Student school board representatives advocate for peers

Bloomington Public Schools’ student school board representatives for the 2024-25 school year are Kennedy senior Kenneth Adah and Jefferson senior Jenny Wen. They attended their first board meeting of the school year Monday, Sept. 23 where they were officially sworn in.

Student representatives are non-voting members of the school board. They attend board meetings once a month to provide reports about school activities and participate in discussion of board agenda items.

This is Adah's second year as a student representative. “One of the most significant things I learned last year was the process of how things come to fruition. As a student, there's a lot that impacts us, but we don’t stop to think about how or why. Having an insight into those things gives an interesting perspective,” he said.

In his second year, Adah wants to develop an even better understanding of how policies affect students, and further grow his advocacy skills.

Wen is also looking forward to giving students a voice. "I hope to give the school board a more comprehensive and diverse look into our student body. I’ve gained a lot of insight into Jefferson through my involvement with many different school and community activities, and I'm passionate about making a positive impact," she said.

Both students are heavily involved in activities in and out of school. Adah is president of Kennedy’s National Honor Society and participates in IGNITE, DECA, as well as football and track and field. Wen is president of Bloomington’s DECA chapter. She’s also involved in Jefferson’s coding club, is a high school computer science ambassador for code.org and does fundraising work for Horizon Hopes, which helps nonprofits like MDA.