When Audrey Grant was making plans for college, she was excited to get out of her hometown of Hardwick, Vermont. “When you’re a young person in Vermont, especially in a rural community, you’re essentially told that success means leaving,” she tells Her Campus. That’s how she ended up running for the Vermont House to represent her district of Caledonia-2, part of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, a rural region of northeastern Vermont. Having grown up in rural poverty, Grant is all too familiar with how the government treats those who are struggling. “I just don’t want Vermont — and I don’t want the Kingdom — to become a rich person’s playground,” she says.