D228 Students Take on Leadership Roles at January Board Meeting

District 228 students showed the Board of Education and the community that they have what it takes to become the leaders of tomorrow when they participated in the District’s Students in Leadership meeting on Tuesday, January 16 at Tinley Park High School.

To prepare for the meeting, students participated in a workshop that took place on Tuesday, January 9. They learned the Board meeting process and discussed topics of importance to them including class rank, academic support, college prep and club support. They then prepared presentations regarding those topics for the Board meeting.

At the January 16 Board meeting, some students were paired up with Board members and administrators to play their role in the meeting. Other students presented group reports and committee meeting summary notes. They also asked questions and made motions to approve new business items including finance, personnel, and teaching and learning.

The students acting as Board Members were Karina O’Harrow (Tinley Park HS) as Board President Debi Stearns, Victoria Soliz (Tinley Park HS) as Board Vice-President Kristine Resler, Victoria Jackson (Hillcrest HS) as Board Secretary Evelyn Gleason, Adam Miller (Tinley Park HS) as Board Member Larry Canning, Josh Urbanski (Tinley Park HS) as Board Member Mark Johnson, Jazmine Jean-Simon (Hillcrest HS) as Board Member Leslie Jones, and Sarah Wu (Tinley Park HS) as Board Member Kim Kampwirth.

The students that took on Administrator roles were Vanessa Soliz (Tinley Park HS) as Superintendent Bill Kendall, Zach Hoehn (Oak Forest HS) as Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning Cory Williams, Michael Sanchez (Bremen HS) as Assistant Superintendent for Personnel & Student Services Dan Goggins, Tia Pollard (Hillcrest HS) as Special Education Director Lisa Giglio-Byczek, Celeste Barban (Bremen HS) as Technology Director Jim Boswell, Amari Anderson (Hillcrest HS) as Business Manager Brittany Morrison, and D’Ante Miller (Tinley Park HS) as Tinley Park Principal Theresa Nolan.

Student group presenters were: Class Rank – Emily Roa (Bremen HS); Academic Support – America Mata (Bremen HS), Elijah Trella (Bremen HS), Meghan O’Keefe (Oak Forest HS), and Cynthia Navarrete (Hillcrest HS); College Prep – Josie Horan (Oak Forest HS) and Danielle Joseph (Hillcrest HS); and Club Support – Ryan Zientara (Tinley Park HS).