Speaking for students

The students of Mississauga’s public secondary schools have a very able spokesperson in the Boardroom these days: Shambhavi Shankar, 17, student trustee for the schools south of the 401, has been making an informed and confident contribution to the Peel Board’s decision-making process since September.

The role is anything but token, says Shankar, a grade 12 student at the Woodlands School. Preparation for the twice-monthly board meetings includes reading and annotating substantial packages of information (agendas, minutes, business) and anticipating items that might well benefit from a youthful perspective.

She arrives at that perspective by polling schoolmates, communicating with student leaders in other schools by e-mail and telephone, and liaising with members of the Peel Student President Council (PSPC) at their Tuesday meetings.

In addition to board meetings, she enjoys monitoring the proceedings at the monthly meeting of the Board’s Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC).

Shankar has been a member, latterly an executive member, of the Peel Environmental Youth Alliance since grade 9; and it was in talking to the group’s founder Jasmeet Sidhu, herself a student trustee four years ago, that she first became interested in the position.

After securing the Woodlands nomination, she vied successfully with candidates from other schools in presenting a 3-minute self-promotional address at a district council meeting of student presidents.

Once appointed, training for the job included auditing a couple of board meetings and working her way through an 800-page policy book. She is grateful for the acceptance and assistance of all of the trustees and makes special mention of a warm welcome from chair Janet McDougald and some valuable mentoring from vice-chair Ruth Thompson.

A keen student, with marks in the low 90s and a particular interest in history, English, business and the social sciences, Shankar officially graduated in January; but she is finishing out the school year taking classes in calculus and business leadership at the Woodlands and doing a 2-credit co-op placement in the Board’s purchasing department.

September will probably find her studying business at Wilfrid Laurier University, with a career in investment banking or economic policy planning further in the future.

Outside the classroom her life at the Woodlands has been filled with badminton and soccer and membership in the drama, environment and philosophy clubs. And her welcoming smile and self-assurance have mad her a natural ambassador in greeting and orienting families new to the school.

Shankar plays the violin, is an accredited referee with the Ontario Soccer Association, and helps as a lighting and sound techie with the Amateur Millennium Artists, a cultural theatre group specializing in Indian mythologies. Chilling out means watching movies and stand-up comedy and listening to jazz and classic rock … especially Pink Floyd.

Serving as a student trustee has been a great learning experience, she says, and she would like to thank everyone who has helped ease her transition into a difficult and unaccustomed role.

The next Kim Campbell or Alexa McDonough?  Probably not: she has no interest in the political arena in terms of running for elected office, she says, but some backroom involvement (campaign manager or policy advisor) isn’t out of the question. 

For now, Shambhavi Shankar is getting a great deal of satisfaction from speaking for students.