Length of residency: Born in Anchorage, raised in Juneau
Education: Recent Thunder Mountain High School graduate
Other Experience: Model United Nations, Student Government and Debate
If further cuts are needed in our high school extracurricular activities, where should those cuts be made and what should be done to protect Title IX-mandated equal treatment of girls’ activities?
Before looking at cutting various activities left and right, we should be investigating the consolidation of teams and groups. Cause it’s always beneficial to have one team or group that all students can enjoy in the Juneau School District than to have no team or outlet.
Describe the role of parental involvement in the public schools. What might that involvement look like? How can that involvement be increased?
With groups/body’s of people like site council, it ensures parents have a watchful eye over the workings of the school district as a whole. On activities parents are one of the biggest supporters to lend a hand, from assisting in fundraisers, carpooling and providing food, they are all getting the players to the right destinations.
Would you support a comprehensive statewide sex education curriculum? If so, how would this best be implemented and taught? If you do not support such a curriculum, explain why.
I believe that yes there should be a comprehensive statewide sex education. Being a state that is ranked pretty high in accounts of domestic violence, teen pregnancy, and STDs we need to make sure that we have an education that covers and highlights things like healthy relationships and consent. We should be making that curriculum though for the reasoning of improving the education in those areas, not just for tossing the resources such as Planned Parenthood’s Teen Council to the wayside.
What value do you see in an adequately funded fine arts program in the school curriculum?
I see not only an outlet for students to practice and perfect Juneau’s connection to the arts, but also an opportunity to teach kids to improve and expand. From digital arts to drawing, it all requires a sense of exploring new ways to express oneself. These practices are important to the students and the community. If we don’t adequately fund and maintain fine art programs, who is going to submit art on first Friday’s? Who is going to star in the plays of the community? There’s a great amount of entertainment and interpersonal exploration within these programs.
If you had to rank the educational skills most needed by our students, what would be the #1 and #2 skills on your list? Explain why.
A first important skill is organization, to make sure that students can correctly know how to prepare for the weeks ahead. This is also important to ensure that they can efficiently locate information they may have written beforehand for a test, quiz, etc. Another skill that is important is critical thinking, in a time where because of the Internet many opinions are taken as fact and facts are misconstrued. They should not be afraid to question, seek to research, or form their own opinions and solutions.
What alternate funding resources can you suggest and/or help secure if state education funding continues to decrease?
During my time as a student representative, there was an instance where there was a packet prepared full of federal and corprate grants that the board would be able to seek. I believe we should have a grant writer and start seeking these various grants to see if we are indeed eligible for them. Another option is to look for support within various organizations that are in our community and see if they are able to support us in this fiscally troubling time.
Describe your view of the value of Pre-K public school programs.
The programs basically plant the seeds early. They ensure that the students gain interest into school as well as knowing the basics so that they can be at the same level of understanding as their peers do.
