Army veteran selected to school board

PALMER — Ryan Ponder was selected by the six members of the Mat-Su Borough School District School Board to replace Yvonne Ruth and fill the empty seat representing District 5. Ponder was selected among three other candidates who spoke at a special meeting at the MSBSD District Office on Wednesday.

Ponder joined Jessica Vaudreuil-Kim, Jim Chesbro, and Chris Elder as remaining candidates for the vacant seat. Jonathan Wold had submitted his application and later withdrew his name. Ruth’s seat was vacated by a family move, and each candidate that had applied and was verified as living in District 5 had a chance to present themselves to the remaining six members of the School Board who then voted on the District 5 School Board Member. Ponder went after Vaudreuil-Kim and said that he was thrilled to discuss the wonderful opportunity for him to serve the community.

“I feel as though it’s kind of like game day, watching all the films over the past months of all the different meetings here,” Ponder said.

Ponder started with a joke, and told the school board that a fourth-grader told him he had an issue with the amount of recess time. Ponder gave the board information they didn’t have, personal information on who he is. Ponder joined the Army at age 17 and was deployed to Iraq five years later.

“When I was young, my father shared many stories about his time in the service as an airborne ranger and those impacted me on what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go in life,” Ponder said. “I love my country, I want to serve my country.”

Ponder shared a story of part of his work in Iraq helping to secure funding for schools that had been destroyed and what an amazing feeling it was to accomplish his goals and see the children go to school.

“I feel the school board does the same exact thing and has that opportunity to not only do those types of things but also act as a link between community and the school systems,” Ponder said.

Ponder is the oldest of six children, and began speaking in mostly middle schools about life choices when he returned from deployment. The suicide of a family member impacted him to take a course in youth mental health first aid, and served on a coalition in the Mat-Su.

“To hear some of the issues that young kids go through is quite remarkable. Serving the community is extremely important to me,” Ponder said.

Ponder mentioned his own four children as motivation for wanting to assist in education.

“My children, children in District 5 and kids throughout the entire Mat-Su School District,” Ponder said.

Each candidate was given the same amount of time to present themselves, and then each was asked three identical questions. School Board Member Thomas Bergey asked them to look at a sheet of information and identify the most significant. Ponder chose the 42.6 percent proficiency in math and chose to elaborate, noting that it was the highest in the state and more importantly, the highest among the five major school districts.

“It says something is being done right,” Ponder said.

Ponder was then asked about his favorite children’s book by Board Member Sarah Welton. Ponder struggled to pick a favorite, noting that his son’s favorite book is “What is poo?” but that his favorite was “What are trucks?” Ponder stated that the book didn’t carry as much significance as the important interactions he has with his children while reading.

Ponder did make one mistake that other candidates did not. When asked by School Board President. Dr. Donna Dearman to describe the greatest asset they would bring to the board in one word, Ponder chose two — team mentality.

Ponder was selected along with Chris Elder as the finalists and then selected as the new District 5 School Board Member.

“I’m excited. It looks like a great team to be able to be a part of and [I’m] excited to just give back. Ponder said. “I’ve got four little kids and so they’re first and foremost. I’m thinking about them and I’m thinking about the opportunity to serve the district.”

Following the vote during the 5 p.m. meeting to recommend Ponder, he was unanimously voted as the District 5 School Board member during the regularly scheduled meeting.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.