PGCPS Student Member of the Board of Education Swearing In Ceremony 6/28/2024

to swear in our new student board member good afternoon for those who don't know me I'm Judy mickens Murray I am chair of the board this is my last day there will be a transition starting July 1 good evening and afternoon to the ceremonial oath of office for the elected student board member for the Prince Georges county public schools Board of Education this is an excellent day of celebration for the Board of Education today our student board member is joining the ranks and pursuing great work and service to the students of Prince George's County Public Schools thank you all for your presence this afternoon the following student member of the board will be sworn in this afternoon Mr Jamal Jango at this time the honorable mahasan El Amin Clerk of the Circuit Court Prince georgees County Maryland will administer the oath of office honorable elme [Music] okay and then just repeat after me okay okay okay for everybody you want to arrange everybody how you need to AR well actually what I wanted to do I was going to let you go through okay but I would like to move the mic out of the way okay no problem okay raise your right hand they repeat after me me I I state your name Jamal J jongo do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will be faithful that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to the state of Maryland and bear true allegiance to the state of Maryland and support the Constitution and laws thereof and the con and support the Constitutions and laws thereof and that I will and that I will to the best of my skill and judgment and to the best of my skill and judgment diligently and Faithfully diligently and Faithfully without partiality or Prejudice without partiality or Prejudice execute the office of execute the office of student member for the Board of Education student member for the Board of Education according to the Constitution and laws of the state according to the Constitutions and law of the state and the charter and laws of Prince George's County and the charter and laws of Prince George's County congratulations as soon as he finish the signing we'll have him make some remarks congratulations board member jungo uh if you will come over here at this time we will have some brief remarks from you and then you will give it back to me okay thank you so want um dang so I did write a speech um it was really long so I said I wasn't going to say it anymore um so about a year ago I think yeah about a year ago um I lost one of my close friends to gun violence um I'm G try not to cry but I think when it happened I was actually on the way back from a student um smob advisory council meeting um it was when Al was still student member of the board and you know there's a lot of things going through my mind like how did it happen um could I have changed the way that you know the outcome but I really just had to sit there and really think of the fact that you know life is really short and that I really need to spend every waking moment that I have being able to make sure that the next person is able to get out of those situations where they're not in that you know in that convenience um I just want to first thank God I want to thank my dad I want to thank my mom I want to thank my whole family that's here I want to thank every single person that's in this boardroom today you guys honestly have made my world I could couldn't ask for a better support system I couldn't ask for better advisors I couldn't ask for a better principal I couldn't ask for better friends and I couldn't ask for better board members it's honestly been such a long journey from here starting as I think my first SJ role was class president um 10th grade year and I've just elevated every single year I was one of the first students ever to join the mob advisory Council from Douglas the first student to join prass then you know now I'm the first Douglas student to be the student member of the Board of Education they won't be my only first I'm just they're just going to keep elevating from here so I just want to thank everybody for coming again and thank you so much again thank you and on behalf of the Board of Education and administration we want to congratulate you and welcome to the prince judges County Board of education at this time just to manage things we are going to have some pictures we're going to let the photographer help us to do that we should have pictures with the board with his family Administration superintendent house and then I understand that his principal is in the audience so we need a a picture with the principal as well and what about the and we're going to have comments from and of course he's going to have pictures with the past Ms but we're going to have words from some of the SMS too but if you don't mind I think we should take the pictures first and then you make the comments okay so thank you so much e e e for they from change r two than spe e sec two first [Applause] you hello oh hello okay everyone can hear me right okay awesome hi everyone my name is rain and I'm the former 43rd student member of the prince JIS County Board of Education I am so so so proud of you Jamal and I'm going to be very quick with my remarks um for all of you that don't know I originally met Jamal on Alvaro the former mobs advisory Council and he was our Tech guy so anytime Alro needed help with like a projector maybe something with the HDMI cords Jamal was always helping he was very good at just putting our Tech together so um over time I got to know Jamal personally and I learned more about his leadership and advocacy and we became friends and eventually when I became small he joined my advisory counil and supported me in my journey then one day he came up and he was like rain I think I'm want to be the next mob and I was like are you sure you sure it's a lot it's a lot of hard work and dedication but I just saw the passion in his eyes that I saw my eyes alvaro's eyes Nina's eyes that all are unique to Future SMS and I knew that he was going to be the next mob Jamal you're going to do so great I don't even have to give you too many tips you know I'm always a calla away but I know you're going to do awesome you're passionate about our school system you have experience being in our school system and you love your community and that's what we need most as a smob someone who is genuine someone who is kindhearted and I know you're going to be dedicated so don't forget me when you go on your way up I will be here again but I genuinely do appreciate you and I'm looking forward to Years of Legacy and friendship with you thank you passing it to Alvaro now hello everyone my name is Alvarez rre I am the 42nd student board member so I am rain's predecessor I first want to say congratulations from all I know you'll do some amazing things I know from the moment you joined my advisory Council that you were committed to this work um I know rain said you were our Tech guy but when Ro started becoming available you jumped at them whenever there was an opportunity to do more than just the role that you had signed up for you jumped at that opportunity and from there I saw a light in you I saw commitment I saw passion so when it came time for elections last year and I found out about your run I truly was excited and I felt a little bad because I know towards my second term I made I led some changes to the role to inovate the role of student board member one of them being the brand new election model and so that being a countywide election with six to 12th grade all six to 12th grade students voting and you were going to be one of the first few to actually lead a campaign in that capacity um but no better person than you to do such a thing to Pilot such a thing and you did it with such how can I even put it like I don't have a word for it because from all the videos I saw on Instagram all the post you did you led that campaign with o like you were ready for that role like you were coming for it and that's why you won because students saw that they saw that they could trust you to be the next student member of the board they knew that you were going to sit on this Di and vote on their behalf with their best interest in mind and so one of the best tips I can give you that I know I got from my predecessor Nina was to lean on the rest of us to lean on rain to lean on us if you ever need anything and to never feel shy like oh maybe I should lead this on my own like maybe I should like like if you ever have a doubt reach out like it's better to you know like though you want to like learn some things along the way better to try to lean on us cuz we're here for you cuz we want to see you succeed and I know you're going to succeed like come next time come next year like you have done so many so many great things things so congratulations I wish you all the best I'm excited to see what you [Music] [Applause] [Music] do hey everybody I am Lolita ew Walker I am the vice chair of our Board of Education and I want to First just say I'm so proud of you I'm proud of you not only because you're hash District n okay but I'm also proud of you because if you just listen this is three generations of SMS before you who are here to support you inside of this role they're showing up because you've already shown up they're talking about the work that you've already done in a community that's amazing our photographer said today what he can already see is wow your support system is Big it's vast and so never feel like you have to do this alone you have a huge Community behind you why for Success why because they see not only where you are but the potential of where it is that you're going and so without the pressures of all of the things that you might have your mind about what this role will bring I encourage you to come in with an open mind to read to listen um and then to make decisions based on what it is that you have and being able to articulate that it's that simple you speak on behalf of the students who have elected you to be inside of this role and I'm very proud of you and I just want to say congratulations and welcome [Applause] absolutely at this time we're going to mingle with board members as time we are the the formal part of the uh presentation is over so now we're going to meet family we're going to talk there are some refreshments in the back but let's board members greet our new family members thank you thank you [Applause] [Music]