My name is Tomi Williams; and I have been fortunate enough to be selected by you, my peers, as the Student Member of the Board of Education for the 2011-2012 school year.

As Student Member of the Board, it will be my responsibility to act as a liaison between the students of Howard County and the adults of the Howard County Public School System. Effective communication with my fellow students will be essential to my success in this position.

There are a lot of goals that I hope to accomplish as the Student Member, but one that I am very passionate about achieving is getting more student involved. The point of the Student Member should not only be ceremonial, the Student Member acts as a bridge between the students and adults of the Howard County Public School System. I plan to get more students to be interested in the matters of the Board of Education, because so many of the issues that we as students complain about are being decided by the Board of Education and so many of the things that we about our schools love are being maintained by the Board. We can only get what we want, what we believe in, if we make our voices heard.

If I do nothing else as the Student Member, I want to let my fellow students know that they have a voice in their local government, especially the Board of Education, because the point of the Board of Education is to serve the students and if we are not active in the process then we will have no control over what or how we are being served.

In order for me to fulfill the obligations of this position, I need your questions, concerns and feedback. It is my responsibility to represent my fellow students on the Board and I can only do this effectively if I can establish new and innovative ways of increasing the amount of communication and improving the methods of communication with HCPSS students already in place. Please never hesitate to get in contact with me and share your ideas!