About Yousif

I was born in Baghdad, Iraq and spent most of my childhood in Al Dhaid, a small town in the United Arab Emirates. I came to the United States at six years old, and I started school sobbing, not speaking a word of English.

As I learned the language, I retreated into writing. By twelve, I'd written and self-published my first book. It wasn't any good, but it was mine—and it taught me that the kid who couldn't speak up in class could still have a voice if he was willing to put the work in.

I went to Mira Loma High School, where I spent most of my time feeling lost. I wanted to be a pilot, but I was never any good with STEM. I joined Mock Trial on a whim and fell in love with it—the arguments, the performance, the strange beauty of a group of teenagers playing at something adults do for a living. That experience is what eventually led me to start ARC's Mock Trial Club, so more students could find what I found.

Since founding the club, we've hosted guest speakers including California State Assemblymember Maggy Krell and Sergio C. Garcia, the first undocumented attorney licensed in the United States. I've had the privilege of learning from incredible mentors from my Professors to family to my colleagues who each carry a different story with them, and all seek an education.

I believe government should be a place where the representative is largely irrelevant, and the people they represent are the entire point. That's not a slogan. It's a philosophy I try to hold myself to.

On my first day of American Government at ARC, my professor asked us what our grievances were with the college. We spent the whole class period talking: parking, infrastructure, crumbling buildings, counselor wait times. Real problems affecting real students. But when the bell rang, nobody knew how to actually share those concerns with the people who could fix them. That moment is the reason I'm running.

I'm running to be the person who closes that gap. Not because I have all the answers, but because I'm willing to listen, show up prepared, and bring what I hear to the table. Every time.