Release from the Mississippi State Board of Education
JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has selected 10 semifinalists to serve as the SBE junior student representative in the 2020-21 school year.
The SBE student representative program includes one high school junior and one high school senior who serve as non-voting SBE members and provide input on policy decisions that affect Mississippi public schools. The current junior SBE representative, Omar Jamil of DeSoto County Schools, will serve as the senior representative in 2020-21.
The eligible applicant pool for the rising junior representative included 23 students.
Student representatives are responsible for attending monthly SBE meetings and any standing committees or subcommittees to which they are assigned. Student representatives are excused from school to attend SBE meetings as official school business.
The SBE adopted a policy in 2018 outlining the criteria for adding student representatives to the State Board.
Semi-finalists will be interviewed and up to four finalists will be named. The SBE will interview the finalists and appoint one rising junior.
The 10 semifinalists are as follows:
Ms. Hannah Carson -- Monroe County School District -- Hatley High School
Mr. Christian Dunne -- Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District -- Starkville High School
Mr. Hans Elasri -- Lamar County School District -- Oak Grove High School
Ms. April Guo-Yue -- Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District -- Starkville High School
Mr. Zion Johnson -- Columbus Municipal School District -- Columbus High School
Mr. Wykendrick Jones -- East Jasper School District -- Heidelberg High School
Ms. Anna Lafferty -- Lafayette County School District -- Lafayette High School
Ms. Andee Robertson -- Lamar County School District -- Purvis High School
Mr. Weston “Archer” Taylor -- Petal School District -- Petal High School
Ms. Amy Zhang -- Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District -- Starkville High School