One dedicated student will represent a district’s worth of students’ voices and opinions as the student trustee.
Students at each college had the opportunity to apply for the one-year nonvoting position with the college’s SGA.
The student trustee will spend late nights at board and committee meetings, special sessions and board retreats. For this, the student will receive a $600 scholarship.
Then there’s the alternate, who will do everything the student trustee is required to do and receives no award for it.
There is no scholarship attached to performing an equal amount of work.
The alternate is there just in case the trustee is unable to complete the term or is absent from a meeting.
Like the student trustee, the alternate can’t vote on issues but can’t be spared a decent fraction of the meager scholarship.
How fair is that?
Of the students who bothered to apply, they certainly weren’t aiming for the commitment of being the runner-up.
What student could possibly be satisfied with unrewarded work?
It’s not like an internship where students gain useful experience that might lead to a paying job. The district’s focus has been on workforce development, yet that aspect has be overlooked here.
Students’ time and money are not being well-spent.
Don’t waste a student’s time unless the alternate receives a scholarship, too.