Bryan Walker will spend two evenings a month sitting alongside
school board members
Gilroy – When Bryan Walker signed on as the district’s new student board representative he knew the job would entail reviewing thick agendas and attending long meetings.
But nothing, even his mother’s warnings, could have prepared him for the reality.
“I came home at 11pm, everybody was in bed,” he said, after attending his first late-night Thursday board meeting last week.
Still, the diligent student – his grade-point-average clocked in at 4.0 last school year – managed to finish up his Advanced Placement English work even while nearly falling asleep in the process.
As student board representative Walker, who replaces Jiana Escobar, is expected to attend all bi-monthly board meetings scheduled for the Gilroy Unified School District. The Gilroy High School senior applied for the position at the end of last school year.
The four Associated Student Body officers who interviewed Walker, decided that he was right for the job. Although no other students applied for the commissioner position, the group still has to deem that the candidate is qualified.
And sometimes, it happened last year, the officers don’t select the sole candidate. In that case, ASB kept the position open until the right person came along.
For Walker, 17, who has spent his high school career serving in a multitude of ASB capacities, the school board slot seemed to be the perfect fit. Since his mom is a local middle school teacher, he’s familiar with GUSD happenings.
“I’m constantly hearing about the district,” he said. “I’m very in tune to what the district is doing.”
Walker decided that serving on the board would give him a chance to watch and hear as decisions are made that personally affect he and his peers.
“They’re talking about really important issues,” he said.
No stranger to community service, Walker’s first foray into the volunteer world was in middle school when he sat on the South Valley Middle School alignment committee. As a freshman he served in the ASB, was the commissioner of academics his sophomore year and commissioner of dances as a junior.
Now, the high school senior is the chair of the Las Animas Elementary School Renaming Committee. And he’s excited to see what issues arise at board meetings in the future.
“This is an awesome experience because you’re there in front of a board and an audience,” Walker said.
