Submitted by Kate Crowder
Germantown, Tennessee--September 13, 2021--Laila Sharif, a senior at Houston High School, has been selected by the Houston High School administration to serve a one-year school term as student representative to the Germantown Board of Education, beginning September 22, 2021. Sharif will participate in School Board meetings as a non-voting member, and will be the first student to occupy the position. “Laila will be an asset to our board and district. She will be a stellar Student Board Representative,” said Germantown Board of Education Chairman Amy Eoff.
Sharif has three main focuses as a student representative: support for CTE programming, expanding accessibility and communication on board matters for students, and promotion of the school district. “After four years of benefitting and thriving from the opportunities provided to me by GMSD, I will be able to put forth my best effort to collaborate and serve as the voice of the student body to ensure that students, for years to come, will be given that same beneficial experience,” said Sharif.
Specifically, Sharif wants to develop a meaningful way to communicate with the student body and act as a liaison between the board and students “to ensure that there is a constant flow of information and students are always informed on the work being done and the opportunities being created to promote their well-being and success”.
“She is no stranger to leadership,” shared Principal Rob Taylor, noting her many instances of proven leadership within school walls. Over the summer, Sharif represented the TN Health Occupations Student Association (HOSA) as a state representative, speaking with the Tennessee Department of Education and legislators on improving future outcomes for HOSA students. “As the Chairman of the Houston High School HOSA chapter, she also has experience organizing meetings and preparing reports,” said Taylor. Sharif has also served consecutive years as a Mustang Mentor, welcoming new students to the building, and had an impressive resume full of community service at each of GMSD’s feeder schools. This, she says, is important because, “I want to give back to this community that has invested so much in my education”.
The process of naming the first student board member began with an open application to all GMSD students in eleventh and twelfth grades. Houston High administrators narrowed the applicant pool using a rubric to score submitted essays and conducted panel interviews for the top scorers. “The level of talent and professionalism in all of the candidates was outstanding,” said Assistant Principal Shannon Blackburn. “The Board is getting an excellent representative of Houston High School and of our GMSD student body,'' she added.
Please email [email protected] or call 901-752-7908 if you are interested in more information.