This summer, Walla Walla High School senior and WWCC Running Start student Hailey Thrall became the first student representative to hold an official seat on the Walla Walla Public Schools Board of Directors. Past student representatives have made reports to the board, but in July, board members approved a new policy allowing them to seat student representatives on the board as non-voting members.
A familiar face in the WWCC bookstore, where she’s worked since the spring, Thrall is no stranger to leadership. She learned about the school board opportunity through her work on the Superintendent Student Advisory Council, a districtwide group of 16 students who advise the superintendent on student issues. With support from teachers and friends, she decided to apply and was sworn in to the board in September.
As a student representative, Thrall is encouraged to attend all regular meetings of the school board, ensuring that students’ ideas and concerns are heard.
“Overall, the role of a student representative is to share their experiences and opinions and to act as a voice for the students,” she says.
Student representatives do no attend executive sessions or vote, but they can still play an important role. For instance, Thrall collaborates with student groups, such as Walla Walla Students for Climate Action, to come to board meetings and talk about the issues that matter to them. It can be powerful, she says, for the board to hear from so many students at once. And she’s eager to team up with other students who want to bring their issues to the board’s attention.
“It has been an honor to be the first student representative on the school board, and I am glad our school district has given students the chance to have a position at the table,” Thrall says.
When she’s not meeting with the Student Advisory Council or the school board, Thrall attends AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) classes at Walla Walla High School and Running Start classes at WWCC. Thrall has been in Running Start since her junior year at Wa-Hi and is on track to complete her associate degree this summer.
“Hailey is amazing,” says WWCC Running Start Coordinator Jacqueline Alonso-Barrientos. “She has excelled at WWCC as a Running Start student.”
At first, Thrall wasn’t sure what she wanted to study in college. But then she took a psychology course at WWCC, and something clicked. “That is one of the greatest benefits of Running Start,” Alonso-Barrientos says. “Running Start gives students an opportunity to enroll into courses that may not be offered at the high school.”
After finishing her associate degree, Thrall now plans to transfer to a four-year university to earn her bachelor’s degree in psychology.