Student Leadership → Student Member of the Board
Student Member of the Board
The Student Member of the Board (SMOB) is a voting member of the Montgomery County Board of Education. The SMOB can vote on matters related to collective bargaining, capital and operating budgets, and school closings, reopenings and boundaries, but not on negative personnel actions. Montgomery County is one of two counties in Maryland to give this position full voting rights. The SMOB is not paid, but receives a $5,000 college scholarship, Student Service Learning hours, and one honors-level social studies credit.
Listen to what students had to say about the importance of voting in this election:
Arvin Kim
Arvin Kim, a junior at Walt Whitman High School, has been elected the 45th Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB) for the 2022-2023 school year.
All secondary students were eligible to vote virtually in the SMOB election and more than 56,000 students cast ballots. Mr. Kim received 58.7 percent of the vote, while his opponent, Ibrahima (Baba) Cisse, a junior at Albert Einstein High School, received 40.8 percent. The SMOB election was held on April 20, 2022 through an electronic ballot that all students received in their MCPS email and were encouraged to vote through a class lesson.
Leadership and Accomplishments
- Middle School Student Government Association, Vice President
- Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association, Treasurer and Chief of Staff
- SMOB Advisory Cabinet, Director
- MoCo Pride Youth, Founding Member
- Maryland Association of Student Councils, Certified Workshop Presenter
- Asian American Progressive Student Union, Vice-President
Mr. Kim will replace Hana O’Looney, a senior at Richard Montgomery High School, who will graduate in June.
