On July 6, Elizabeth Ventura, a senior at Baker High School, was sworn in as the first student member of the Baldwinsville Central School District Board of Education.
Voters approved the addition of an ex-officio student member to the Board in May 2010. As an ex-officio member, Ventura is a non-voting member, and she will not sit in on any executive sessions of the Board or be privy to any confidential information. However, she will attend every meeting and have a voice at the table.
Her No. 1 priority is to bring student concerns and ideas to the Board as well as to provide the Board with a student perspective on district issues. Her term on the Board of Education will end on June 30, 2011.
In order to be considered for the Board position, interested students were required to submit an application to a committee composed of Principal Joseph DeBarbieri, Assistant Principal Michelle Crisafulli, and several staff members and students. They also had to interview with the committee before school ended for the summer.
Applicants had to be entering their senior year in September 2010. Other criteria included involvement in community and school activities, leadership qualities, and all applicants had to meet the requirements of the district’s academic and athletic codes of conduct.
Ventura applied for the Board position because she believes it is important for the district’s students to have a voice on the Board.
“It’s important for someone to talk to the student body and bring student concerns to the attention of the Board of Education,” she said.
She will make herself available to speak with her peers and listen to their ideas. She plans to periodically sit in on student council meetings, as well as to meet with Baker High School’s extracurricular clubs and organizations.
“I’m open to new ideas, to speak with everyone,” she said.
Ventura is the daughter of Michael and Kathleen Ventura. She has attended school in the district since kindergarten. She is ranked in the top 10 percent of her class and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is a midfielder for the girls’ varsity field hockey team, for which she was named a CNYCLC All-League Honorable Mention for the fall 2009 season.
Ventura has also acted as the junior varsity boys’ lacrosse manager as well as the varsity boys’ lacrosse manager. Other school activities she has been involved in include varsity indoor track, Key Club, Jenna’s Mentors and the Baldwinsville Community Scholarship Foundation’s Dollars for Scholars Phone-a-thon.
She is an avid equestrian and has been riding and showing horses competitively for most of her life. She works for Events Service Catering and volunteers her time and talent twice a week at Crouse Hospital, working in the hospital library as well as on the cardio unit. She also volunteers for the Baldwinsville Field Hockey Youth Clinics.
“We are very excited to welcome a student to the Baldwinsville Central School District Board of Education,” said Board President Victor Jenkins. “We welcome Elizabeth’s views and opinions on a wide variety of topics. She will bring a fresh perspective to issues that affect district students, giving them a voice at each Board meeting.”
Jenkins said that students and all community members are always welcome to attend Board meetings and speak during the public comment period of each meeting.
