Student representatives, senior Madeline Hibbs-Magruder and junior David Lang, love the chance to represent the students to the board of education.
Although an exciting opportunity opened to all students this school year, few know of the importance of the change for the NHS student body.
As of 2014, students are no longer required to be on the student council to become one of the student representatives on the board of education. This change allows all students who are interested a chance to contribute.
This is the sixth year students have been present at the bimonthly meetings.
The current student representatives, senior Madeline Hibbs-Magruder and junior David Lang, love the chance to represent students of all grades to the board. Hibbs-Magruder sees this as a chance to represent the students and their views, and Lang sees it as a big responsibility that he is willing to take.
Hibbs-Magruder explained the process of becoming a student representative as filling out an application, getting the approval of Principal Brian Wunderlich, and participating in an interview with the Superintendent Dr. Mary Pfeiffer. Lang noted that having connections helps. Because his brother was a previous student representative, he was aware of the position.
Lang explained that being a student representative is a huge responsibility. “If I do something bad, it’s worse because I’m supposed to set an example.” Aside from the steep responsibilities being a student representative requires, many benefits also exist.
The first benefit that comes to mind is the bragging rights, Lang said with a laugh, and he is not wrong. NHS has only two student representatives for the entire school. Other than that, he said, each representative was given a laptop and backpack, but only to be used for the board meetings.
Hibbs-Magruder sees her position as a chance to represent the district’s students and their views. She described the meetings with enthusiasm, saying her part in them is to give a report about what is going on in the district, and elaborated that she is occasionally asked for her opinion or agreement. While she said that the board is concerned with the students’ opinions, student representatives are “respected but not revered.”
As for her response to responsibilities entitled to the position, she shared that she must attend all board meetings, which occur on the first and third Tuesday of every month at the Administration Building, located at 410 S. Commercial St. Her responses to special benefits were slightly different than Lang’s. She grinned as she mentioned she had a plaque with her name on it, and added that it is a respected position that also looks good on her college applications.
