The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has selected 12 high school sophomores/rising juniors as semifinalists for the 2022-23 SBE junior representative position.

Amongst the semi-finalists, Charles Fruge of Oxford High School was listed as the only student from the Oxford School District.

Other semi-finalists include Karastan Gamble of North Pontotoc High School, Omair Jamil of DeSoto Central High School, Kathryn Newman of Attala County School District, Zachary Rifkin of Lamar County School District, Camryn Robertson of Rankin County School District, Bryce Smith of Brookhaven School District, Jared Smith of Long Beach School District, Benjamin Torrey of Rankin County School District, John Walker of Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District and Kaelyn Welch of Pass Christian Public School District.

The SBE student representative program includes one high school junior and one high school senior who serves as non-voting SBE members and provide input on policy decisions that affect Mississippi public schools. The current SBE junior representative is Micah Hill of Laurel High School, and she will serve as the senior representative in 2022-23.

The SBE received 35 applications for the 2022-23 SBE junior representative position. All 12 semifinalists will automatically become members of the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council for the 2022-23 school year.

The SBE adopted a policy in 2018 outlining the criteria for adding student representatives to the State Board.

The School Performance and Accountability Subcommittee of the SBE will conduct semifinalist interviews in April and name up to four finalists for interviews with the SBE. The appointment of the junior representative will be made at an SBE meeting June 15.

Student representatives are responsible for attending monthly SBE meetings and any standing committees or subcommittees to which they are assigned. Student representatives are excused from school to attend SBE meetings as official school business.