One thing the San Marino School District heavily emphasizes is establishing a strong connection between the student body and the community. One such way of doing so is through the Superintendent Advisory Council, which is composed of a dozen or so exemplar student representatives. “It’s a board where a group of students meets with the superintendent once a month and learns about the inner workings of the district and give feedback on said initiatives,” council member Jullien Collet, 11, said.
On Tuesday, March 27, 2025, select members of the superintendent advisory council were also chosen to give speeches at the SMUSD board meeting. These students, Benjamin Miller, 12, Emily Woo, 12, Chloe Ta, 12, Genevieve Pham, 10, and Leah Dean, 12, each focused on a different aspect of their STAC experience to reflect upon. These members, including those who didn’t give speeches, were also honored with end-of-year certificates recognizing their contributions to the district.
“In this year alone, the SSAC has discussed a great number of topics, including, but not limited to: board goals, facility improvements, campus safety, academic and social environments in schools, and student wellbeing—all of which have been highly informative as a student of the district,” Woo highlighted in her speech. “For example, earlier this year, I brought up the point of improving the ventilation and insulation systems of our high school’s gymnasiums—an ongoing concern for students who play summer and winter sports. To my surprise, the issue had already been considered. Due to California legal regulations and updated building codes, the gyms unfortunately can’t be improved unless the entire building is brought up to code, apparently, with costs nearly equivalent to completely rebuilding the gyms. Although this answer was a little discouraging, it was reassuring that the issue was far from being ignored (as many students tend to believe).”
