North Springs Senior Named To Student Advisory Council

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- A senior at North Springs Charter High School has been named to State School Superintendent Richard Woods' 2017-18 Student Advisory Council. Mary Frances Kitchens is one of 142 students selected from among more than 1,500 applicants from public schools across the state.

Students named to the council were chosen "based on the strength of their essay answers, which focused on their ideas for public education as well as their community service experience," the Georgia Department of Education states.

Throughout the school year, the middle and high schools students on the Council will meet with Woods to discuss the impact state policies have on the classroom (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Council members will also discuss other education-related issues, serve as Wood's ambassadors to their schools and take part in service projects to benefit their classmates and institutions.

Kitchens is a student ambassador at North Springs, often welcoming prospective students and their families. As an advisory council member, Kitchens will serve as a link from the state superintendent’s office to current North Springs students. It is an opportunity she is excited about.

“I attended my first meeting last week," she said. "We learned about some of the superintendent’s education initiatives and opportunities that could benefit students that most of us hadn’t heard of."

One of these initiatives, she added, was the state moving forward with plans to launch a German bilingual certificate program for students.

Kitchens is also committed to community service, which is another component of the State’s Student Advisory Council. A recipient of the President’s Gold Volunteer Award during the 2015-16 school year, Kitchens will be performing live music with other North Springs students on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Dunwoody’s Vintage Pizzeria.

"We are raising money for Spartans Helping Spartans, an organization at the school that supports students and their families, faculty and staff who are in serious financial need," she said. "It’s another way of giving back."

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Photo: Mary Frances Kitchens. Credit: North Springs Charter High School