by Sam Seliger
Guilford Gazette Intern
On April 24, Howard County students elected Allison Alston of Reservoir High School to be the next Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB). Alston follows in a long line of SMOBs, who have represented the voice of students on the Board of Education for over 30 years.
The SMOB is granted full member status (unlike in some other counties in the state), and can participate in every vote except for those pertaining to budget, personnel, and a few other restricted issues. Although SMOBs are discouraged from taking stances on policy issues without input from the student body, they play an important role in determining the Board of Education’s agenda for the future year, in addition to voting.
All 25,000+ students in grades 6-11 voted during school, selecting Alston over her opponent Hannah Witkin, a junior at Long Reach. Earlier in the year, representatives from each school attended a convention in order to whittle down the competition to two candidates. After being selected for the general election, Witkin and Alston traveled around the county, campaigning at middle and high schools, speaking to students about representation and issues that affect them.
Alston recently spoke about student stress and mental health at an event held by community organization PATH (People Acting Together in Howard), attended by Superintendent Dr. Michael Matirano and Board of Education chair Mavis Ellis, and she plans to continue to advocate for student mental health as SMOB.
In a pre-election forum hosted by the Howard County Association of Student Councils (HCASC) on March 13, she said that one of her first priorities would be to hold an awareness event for student mental health, in order to bring more attention to the issue, and allow students to talk to one another about coping strategies.
In her campaign, Alston touted her experience as a student representative on the HCPSS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Group, working with administrators, teachers, and community members to help make the school system fairer for all students. She also said that she would try to reach out to underrepresented students by visiting special education programs such as the Cedar Lane School, and clubs such as Best Buddies.
Communication was another issue Alston emphasized. Via an Instagram direct message, she stated that “Teamwork is vital if I am to represent your beliefs and ideas towards policy.” At the HCASC forum she suggested that she could make use of point people at middle and high schools to maximize and coordinate communication with the over 50,000 students in HCPSS.
This article was corrected to show that Allison Alston is a student at Reservoir High School.