1. What made you want to be the school board student representative?
“I heard about it freshman year, and was always kind of interested in it. And then COVID happened and I forgot about it. But then last year, when I was working on my Global Scholars project, I did meet with Dr. Stranges, and he brought it back up. And so I thought, ‘might as well throw an application.’ I didn’t think I would get it.”

2. What was the application process like?
“We all, everyone who was interested, had a meeting with Dr. Stranges to learn the information. All we had to do was write a really short paragraph-type essay, just saying why we want it and that was turned into the Board of Education and they picked. I don’t know much of the behind the scenes, but I do know we had to make it clear why we wanted to do it and a little bit more about us.”

3. What issues are you looking to bring to the board this year?
“I’m focusing a lot on inclusion for students. I know that was a focus last year, but there have been a lot of issues that have been brought up for students of color or minority students that I know need to be addressed, and I think there are a lot of ways we can improve that around Hayes.”

4. What are you doing to be the best representative possible for the student body?
“I am able to talk to a lot of people. I do a lot of things. I’ve talked to a lot of students but also I’m just all for people telling me what they want. I’m here to do what you guys want, not what I want. So it’s just whatever people bring up to me I think about and consider to bring to the board.”

5. Has anything surprised you about being on the board so far?
“I didn’t quite know what to expect, considering it is elected adults and me. I wasn’t quite sure how that would go, but they were all super nice and really welcoming. And I wasn’t really 100 percent sure what meetings would look like and what I would get to do. The first meeting kind of let me see what it’s like. It’s definitely going to be a new experience. It’s a lot of interacting with people that don’t go to our school, but I’m really excited for it. I think it’ll be interesting.”

6. What do you do during meetings?
“I have a vote on issues, but it doesn’t count as the same as an elected board member’s because I am not an elected member. So I sit in on the issues and then at the end of each meeting, I bring up anything around Hayes that students want to consider, that teachers want, that faculty want or just general updates about our school system. I’m just kind of a voice for the students’ concerns and can voice our opinions on the matters without them being completely disregarded.”

7. Do you have any other goals for this year?
“Just that the students get the best out of their years at Hayes. It’s not the type of school that you don’t get heard. I want students to know that they have a voice and to talk to me to bring it to the board and see what we can do to make it better for everyone.”