Kristen Caldwell is the new junior school board representative. Chosen by all the school’s class officers and student council members, she was selected to represent the entire student body’s voice. Here is a brief interview of her talking about her experiences and thoughts of the job.

What was the application process like?

Applications are available for juniors at the beginning of every school year. The current student representative will send out an email and students who would like to run for the position can show interest. Students have to make a speech in front of all of the class officers and student council members from all the grades. These officers will then vote for who they think is most qualified.

What are some responsibilities of being on the school board?

Overall, the job of student representatives is to represent the K-12 student body voice. Student representatives must attend all school board meetings which are held every other Thursday evening. They also must attend workshops and several other events to represent Scarborough. Once a month, representatives are responsible for creating a report about student activity throughout the district.

What is your favorite aspect of the job?

I love being able to work closely with the school board members and positively impact my school and community.

Describe the job with three adjectives.

Rewarding, interesting, educational

Would you recommend this experience for others, why?

If you are passionate about education and public service I would absolutely recommend running for this position. It is such a unique experience that you would not be able to get in any other position. It's also very impactful to be able to make a difference in your school and district.

Describe what an average meeting is like.

An average meeting begins with a workshop that usually lasts one hour. Workshops are great educational opportunities where board members and leaders in the community are able to share their knowledge about different topics. Business meetings come after workshops and these are meetings where members vote about specific. Business meetings are less conversational and more focused on reports and approving different bills.

Any other information you would like students to know?

This job is so interesting and a great experience for anyone who wants to learn more about our education system. It is a very big time commitment, but definitely worth it!

You might be sitting there thinking about how much you hate biology, and how you’d rather do literally anything instead of going to a biology class, then let me tell you, you’ve probably never been to one of Mrs. Allen’s biology classes. Mrs. Allen teaches AP and Biology 3, and is able to make learning the subject the one of the most invigorating and fascinating experiences of your entire high school experience. Seriously - it’s that awesome.

Mrs. Allen thoroughly enjoys her job and has a wholesome passion for what she teaches. She loves working with amazing friends and colleagues, as well as teaching some wonderful and brilliant students. However, her real love for teaching comes from the ‘lightbulb’ look in a student’s eyes when they learn something on their own.

Had Mrs. Allen not taken up the teaching profession, she would love to have had a farm to grow and sell organic produce. She would’ve had lots of chickens, to sell their eggs, and many goats, to sell their milk and cheese. Additionally, she would’ve also loved to have run programs to teach kids how to grow food in a responsible way as well as about animal husbandry, the cultivation, and the breeding of animals.

Aside from her career, she can usually be found traveling Maine and Massachusetts on the weekends for her son’s hockey games. Though this may sound tiring to the outside ear, she wouldn’t trade it for the world, and considers herself a hockey mom to the core. However, when she is not off in New England traveling to hockey tournaments, she can be found working in her gardens, working on her chicken coop, or running on the trails when the weather is adequate.

Mrs. Allen is an incredibly kind, caring teacher and is honestly one of the best science teachers I’ve ever had, she makes science fun for her students and creates a relaxing environment in even and AP class, which is why she’s such a beloved teacher. If you ever get the chance to be in one of her classes, I can guarantee you will enjoy yourself and learn a lot too!