[Editors note: Last fall we asked senior Ben Robinson to keep a journal of his service as student representative on the Eldred Board of Education. Ben is the son of Aaron and Randy Robinson and has gone on to attend the Merchant Marine Academy.]

By BEN ROBINSON

When I was in elementary school, my father was on the school board. I remember him going off to long dramatic meetings and wishing I could go as well. They built a new school, found new superintendents and it seemed to me more exciting than anything out there. I remember saying, "I'm going to be on the school board one day."

After that things settled down a bit and the school board moved to the back of my mind until they made an announcement that it was time to find the next student representative to the board. It was the end of my junior year and I went home and wrote a letter of interest and submitted it the next day. Apparently I was the only one who applied and I found a letter in the mail in August telling me about my first school board meeting. I could not wait.

That first school board meeting came and I was there early and it was the only meeting when this would happen. The big issue of that evening was the newly-installed fuel tanks and how to finish the canopy to leave it as pleasant to the eye as possible. I could not believe the amount of discussion that went into this simple choice. Another thing that I could hardly believe was how much of the school's activity occurs completely unnoticed by students. I had no idea that these new fuel tanks would be there and that they were part of a large possible rearrangement of the upper parking lots.

Then the first day of school came and I put a message in the morning announcements saying I was the new student representative and that if anyone had any problems or complaints to bring them to me. And so they did. Over the next few days I heard complaints about the new locker arrangements and parking lot rules. None of the things had anything to do with school board policy so I took them to the principal.

What I came to realize over these first few months was that I would not be bringing things from the apathetic student body to the school board but rather getting student feedback on school board issues. When they wanted to change the academic policy for those on athletics I asked around to see what people thought was fair and after the board implemented it I was able to see if it was working better than anyone on the school board. And so I settled into my job as the school year settled in.

The running of a school is a much more costly thing than I had realized. The frustrating thing about this is that a school never brings in any money to cover its expenses. Taxes on some level or another are the way a school gets money. Because the population is always growing, a school's budget must, too. I found this a hard fact to accept, as I believe everyone does.

At the end of the year the future of senior class trips was discussed. This had been something that we had been discussing a lot in class and I was very glad that I could be there to add my perspective. It was the perspective of those who, out of apathy, would not have shown up at the meetings. Sometimes the students that care a lot about something do not actually represent the whole student body.

One of the most valuable skills I walked away from this experience with was the sense of procedure I got from being part of the school board. By the time I finished my term I had a clear understanding of how meetings are run, policy is set and how to work within a system to get what you want. As an adult now in a military academy this has been a useful skill.

I am very thankful that our school offers this opportunity and I feel strongly that every district should have something similar to this for its students. I can only hope that I was a fraction as helpful to the school board as they were to me.