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Board of Education Names Next Student Member

Patrick Williamson

May 17, 2012. Watauga High School student Patrick Williamson has been selected as the next student member of the Watauga Board of Education. Williamson, a rising junior at the high school, will begin serving as a student representative effective with the Board’s July meeting.

The Board’s two student members offer a student perspective on school issues and the senior student representative provides a monthly report to the Board about activities and concerns of students at Watauga High School. The student members can participate in discussion of matters that come before the Board and may make suggestions concerning agenda items, but are not voting members and cannot make or second motions for Board action. 

Williamson said he wanted to serve on the Board because “I didn’t want to spend four years at the high school and not make a difference.  Serving on the Board will also give me experience working with other people and help me see what the School Board does and how it works.” 

In addition to his pending service as a student Board member, Williamson is junior class president at the high school, a member of the soccer team, and a member of DECA.

Current student Board members Nick Younger and Julia Roberts at a recent Board meeting.

The current student members of the Board of Education are Nick Younger and Julia Roberts. Roberts is the senior student Board member and will graduate from Watauga High School May 26. She will continue to serve as the senior student Board member through the June meeting, after which Younger will become the senior student member.

Williamson was chosen for his new role from among a pool of applications submitted to the Board of Education. Board Chair Deborah Miller congratulated Williamson and said that “the selection process was extremely difficult as all candidates were wonderful representatives and each exhibited poise, knowledge, appropriate dress and a willingness to serve.” Miller added that the Board of Education was “very grateful to all who helped in the selection process.”

Students seeking selection as a student Board member must fill out a three-page questionnaire and both the student and a parent or guardian must sign a statement of their commitment to the student’s service on the Board. Candidates must also have at least a 3.0 grade point average and a written recommendation from a teacher, school administrator, or counselor at the high school.    

Student members first became part of the Watauga Board of Education in January of 2011.