Student school board member election Wednesday
The election for the county’s student school board member is scheduled for Wednesday, with students from Clarksburg and Silver Spring vying for the role.
The candidates, Zoe Tishaev, of Clarksburg High and Nate Tinbite of John F. Kennedy, both say they aim to eliminate what they feel is a disconnect between students and policymakers. The winner will replace Ananya Tadikonda, whose term expires in July.
The student member of the eight-person elected board has full voting rights on issues ranging from policies and hiring staff to personnel issues. All 85,000 middle and high school students are eligible to vote in the election.
Student board members must be rising juniors or seniors and receive a $5,000 scholarship.
Tishaev and Tinbite both said they have been stunned by inequities in resources available to students at different schools and hope to close the achievement disparities between students of color and white students by providing equal access to resources for all students, regardless of where they live.
Gaithersburg student honored for volunteer service
Alexia Ayuk, of Gaithersburg, a senior at Our Lady of Good Counsel High School was honored on Wednesday as one of the state’s top two youth volunteers of the year.
Ayuk helped form a nonprofit organization that has distributed more than 19,000 books to schools in low-income neighborhoods, hospitals and shelters, with a goal of providing as many children as possible with a book on their birthdays.
She was recognized during a school-wide assembly Wednesday morning, where she received an engraved silver medallion from The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. She will also receive $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., in May.
Maryland one of six states selected to expand school breakfast
The Maryland State Department of Education was one of six state groups recently awarded a $50,000 grant from the No Kid Hungry School Breakfast Leadership Institute to expand access to school breakfast.
This school year, 98.6% of Maryland schools that serve lunch also serve breakfast, according to state data, and 62.1% of students who qualify for free and reduced-priced meals participated in the breakfast program.
The grant will allow the state to formalize a group to identify best practices, build partnerships and collaborate with other states to develop a “comprehensive action plan” to increase access to breakfast.
