Mayor of Cumming Troy Brumbalow met with a group of Forsyth Central High School students Monday afternoon to talk about a number of local political issues facing Forsyth County residents. 

“They are a bunch of really bright kids,” Brumbalow said. “I was very impressed with their knowledge of local government and issues … they were more up to date than most Americans are.” 

The students were members of the Turning Point USA club, which meets at Forsyth Central. Turning Point is an American conservative youth organization with a mission to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets and limited government,” according to Turning Point’s website.

“They really know how to get events together, how to design, and how to get their agenda out there. They have gotten me to actually think about issues on a local and national level rather than blindly following a party,” said Jake Gant, vice president of Turning Point USA at Forsyth Central.

Added Gant: “I like to know what’s going on in my community, because I want to know what’s going to impact me. We didn’t know much about what the mayor wanted for Cumming, but now that we’ve talked to him he seems really engaged with our issues.”

Brumbalow said that the civic interest and engagement that the group showed is what surprised him the most. He added that the sky was the limit for young people’s involvement in politics.

“It makes us a much better community when people know the issues facing them … they don’t realize that local affects us more than national,” Brumbalow said.

Members of the Forsyth Central Turning Point USA Chapter include Andrew Jones, Jake Gant, Chase Baxter, Thomas Hughes, Tommy Molter, Anna McCarthy, Akshat Saxena, Leslie Garcia and Thorbjorn Hegeman.