After elections were held it’s official that Ananya Tadikona is the 41st Student Member of the Board of Education.
Every year the county holds an election for a new Student Member of the Board. Last year Matthew Post was elected as the 40th Student Member of the Board of Education. He is a member of the Board’s Fiscal Management Committee and the Policy Management Committee. Post is a senior at Sherwood and will continue to act until the end of his term on June 30.
During Post’s term he unblocked social media sites from the school WiFi and expanded the budget, adding an additional million dollar investment in the county’s ESOL students.
Also, this school year for the first time ever all every single one of the teachers in the county received cultural proficiency training to ensure all students are included and all classrooms are free of bias. During his term he was a tremendous advocate for suicide prevention and awareness and next year all middle and high schools will have a suicide awareness program. Post got many initiatives done and he said he hopes that the next candidate will continue to do so.
The SMOB Nominating Convention was held on Feb. 21, 2018 at Watkins Mill. The two candidates selected were Nimah Nayel and Ananya Tadikonda.
Nayel is a junior at Richard Montgomery and participates in the International Baccalaureate program. She currently serves as junior class president and has served as her class president since her freshman year. She also serves as the president of the Muslim Student Association at her school, and is the captain of the school dance team.
Tadikonda is also a junior at Richard Montgomery. She currently serves as the Montgomery County Regional SGA vice president. In addition, Tadikonda serves on the Executive Board for the Maryland Association of Student Councils and as Co-President of MoCo EmpowHER. She has formerly served as the Treasurer and the President for the Montgomery County Junior Councils.
The elections to determine the next SMOB took place on April 25 during math classes.
Some students feel that the SMOB’s job is not very important and that they don’t fulfill their promises. “They say that they will do so much but they never end up actually doing it,” sophomore Lainey Morris said.
Because of the candidates not getting their job done, students may not care during the voting sessions.
“I never know anything about the candidates so I just pick a random one,” junior Allie Compton said.
Olivia Kerben
Staff Writer
