Homer High School junior Evan Boyer has been selected as the student representative for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board for the 2013-2014 school year.
“When it comes to my interest in government and politics, I always really enjoyed being able to help people,” said Boyer, who began serving on the HHS student council as a sophomore.
He views his role on the KPBSD school board as “a way for me to not only see how our borough works, but also to essentially help with how things are run here, for the students.”
After seeing the list of opportunities for students to be involved at the district level, Boyer said his eyes went to the school board representative position.
“It seemed like an interesting job, one that really had a lot of work involved and would definitely help me grow as a person,” he said. “I told the rest of the members of my student council from Homer that I was really interested in doing that and they said, ‘great.”
With their support, Boyer made contact with students at other schools in the district, announcing his interest in being the student representative, asking students about their concerns and asking for their support. His efforts paid off, when, at a gathering of student government leaders in Seward, he was chosen from a field of three for the spot.
The board meets the first Monday of each month at the district’s Soldotna headquarters. Prior to each meeting, Boyer said the expectation is that he spend at least three hours studying the agenda and preparing for the meeting. Topics addressed by the board include actions the board can take, as well as education-related recommendations to be made to the Alaska Legislature.
“I hope students from all the schools will contact me with topics they want addressed,” said Boyer.