State Board Selects Semifinalists for State Board Student Representative Program

Jackson, MS – The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has selected 10 semifinalists to serve as the SBE junior student representative in the 2020-21 school year.

The SBE student representative program includes one high school junior and one high school senior who serve as non-voting SBE members and provide input on policy decisions that affect Mississippi public schools. The current junior SBE representative, Omar Jamil of DeSoto County Schools, will serve as the senior representative in 2020-21.

The eligible applicant pool for the rising junior representative included 23 students.

Student representatives are responsible for attending monthly SBE meetings and any standing committees or subcommittees to which they are assigned. Student representatives are excused from school to attend SBE meetings as official school business.

The SBE adopted a policy in 2018 outlining the criteria for adding student representatives to the State Board.

Semi-finalists will be interviewed and up to four finalists will be named. The SBE will interview the finalists and appoint one rising junior.

The 10 semifinalists are as follows:

Name School District School

Ms. Hannah Carson Monroe County School District Hatley High School

Mr. Christian Dunne Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Starkville High School

Mr. Hans Elasri Lamar County School District Oak Grove High School

Ms. April Guo-Yue Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Starkville High School

Mr. Zion Johnson Columbus Municipal School District Columbus High School

Mr. Wykendrick Jones East Jasper School District Heidelberg High School

Ms. Anna Lafferty Lafayette County School District Lafayette High School

Ms. Andee Robertson Lamar County School District Purvis High School

Mr. Weston “Archer” Taylor Petal School District Petal High School

Ms. Amy Zhang Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Starkville High School