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It did not take long after graduating ����AV with a 2024 (MPP) degree for Anthony Amos to fulfill a longtime dream: win an election that gives him the opportunity to help those around him.

In November, Amos won a seat on the Fairfax City Council after a well-crafted, heart-felt campaign that he said was partially inspired by what he learned at George Mason’s MPP program.

Amos joins six other councilmembers on a board led by fellow Schar School graduate, Mayor Catherine Read, who earned her BA in government and politics from George Mason in 1984. As it happens, the university’s Fairfax Campus is in Fairfax City.

Serving the public, especially as an elected official, “has always been a dream of mine,” said Amos.

He ran as an Independent, eschewing the traditional opportunities afforded by aligning with a political party.

In fact, he said, “You have people who try to manipulate the system and use [controversial] federal issues to control local government. Local government is where you’re supposed to be most connected with the community. If you lose that, that's just bad.”

Amos credits his time at George Mason, whose Fairfax Campus is in Fairfax City, and his undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii West Oahu with helping him form and express his political ambitions.

“Anthony was a highly motivated, high-energy participant in my course,” said Professor of Public Policy , who taught Amos’s U.S. Institutions and Policy Process course. “He asked great questions and engaged thoughtfully with his colleagues as well as me.”

“A lot of my policy positions were based on topics I researched while I was in college, such as public financing for different construction projects,” he said. “Land use items, data centers in the energy grid, smart-use items for public transit, things like that … What I appreciate about George Mason is that the professors didn't skip over the local aspects of government.”

Amos works as a legislative aid for longtime Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the sole Republican on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. It’s a position that offers opportunities to see policy in action.

Last spring as he was preparing to graduate, Amos won the Jack Wood Award for Town-Gown Relations from the university’s Office of Government and Community Relations. The award for the student category recognizes the winner’s leadership in fostering relationships between the university and the community.

Now that he has graduated, Amos continues his relationship with his alma mater in several ways. He contributes to a program benefiting the ARTS By George! scholarships in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and he remains a member in good standing in the Bridge at Mason club which works to foster civic dialogue on campus. He added that he is continuously working on ways to unite George Mason with the city he now represents.

City council seats sometimes lead to larger roles for elected officials. Does Amos have higher ambitions now that his first election is in the books?

“I want to do a good job first and make sure that I'm built for this,” he said. “I managed to survive the campaign but let me let me get in there and not screw up too terribly, and then we’ll see.”