Colony High School senior reflects on year with the school board

PALMER — Colony High School senior, Emily Gage is ready to take the next step to adulthood and college life. Soon she’ll be packing her bags, taking all the lessons she learned over the years, including her experience with the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District board.

“School board members greatly respect the voice of our students,” Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Public Information Officer, Jillian Morrissey said. “Watching Emily just know what her voice is and use it always a delight and she’s going to be missed. She had a really big year.”

Gage got involved with her school’s student advisory board last year. Schools across the district have their own board of representatives who regularly attend and present at school board meetings. They act as student ambassadors who address a range of topics that directly affect all student life.

After attending numerous school board meetings, advocating for student voice, and learning how to affect tangible change for the better, she said that she got involved sooner. She loved learning how the board operates and she said that it helped her realize that she and other students can share their voice and make a difference.

“Yes I’m a student at Colony but at the same time, this position enabled me to be a representative of all schools,” she said. “Because of that, I felt like it gave me more access to other students to give them that opportunity to voice their opinions if there was something they felt needed to be addressed, or to see something that they wanted to get out there.”

Gage was heavily involved with the curriculum committee last year and the activities committees this year.

“I’m really excited to see where student advisory board goes with creating a district-wide event. It’s a work in progress and I believe we’re working on having it done this fall. That’ll be district wide for middle school and high school. I’m really excited for that just because it’s going to provide a sense of unity that’s lacking a little bit within our district just because of our geographical distance,” Gage said.

One of the highlights of Gage’s stint on the student advisory board was playing a role in getting bottle fountains in all the schools, working with the community to make it happen.

“This is how the world works,” Gage said.

Gage said that they held a Water Week to talk about being conscious of staying hydrated and replacing unhealthy drinks like soda with water.

“It was wildly successful,” Gage said.

During Water Week, there was a student art competition. Gage said that she really enjoyed grading all the entries.

“It was a lot of fun just to see all the art pieces that were done in the district. The students did a great job,” Gage said.

Morrissey said that the younger generation of middle schoolers have relatable role models to aspire to when they see high schoolers like Gage in action.

“They’re trying to see how they present themselves, how do they respond to each other and all their interactions so I think there’s a piece of SAB [student advisory board]… is just the mentorship they provide,” Morrissey said.

The purpose of this student advisory board is to advise the school board to the wants and needs of students, be it something to fix or something to add from scratch. High schools have four representatives and middle schools have three. Gage said one of her favorite takeaways from working with the next generation was watching them grow and become more confident.

“It’s amazing to see them come out of their shell over the year, they’re really shy at first,” Gage said. “At the end of the year it’s like they have so many ideas, they’re so excited to get them out there.”

Gage is ready to take what she’s learned with her to Colorado where she’ll attend the University of Denver, studying to be in the medical field.

“I definitely want to continue with it just because its played such a big role in my life and I love being able to provide that voice for students,” Gage said. “It’ll be a really big growth experience over this next year and I think is what really appeals to me the most, the challenge of adjusting and getting better.”

She said that she’s wanted to be a doctor since she was little and will certainly get involved with her college the same way she did in her high school.

“It’s bittersweet,” Gage said. “It’s just too bad that it has to come with the cost with all the things that I’m going to be missing here at home.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com