Justin Chenette
| Justin Chenette | |
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State Rep. Justin Chenette of Maine
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| Member of the Maine House of Representatives from the 15th district |
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In office December 2012 – December 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Linda Valentino |
| Succeeded by | Margaret M. O'Neil |
| Maine State Board of Education | |
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In office 2008–2009 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | April 23, 1991 |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Saco, Maine |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur & Non-Profit Professional |
| Website | justinchenette.com |
Justin Chenette is an American politician from Maine. Chenette, a Democrat, represents District 31 in the Maine Senate. Chenette made history at age 21 becoming the youngest legislator in Maine and the youngest openly-gay legislator in the United States.
Chenette was born in St. Albans, Vermont. He is the son of Jennifer Minthorn and Dr. Steven Mark Chenette. His father died in 2000 when Chenette was just nine years old from complications of diabetes. Chenette's step father is Saco City Councilor, Alan Minthorn.
Chenette graduated high school from Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine. While in high school, Chenette was the station manager, executive producer, anchor, reporter, and host of Thornton Academy's TATV Channel 3, Saco's educational television station. TATV is one of the only student-run educational TV stations in the country. At the station, Chenette hosted a public affairs show he created, The Issue and produced three live election results shows. His work was recognized by the Student Television Network by honoring Chenette as the 2009 Student Broadcast Journalist of the Year.
Based on his media efforts in high school, Chenette was selected as a Gannett Journalism Scholar for two consecutive years in 2009 and 2010. After interning at WPFO FOX 23 in Portland, Maine in 2011, Chenette was offered a job created as the assistant morning producer of their news program, Good Day Maine. Chenette worked on developing new segments and booked various entertainment and informative guests for the show. He also updated FOX's website on the weekends as web producer.
Chenette took courses through the early studies program at the University College at Saco and at the University of Southern Maine. He went to graduate a semester early from Lyndon State College with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting, Associate degree in TV news, and minors in political science and multimedia communications.
In 2008, Governor John Baldacci appointed Chenette to the Maine State Board of Education making him the first student member in the history of the board at age 17. In his 16-month term, Chenette pushed for civic engagement curriculum, a universal grading system, increased drug prevention, and to shore up the educational disparity between northern and southern Maine. Chenette served on the Student Voices Committee.
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