Fulfilling My Civic Duty: Alex O’Sullivan, Student Representative

By Alex O’Sullivan, SY2019–20 Student Representative

I applied to be a SY2019–20 student representative on the D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) because I know the importance—now more than ever—of fulfilling my civic duty by actively engaging with my community, and serving with elected officials and driven high school students to provide voices for youth throughout the city is a great way to do so.

I am a sophomore at BASIS DC PCS where my favorite classes are English Language, US Government, and Calculus. Outside of school, I play baseball, and am an avid fan of other sports such as basketball and football. I enjoy politics, and I am a board member and delegation leader of YMCA’s ‘Youth and Government’ program, a mock youth form of city government. I also write poetry and serve as the co-founder and President of my school’s poetry club. I love math and I tutor third-grade students at Amidon-Bowen Elementary School in English and Math, and this school year I will be a member of the NSBE Jr. (National Society of Black Engineers), where I will participate in math-related competitions. Throughout the school year, I participate in youth speech competitions, and in 2019 I won the 2019 BIG (Blacks in Government) Youth Oratorical Chapter Competition on the injustices of the American judicial system.

In this upcoming school year, I look forward to receiving insight from other high-school students throughout the city in our Student Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings as a co-chair as we research and discuss the issues our school system faces such as teacher turnover and school inequity. Alongside SBOE, I will help to provide the many different perspectives of DC students as I relay the thoughts and concerns of the SAC to the public as a student representative.

**On August 15, 2019, Alex O’Sullivan shared his thoughts on the public schools in the District and his role as student representative during The Education Town Hall with Thomas Byrd. He was joined by SAC members Shayla Dell and Maya Gray.