Youssef Saidi will become the 22nd student representative to the Boone County Board of Education when he takes his seat at the August board meeting to serve as a non-voting member of the board for the 2023-24 school year. He will replace the outgoing Heng Yang, who will graduate this spring.
Student members bring the voice of the students to the board, advocate for specific issues and share student activities at the monthly meetings. Saidi, a student at Cooper High School, was elected as the new Student Representative at the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council Delegate Assembly in April and was introduced at the recent Board of Education Meeting.
The SSAC meets once a month during the school year and focuses on developing council members’ leadership skills. Boone County was the first in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to elect a student member to its Board of Education.
Also on the ballot: Austin Reed of Boone County High School; Britney Ampadu of Conner High School; Hajar Elayyadi of IGNITE Institute and Hannah Engel of Ryle High School. Student candidates each prepared a video that was distributed to each high school, where council members solicited feedback from their specific student body on their school’s choice.
Delegates to the SSAC then came back together to hear from each candidate and vote. The SSAC members voted on official board of election machines. Their votes were certified by the Boone County Clerk.
Saidi will be the 22nd student representative elected to the Boone County Board of Education since the SSAC was created in 2002.
Saidi will also preside over the SSAC after being sworn in at the August school board meeting.