition to that we were both involved in the school newspaper – [my brother] was an editor and I was the editor-in-chief and that was something we spent a lot of time doing.”
Dennis Cherian said what started their civic and political involvement was when they co-founded the Political Club at the high school.
“We did a lot of things like voter registration drives [and] we hosted debates. For example, we co-hosted a debate at the East Brunswick Public Library at one point where we had kids all pretend to run for president and make their own platforms so you had Democrats, Republicans [and] people in the middle. … I think that really heightened our interest in civics as well,” Dennis Cherian said.
Daisy Cherian said she is currently a sophomore who attends Boston College and Dennis Cherian is also a sophomore who is a student at Villanova University.
East Brunswick VFW Post 133 also held a reception on Aug. 17, an event that Clark was the host of, to honor the accomplishments of both Cherians.
Clark said the reception was held “to celebrate and honor these two young adults who have brought such distinction to their community of East Brunswick.”
In order to qualify for their internships, Dennis Cherian said the program looks for leadership in the community and commitment to public service.
“I think there are a couple of things in our background that probably helped us out. For example, I have interned for the Office of Sen. Samuel Thompson and he has been an incredible mentor to me for many years now and he taught me a lot,” Dennis Cherian said. “Then the summer after [my senior year] Daisy and I were both part of the governor’s internship program. We interned at the New Jersey Department of Treasury and there also were a couple of other things like community involvement.”
Daisy Cherian said that she and her brother were placed in different departments in the White House. She was placed in the National Economic Council, which gives national and domestic economic policy advice to the president.
“I was assigned to a few people in the department and I would help them with a variety of functions, basically for whatever they needed. That included writing memos, doing research, sitting in on meetings. It was an incredible experience. Overall I learned a lot [and] I absolutely loved it,” Daisy Cherian said.
Dennis Cherian said he was placed in the Office of Presidential Correspondence, which is a communications office.
Although they have completed their internships, Daisy Cherian said they are still involved in the community and try to do as much as they can.
“Last week, we really started putting our energy into starting a fundraiser for flood relief for victims in Kerala, India, from the flooding that is happening there … so we created a fundraiser and we have really been putting our energy into that as we are getting ready for college.
“We are just incredibly honored and grateful for having the opportunity to have this experience and getting to meet up with those people that helped us along the way,” Daisy Cherian said.
“It definitely would not have been possible without so many amazing mentors who we had, we had Sen. Sam Thompson, Councilwoman Camille Clark, and we had so many people,” Dennis Cherian said.
Contact Vashti Harris at [email protected].