SMOB Sworn In

On July 9, 2018, Ananya Tadikonda was sworn in as the 41st Student Member of the Board (SMOB), succeeding Matt Post.

During his year as Student Member of the Board, Post fostered mental health awareness discussions in Montgomery County schools. While demographics within Montgomery County Schools have not fundamentally changed within Post’s terms.

Tadikonda expressed in an interview with Bethesda Beat her desire to continue Post's work in advocacy. She described how humbling of an experience it was for her to be sworn in and to begin a term throughout the past few months. Tadikonda said, “I’m really looking at equity and resource access for students.” She has already began to get to work on the equity issues by talking with athletic directors about how athletic involvement could benefit black and latino males, and how the school system allocates additional funds to schools with higher poverty rates. Tadikonda has expressed interest and consideration for a countywide mental health day. She said, “I’ve been talking about mental health, and equity and access resources within that.” She has also discussed her goal of reaching out to historically underrepresented schools in Montgomery County involved in student leadership opportunities like her own SMOB campaign.

Written by Bethel Mesfin

Photo Courtesy of MCPS

Published by PR Department