Grace Ackerman
Activities: Varsity Tennis-captain, UNICEF, Great Planes Aviation student pilot;
Scholastic Achievements: Mayo Clinic Dependent Scholarship candidate, Honors Diploma, Big 9 All-Conference, Mayo Honor Society;
Future Plans: Minnesota State University-Mankato, majoring in aviation to become a professional pilot.
Grace Ackerman (submitted photo)
Parents: Anjali and Sumit Bhagra;
Activities: Mayo Tennis Team, Rochester-Olmsted County Youth Commission, Stories of Stigma and Strength, Debate Team, Student Government;
Scholastic Achievements: National Merit Scholarship finalist, Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Award, two-time National Spanish Exam Silver Award, CECAC Community Grant winner, Outstanding Mayo Clinic Youth Volunteer;
Community Service/Volunteer Work: Mayo Clinic Young Volunteers Program, Key Club, Public Health Safety Advisory Board member;
2 months ago Share The first Teen Town Hall was held the evening of Jan. 21 and moderated by the district s two student School Board members.
Flagler Schools first Teen Town Hall event went well enough that local parents are asking for their own. Parents love it, School Board member Cheryl Massaro said at a Feb. 2 School Board workshop. They want one for themselves. They want a town hall.
School Board member Colleen Conklin said she d heard the same thing and had already reached out to district staff to attempt to set one up.
The first Teen Town Hall was held the evening of Jan. 21 and moderated by student School Board members Brianna Whitfield and Kyleigh Ruddy, with the support of Massaro and district staff members. (Student School Board members one selected from each of the district s two high schools sit in on district School Board meetings to offer a student perspective, although they don t vote on action items.)
Transgender students will be explicitly protected in Flagler Schools nondiscrimination policy: The School Board at a Dec. 15 meeting voted 3-2, with board members Janet McDonald and Jill Woolbright dissenting, to add the words gender identity to the policy s existing list of protected characteristics.
Board Chairman Trevor Tucker, who at a recent workshop had expressed concern that adding gender identity could be a slippery slope to adding multiple identities and making the policy excessively long, had by the Dec. 15 meeting changed his mind, voting along with board members Colleen Conklin and Cheryl Massaro in favor of adding gender identity to the policy as a parenthetical after the word sex.