As we announced in the December 2013 issue of Currently Colchester, we introduce CHS senior Teremy Garen, the Colchester School Board’s newly appointed student representative.
CHS senior Teremy Garen has been appointed to the Colchester School Board. (Photo credit: Amy Guidice)
As a non-voting member of the school board, Teremy’s responsibilities include attending school board meetings in order to liaise between voting school board members and the student body. “Part of my role is to be available—to be present—everywhere I can possibly be to hear opinions and perspectives on different things,” she said. “As a student, I have an insider’s view into how students are being affected by policies created by the school board.”
Inspired by former student school board member Jordan Isham’s involvement last year, Teremy is looking forward to the opportunity to augment student participation in the process. “It’s important to make not only my opinion heard but also the opinions of everyone else,” she said. “Expressing opinions is difficult for a lot of people; the age factor is a barrier … there is sometimes a feeling among students that, because you’re seventeen, your opinions are not quite as valued.”
In addition to connecting with CHS Student Government to solicit input and to help disseminate information, part of Teremy’s strategy for keeping her peers informed of school board-related activities and decisions that affect policy involves widespread social media. In preparing for effective participation in school board business, Teremy plans to speak with the school board members and the CSD principals in order to acquire additional input. Having attended a number of school board meetings in the past, she is also catching up on Lake Champlain Access Television (LCATV) recordings of school board meetings in order to gain a better sense of parliamentary procedure and the general manner in which school board business is typically conducted. She also plans to connect with former student school board member Jordan Isham for the benefit of his perspective and insight.
A talented vocalist (hear her singing the national anthem in this video), Teremy has participated in twelve selective choral festivals and ten theater productions to date during her high school career, and she also plays guitar, clarinet, and piano. Additionally, she recently participated in the 2013 American Legion Auxiliary Green Mountain Girls State program (the same program in which former CHS student Hanna Orselet participated which ultimately landed her a meeting with President Barack Obama).
Teremy invites the Colchester community to contact her via her Colchester School District e-mail address (teremy.garen@colchestersd.org) or via her Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/teremylee).
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