Local News: Youngest School Board Member In Washington State
This past November the voters in Mount Vernon elected Sammy Solano Rivera, 19 to its school board. Kyle Collins has a look inside his campaign.
Sammy Solano Rivera is now the youngest member of a school board in Washington state. In Mount Vernon's District Four, he has just recently turned nineteen. I asked Rivera how this felt. I really enjoy it. I really like it. It really feels new. It really feels.
"I still haven't let it soaked in yet. I'm just very grateful to the community for electing me."
Rivera says he will work to become a bridge between the students, the teachers and the school system, which he says is often out of touch with the needs and the wishes of the public schools.
"Their voice is not being heard enough. That's what really made me run for the school board."
Rivera is a recent graduate of Mount Vernon High School, and besides his new responsibilities on the school board and his part time job, he also attends Skagit Valley College, where he studies political science and law. And I asked him, what are some of the goals that you have in the immediate.
"Well, I mean, my main goal would be directly getting more in depth with students, not only the ones that are being allowed to be helped, but also the ones that don't want help because those are the main students that we should focus on. That's one of my goals as well, hearing teachers out and making sure that I'm bringing this to the board and the superintendent and making them aware."
Of course, he did have help in this victory from his campaign manager, Sayer Tice, who was just seventeen at the time. Tice managed and organized the campaign. The research and the social media work from his dorm room at the University of Massachusetts, where he also now studies poli sci. They both feel that it was their face to face interactions and their listening to the community. That was the big difference in their approach. They found their neighbors repeating what they felt were the biggest issues.
"That was our main campaign strategy, really getting out there, talking to people, engaging with people in the community and then hearing what they have to say and then saying, okay, we're going to act on this."
Tice and Rivera reached out to organizations like the teachers union and the National Working Families Party, not for financial support, but for endorsements. Their campaign received small donations, mostly from individuals, including fellow students.
"And how a lot of a lot of the times it was also students who don't necessarily aren't known for having money. Like, you know, we're getting like fifteen, ten, uh, five dollars donations."
Sammy is the son of a migrant family and a Latino student in a fifty eight percent Latino school system. I asked if he thought that this worked to Rivera's advantage.
"Because we really needed every voter we could get in this campaign, in this campaign. We weren't just going to, like, focus all of our resources into one group."
When he began his high school journey, even he was reluctant to believe that he would succeed. He found school to be nothing exciting until he met a debate teacher, Kelly Kirkpatrick.
"I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know that I had goals or dreams, aspirations, nothing like that. My debate coach really pushed me to that. She showed me this type of kindness that I never thought a teacher would show me."
Kelley Kirkpatrick, debate coach, Mount Vernon High School.
"Kim was from the get go, always a very caring student. He wants to use his ability to to use his words and his intelligence to make the world a better place. Um, I do see him staying in local politics. I think he has, um, a servant's soul. He. He wants to make the world a better place and to help people."
Steve Jobs was famously quoted as saying, the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world usually do.
"I think you this will not be the last time you hear from Sammy Solano or Sayer or Sayer ties, for that matter."
I'm Kyle Collins for KSVR.