Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
(written by Nicholas Osterloo, Student Sports Information Assistant)

Apr. 12, 2019 - North Central College men's golf student-athlete Andrew Honig chose a unique co-curricular activity to supplement his athletic and academic exploits recently, pursuing a run for elected office in his hometown of Lombard.

Honig's efforts resulted in victory on Apr. 2, as he was elected Lombard's District 4 Village Trustee. He is the youngest elected village trustee in DuPage County for this municipal cycle and defeated an incumbent who is triple his age.

The junior is the current president of the North Central College Democrats Club on campus, which helped over 150 students register to vote for the Nov. 6 election. Honig came to North Central as a biology major, but soon decided to switch his major.

"I realized I had always had a passion for politics and helping people in the community, and for the municipal government, so I decided to switch to political science," Honig said. "I interned for State Representative Jonathan Carroll in Lake County and did a lot of district work in constituent services by reaching out to a community that needed help. It was more on the service side of things."

His decision to run for office began over a year ago after he attended a series of monthly village board meetings. In November 2018, Honig officially got his petition signed to run for the village trustee position.

"I am from Lombard and wanted to give back to the community that has given me so much," he said.

On Election Day, Honig was able to watch the polling locations and to make sure voters were not turned away for any reason.

"It was very stressful but at the end of the night we got the tapes which had the vote count," Honig said. "We knew at 10:30 p.m. that I was up 50 votes, which was our magic number that let us know I was going to come away victorious."

Now that he has won, Honig will work with budgets, pass legislation within the town, and bring up key issues that directly affect the 43,000 people in Lombard. He also will get more time to focus on his education and the spring golf season.

"My professors have been very helpful and know obligation I have taken up," Honig said. "I was able to meet with a lot of them outside of class and during their office hours to make sure I could keep up with my work during the campaign. Dr. Suzanne Chod is someone who has given me a lot of inspiration. She has sat down with me, and helped me stay focused on my goals which are student first, and then everything else comes next."

Throughout this process, Honig has maintained his spot on the Dean's List while juggling all of his political, athletic and academic responsibilities.

The North Central head men's and women's golf coach Steve Sellers has been there for Honig throughout his whole process as well.

"He has been super supportive and watched on election night to see if I had won or not. He has been very flexible with me," said Honig. "Now that the campaign is over, my schedule has opened up a bit and I am able to hit golf balls inside of the Residence Hall/Recreation Center arena too.

"My teammates are so proud that someone my age (21) is able to overtake someone that has been there before," said Honig. "It is a start of a movement of younger generations actually winning and having a say in things that affect their life."

Over the three years as a golfer, Honig's average scores have improved by 14 strokes, including a career-best round of 85 at the Benedictine University Fall Eagle Invite on Sep. 30.

Honig's main focus now is to graduate next year from North Central and serve his community. After that he plans on pursuing a program at the College of DuPage to get a paralegal license to work at a law firm, which is the next step toward a goal of attending law school.

"I have to live in the district to represent my community, so I have looked into commuting to a law school in Chicago," said Honig. "I have been looking at DePaul University, Chicago-Kent College of Law and University of Illinois-Chicago.

"It is really important that within athletics we see athletes get civically involved, whether it's with municipal government or clubs to promote education and that you are a student first," Honig said. "North Central's athletic programs are amazing here. We have great coaches that don't just work through the athletic and education process, but are there for you as a person."