A candidate has thrown his name into the hat for a seat on the Ketchikan School Board and … it’s a high school senior.
Eighteen-year-old Trevor Shaw is home-schooled through the district’s Fast Track correspondence program. He also is the president of both the Ketchikan Youth Court and the United Youth Courts of Alaska.
“I keep up with current affairs. I’m very involved in local government, I attend a lot of the Borough Assembly meetings, keep up with what’s going on and education is definitely a big issue,” he said. “I just want to be involved in the decision making process for the school district.”
Shaw said he has a unique perspective to offer the School Board, which would help the board make better decisions. He said he’s looking forward to the experience.
Shaw said that if elected, he will commit to the full three-year term. After he graduates in 2014, he plans to take classes through the local University of Alaska Southeast campus.
Some issues Shaw mentioned include providing creativity, variety and opportunity to students, and securing the resources needed to fund those opportunities. He adds that he and other students are the future.
“In running, I hope to encourage other young adults, people my age, to get involved in the government process,” he said. “I am currently the youngest candidate for elected office in the state, and I think more of us need to be involved.”
As of deadline Friday, Shaw is the only candidate to file for one of the two open School Board seats. Those seats now are held by Dave Timmerman and Ginny Clay. Shaw said that Clay, who has announced she will not seek re-election, will be his campaign manager.
The deadline to file for local office is noon on Monday.
