At Thursday’s Board of Education meeting at Central Middle School, the two Greenwich High School student government leaders, Javier Serra and Kwame Boateng, shared some powerful words in their farewell remarks.
Javier has served as senior class president and Kwame Boateng has served Student Body President. Both are elected positions.
Javier is headed to Harvard in the fall and Kwame is headed to University of Pennsylvania. (Congratulations!)
“Regardless of all the noise, please continue to give our teachers the agency to teach us truth based in reason and fact. Please continue to support new initiatives and explore ideas like the new African-American, Black and Latino studies elective.”
– Javier Serra, GHS class of 2022 president
And while some in Greenwich may remember 2022 as the year GHS ended SRO, Javier and Kwame were able to unite students during the pandemic.
In February, Kwame told the board that students were thrilled at the decision to make face masks optional.
“If we can take anything away from the past two years of this pandemic, it would be our community’s capacity to sacrifice and care for one another and the common good,” he said.
With Homeroom being state mandated this year, he talked about making the best of it, and finding ways to create a closer knit community.
“For the past year, I have watched parents bicker back and forth, to the point where this room is physically split into two sections based based upon what agenda one supports.”
– Kwame Boateng, GHS student body president
Many will remember that Javier organized a 8.46 mile walk in honor of George Floyd. At the time he was a sophomore. Hundreds of GHS students turned out for the “Walk for Floyd,” despite it being a hot, humid day.
On Thursday Javier and Kwame thanked a long list of people, including GHS student activities leader Karen Foster and both the principal Ralph Mayo and assistant principal Dana Tulotta.
They shared heartfelt gratitude to the GHS executive committee advisor, Daniel Silkman, who was in the audience.
“Your tireless efforts toward supporting student government have not gone unnoticed,” Javier said. “A GHS alumnus himself, Mr. Silkman is devoted, passionate and supportive.”
Speaking of Mr. Silkman’s email availability, Javier said, “Mr. Silkman doesn’t just get a little bit of sleep. He is incredibly prompt. His little icon would appear on my document seconds after I sent my email. He is an incredibly dedicated civil servant as well as a fine product of the Greenwich Public Schools.”
Javier also thanked Mr. Mayo and Ms Tulotta. “To get one of their ears, it really was as simple as showing up to their office.” He also thanked Karen Foster, the director of student activities. lastly chair stowe, bernstein. direct line of communication
“It is with immense gratitude and pleasure that I stand before you here tonight, as it has been every month. The scheduled time for student voices at each board business meeting is a proudly unique characteristic of the Greenwich Board of Education,”Javier said. “Believe it or not, attending these meetings has been my favorite part of being class president. Despite the homework load or whatever upcoming test I had, I always found myself staying at these meetings way past the allotted speaker time.”
Javier talked about the importance of the board’s decisions on the community, and his own vested interest in Greenwich Schools.
“Your jobs come with plenty of public criticism, and little praise, but I wanted to assure you that all of your work is appreciated,” Javier said.
“Regardless of all the noise, please continue to give our teachers the agency to teach us truth based in reason and fact. Please continue to support new initiatives and explore ideas like the new African-American, Black and Latino studies elective,” he said to a round of applause.
“Nelson Mandela once said, education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world. Never forget the power it wields, and do not waiver in using it to support the growth of Greenwich Public Schools students, and ignore whatever agendas others have.”
In his remarks, Kwame said he was truly grateful for his time, not only this year, but in student government during his four years at GHS. He recalled lunch meetings with Dr. Jones and thanked her for always listening.
Like Javier, Kwame expressed gratitude to Mr. Silkman, who he referred to as “the glue that kept everything together this year.”
“This man would would wake up at any time and respond with the utmost diligence and care for all of our initiatives,” he said. “Not to mention, he edited all my speeches and kept me on track.”
Sharing his his thoughts on taking action, he quoted US Congressman from Connecticut, Jim Himes.
“When asked why he doesn’t observe moments of silence after mass shootings on the Daily show, Congressman Jim Himes said, ‘If you’re in the one room when you can start fixing this problem and your answer is let me just stop talking for 10 seconds, and by the way the flag at the top of our building, we’re going to drop that down 20 feet, that’s negligence. That’s not honoring anybody.'”
Kwame said Representative Himes words spoke to him, not only because he described himself as similarly a firm believer in action.
“For the past year, I have watched parents bicker back and forth, to the point where this room is physically split into two sections based based upon what agenda one supports,” he said. “It is my view that this is a room that can fix our community’s issues.”
“This is a room intended to be a space for truth as well as the opinions of Greenwich residents. But most importantly, this room is intended for hard and sometimes uncomfortable discourse that results in substantive initiatives. When discourse becomes more divisive than productive, or unified, then there is a problem,” Kwame said to applause.
“I believe that we as a community have reached this problem and we need to address it for the betterment of our schools. We all have experienced what inaction looks like on a local, state and federal level, so I implore us all to use these meetings as a means to take action, and make Greenwich Public Schools the best it can be.”
Kwame introduced the incoming leaders of GHS student government, senior body president Isabella Gega and student body vice president Mitchell Goldstein.
“I’m confident that these two will excel in their roles,” he said. “I’m so excited for them to continue this important tradition of representing GHS students at Board of Education meetings.”
See also :PHOTOS: Hundreds of Greenwich Youth March 8.46 Miles to Honor George Floyd
