New Students Selected for Liaison Committee
As the school year comes to a close, leaders of extracurricular activities are beginning to seek new members in order to keep their activities going strong. The student liaison committee, which was formed last year, is no exception.
The student liaison committee was created to provide students with the opportunity to serve as a means of communication between their peers and the school board. Members of the committee attend the monthly school board meetings in order to learn new information presented by the school board, and keep the school board up to date on the happenings within the school. Students apply during their junior year by submitting a resume, a recommendation letter from a parent or guardian, and a cover letter.
The 2021-22 student liaison committee members were Kinzee Derr, Dayana Gonzalez-Reazola, and Faith Pair. When the three applied, the school board’s original plan was to choose one student to serve as a liaison. Instead, because they found all three applicants deserving of the position, they decided to create a student liaison committee with a maximum of four members.
“One of the Board members had read an article in the Grand Island Independent newspaper and thought it was a great idea, so I reached out to the student liaison at GISH and asked about the position. Our Board invited the GISH student liaison to share about his position during one of our Board meetings. He attended via Zoom as did their Board president and the GISH Principal. After that we developed some guidelines and goals for this position. When three great candidates applied, it was shared that we could have a committee instead of an individual,” said Mr. Michael Derr, who oversees the students of the liaison committee.
“I really enjoyed being a part of the school board. I’ve always looked up to the board since my dad is the superintendent and they are basically his boss. Although we didn’t do much this year, it was fun to be involved and help the school board members get a taste of the issues and topics the student body faces each day,” said Kinzee Derr.
“Getting to connect the school board to the student body was my favorite part of being a part of the student liaison committee because the school board is comprised of elected officials, many of which don’t have a child that attends the school, so it’s good to give them a connection to the school body when they don’t have one,” said Pair.
There were three applicants for nest year’s student liaison committee. Juniors Maizie Boyd, Alyssa Ferguson, and Rubi Hernandez applied and were all accepted to the committee during the school board meeting on April 11.
“I originally wasn’t going to join because I wanted to be sure I was only joining activities I could fully commit myself to, but after talking to Mr. Derr, I realized that being an advocate for my fellow students is something that I would enjoy. I think this position is a great fit for me because I talk to a wide variety of students throughout my school day, so being able to share students’ opinions will be quite easy for me,” said Boyd
As they go about their senior year, the three new members will share thoughts, questions, and concerns that they and their peers have with the members of the school board.