Cynthia Ruelas: My role as a student representative from Shorewood on the school board

Cynthia Ruelas is the Shorewood HS
representative to the Shoreline School Board
Photo courtesy Shoreline Schools

By Cynthia Ruelas

The role of a Student Representative to the Shoreline School District Board of Directors is crucial, for a student has the task to represent their peers’ interests to the Board.

This role is very important because the student provides insight on issues high school students face and also provides the School Board with a high school student perspective.

I became interested in this position because of the lack of representation I saw at Shorewood. The reality is the leadership is predominantly white, although the leadership is filled with exceptional students it does not truly model the student body.

My goal for this position is I wanted to make certain that the minority group knew that they had a voice. In addition I wanted to provide my perspective that I feel that is common in the minority group. 

I am a Latina who comes from a low income family. I am on free reduced lunch and I am also part of the AVID program, AVID stands for Advance Via Individual Determination and focuses on students who have an underprivileged background. This program helps students develop strategies in order to be successful in college.

I was also a part of ELL in elementary school which is for English Language Learners. In my three years at Shorewood I have noticed that there is a need for representation and there is still a problem of barriers between different groups of people.

My ultimate goal is to make Shorewood a diverse and unified community. Taking on this role has made me realize that every single student has a part in this role.