News and Information

 


Halee

Students select Milford Mill Academy junior for student member of the Board of Education

Haleemat Adekoya’s name to be forwarded to Gov. Larry Hogan for appointment

 

TOWSON – The votes are in! Student representatives from across the county have selected Haleemat Adekoya, a junior at Milford Mill Academy, to be the next student member of the Board of Education of Baltimore County.

 

Adekoya was chosen after a half-day forum involving 100 middle school and high school student leaders. The students gathered at Pikesville High School on April 6 to hear speeches by and ask questions of the two finalists, and then to cast ballots for either Adekaya or the other finalist for the post, Yara Daraiseh of Patapsco High School & Center for the Arts. The finalists were asked a wide range of questions about their plans and priorities, how they would communicate with students, how they would handle the pressures of the role, and their positions on issues such as technology in the classroom, grading policies, bullying, and creating unity.

 

Adekoya’s name will now be forwarded to Gov. Larry Hogan for consideration and appointment to the one-year position.

 

The forum was hosted by Josie Shaffer, current student member of the Board and a Pikesville High senior, and Jake Turner, president of Baltimore County Student Councils and a junior at Hereford High School. In addition to a welcome from Pikesville Principal Sandra Reid, the forum featured greetings from Christina Byers, community superintendent for zone 3.

Prior to 2016, student members had been chosen and recommended by a committee of BCPS educators, staff, and student leaders. The forum and student balloting were created to increase student participation, interest, and investment in the position of student member of the Board. 


Adekoya is a junior from Randallstown who serves as president of the Class of 2019 at Milford Mill. She is a member of the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society, the Principal’s Advisory Board, and operates her own nonprofit, “Dare2Bee," a female empowerment organization. She is also president of the Baltimore County African Student Association and is involved in her church youth choir.

 

In her application essay, Adekoya wrote that she seeks a seat on the Board as part of her mission to become an activist for “all things children." She added, “I believe in being a voice and never an echo."