LEONARDTOWN, Md. – St. Mary’s Association of Student Councils (SMASC) held elections for the Student Member of the Board of Education of St. Mary’s County (SMOB) position and Judy Nguyen was elected. Judy is a current 11th grade student at Leonardtown High School and enrolled in the Global International Studies Academy. She will replace the current Student Member of the Board, Naggena Ohri from Leonardtown High School.
Judy is the current president of SMASC, an active member of the Maryland Association of Student Councils and Region Two Representative of the National Student Council. She is also on her school’s Principal Advisory Committee, Student Council, and National Honor Society. Judy also recognizes the value of civic involvement and conducting workshops to foster student leadership. For example, she participated on the Fly4ACure Team that helped to raise over $450,000 in donations to assist the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Furthermore, Judy has conducted multiple workshops on numerous topics at the local, state, and national levels, such as cultural diversity and civic engagement. These examples demonstrate Judy’s willingness to be an active participant within her community and cultivate positive change.
When Judy assumes this elected leadership position on July 1, 2021, her focus will center on empowering students’ voices and working with the Board of Education to ensure students have a say in the decision-making process. This will entail collaborating with the Superintendent’s Student Leadership Advisory Committee and working with elected student representatives from each school’s student council to express their viewpoints regarding the school system’s policies. Additionally, Judy wants to concentrate her efforts on developing an innovative and meaningful plan to meet the academic needs of students who have been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She also wants to examine the existing approach that St Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) employs to address the mental health of students and explore other approaches to better meet this growing concern. Through collaborating with a range of stakeholders, Judy states these two pressing concerns can be addressed because all students, regardless of their circumstances, deserve it.
Judy will become an official member of the Board of Education and provide an informed student viewpoint to the Board. While serving as the Student Member of the Board, Judy will be sharing information with students and the community on an array of educational concerns. This student leadership position also includes being an active participant at student-related and school-related activities.
For more information, contact Mr. Kevin T. Wright, Supervisor of Instruction for Social Studies, by telephone at 301-475-5511, ext. 32128, or by email at ktwright@smcps.org.