District 228 Held Annual "Students in Leadership" Board Meeting

They say that children are the future but that sentiment was actually palpable at the 10th annual "Students in Leadership" Board Meeting on January 15th, 2019. The meeting is a special one, where students are allowed to hold the roles of District 228 board members for the meeting. They sat next to each of their chosen Board Members and were able to see what it feels like to run an actual board meeting.

This meeting is a culmination of a program created by current Superintendent Bill Kendell and is meant to give students the opportunity to learn about board members and school administrators, explore careers and provide feedback about their schools.

District 228 Board President, Kristine Resler said that this is her favorite meeting of the year. She commented, "It is important for students to see what exactly happens at board meetings in order to feel comfortable to voice their concerns. It is a great learning experience for our future leaders."

This is what the program is all about. The students, who were all hand selected by the principals at each of the high schools in the district for their leadership abilities, participated in an all day workshop on Tuesday, Jan. 8th which was broken into three sessions.

In the first session, the students got to know each other and were able to provide feedback to the Superintendent. In the second session, the students broke into small groups with Administrators and learned about the different roles and responsibilities of each. The third session consisted of a mock school board session where the students learned what the school board actually does.

Bruce Wood, a senior at Tinley Park High School was able to shadow Larry Canning, the board vice-president. Bruce is on the football team and is a participant of the Mechanics Program at TPHS and plans on becoming a diesel mechanic. He is a great student and excels in his classes. He thought this opportunity was informative and will lead him to voice his concerns in the future. "Everyone on the board was responsive to our suggestions. I felt like I was heard," Bruce said of the experience.

For the students involved, this experience has quite a few benefits. The experience teaches students in leadership roles how to voice concerns while clarifying the process used, it demonstrates what a school board actually does, and it gives them constructive experience for their own futures. For the board members who participate in this event, they are allowed to hear concerns, ideas and issues of the students and give the students constructive advice for their future endeavors.

Jeff Taylor who is a senior at Oak Forest High School took away concrete information from the program. "I saw that kids at other schools had different issues than my school and my school had different issues than theirs," Jeff said when asked what he learned from the experience. Jeff is very active at Oak Forest High School being the President of the Science Club and Robotics club, Captain of Scholastic Bowl and a member of Mathletes and the Literary Magazine, all while being in AP classes and holding down a job. "It is very interesting trying to combine all the students' views and ideas," Jeff said. He gained a feeling that the school valued all the participants opinions.

The program ended with the students participating in the actual school board meeting which took place at Hillcrest High School. The students did a wonderful job with their "role played" positions. All votes were of course legally ratified by official board members after the meeting.

Below are the students with their shadowed board members.

Board President, Kristine Resler-Alonzo Arostegui, Hillcrest High School

Board Vice President, Larry Canning-Bruce Wood, Tinley Park High School

Board Secretary, Evelyn Gleason- Ludana Jean Charles, Hillcrest High School

Board Member, Mark Johnson - Ryan Grand, Tinley Park High School

Board Member, Leslie Jones - Kyla Duncan, Tinley Park High School

Board Member, Kim Kampwirth - Jeff Taylor, Oak Forest High School

Superintendent, Dr. Bill Kendall - Zoe Gurick, Bremen High School

Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning,
Dr. Corinne William - Inaya Smith, Bremen High School

Assistant Superintendent of Personnel & Student Services, Dr. Dan Goggins - Emily Meister, Tinley Park High School

Business Manager, Brittany Morrison - Keiasia Morris, Hillcrest High School

Technology Director, Jim Boswell - Kobe-Vaughn Love, Bremen High School

Administrative Assistant, Tiffany Taylor - Makayla Coleman, Hillcrest High School

Hillcrest High School Principal, Renee Simms - Jamal Cole, Hillcrest High School

Student Presenter - Todd Mitchell, Tinley Park High School

Student Presenter - Justin Moline, Oak Forest High School

Student Presenter - Breanna Hemphill, Tinley Park High School

Next year's Students in Leadership Board Meeting will take place on January 14, 2020. For this year, it was a job well done for all involved.