Two soon-to-be W.F. West High School seniors took their new seats at the Chehalis School District Board of Directors table Tuesday.
Aubrey Prigmore and Kyan Porter were attending their first meeting as student representatives on the board. The two students, who will start their senior year of high school in the fall, will spend the next year advocating for the needs of their fellow students.
Ahead of the meeting, both students spoke about their experience working as student leaders and being excited to be a voice and communicator for others.
Porter said his experience communicating with colleagues during his involvement with the SkillsUSA program showed him the importance of the job and motivated him to apply.
“I find it super important to advocate and use your voice, and something I also find important is just being that sort of beacon for people to go to and talk to and be able to communicate and hearing everyone else at the school and advocating for them as a whole is something that I find important,” Porter said. “I do a little work within SkillsUSA and another organization. and I’m in a position right now where that is a lot of what I do, is advocating, so being able to do that closer to things I go through day-to-day and my high school experience … I find that very important.”
Prigmore said she feels similarly after her experiences participating in the Washington Distributive Education Clubs of America, or DECA. She added that it's an important job to make sure that the board members understand what the students of the district are experiencing.
“I think, honestly, Kyan said it perfectly. Just being someone that I can be a voice for people and especially for the students, as well, because a lot of this is adults and people who are seeing overhead, and we’re living it,” Prigmore said. “So just being able to be that voice for other people and share what other people are feeling and understanding … and just kind of relating to what we're walking about … It's a really great thing, just to work with our school. I think we are both very proud to be Bearcats, and so I think it's awesome to get to be a part of this.”
During the meeting, district Superintendent Rick Goble welcomed the new student board members. According to Goble, the practice of having student representatives on the board is a recent development in the last three or four years. Students earn the spot by applying for it and going through an interview process with a panel of district staff and board members.
During the meeting, both students made their voices heard while the board discussed the district's efforts to bring more college level courses into the district so students would not have to go to Centralia College to access the courses. Each of the students professed the value of having college courses on the W.F. West campus, saying they feel more involved in campus life while still able to engage in the advanced classes and earn college credit.
