9:11 am – Update

Welcome everyone to the 2024 Student Member of the Board Nomination Convention or the SMOB Nom-Con. This year’s pool of applicants includes eight students from seven different schools around Montgomery County, and today we will see which two applicants will become finalists for the position of SMOB.

The first round of voting will narrow down the number of candidates to about half. The second round of voting will determine the final two candidates for the forty-seventh SMOB.

The list of candidates are as follows;

Shaylie Allmond, Grade 11, Paint Branch High School

Andy Diaz Amaya, Grade 11, Gaithersburg High School

Bryan Doukouris, Grade 11, Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School

Christopher Luna Cruz, Grade 10, Gaithersburg High School

Rhyder Miles, Grade 11, Northwood High School

Sam (Samantha) Ross, Grade 11, Montgomery Blair High School

Praneel Suvarna, Grade 11, Clarksburg High School

Mitu (Beteselame) Tegegne, Grade 11, Sherwood High School

Stay tuned for more live updates throughout the day!

11:04 am- Update 

Candidates have arrived and are on the lookout for students and buses. Candidates were able to provide The Current with some of their goals for today and for SMOB, which are as follows:

Mitu Tegegne:

“My goal today is honestly just doing my best. It’s honestly just knowing your platform. The main thing I wanna do is bring back communication. Right now, it’s just like everybody yelling at each other, and it’s not communication, that’s just complaining. We need to able to express our problems without thinking we can’t do anything about it,” Tegegne said.

Tegegne encourages students to get into advocacy, “One person can’t do it alone. If we’re all fighting for it, it’s obviously possible.”

Shaylie Allmond:

“I’m a mixture of excited and nervous. I go to Paint Branch, so no one does anything like this,” Allmond said.

“As of today, I’m just going to take it one step at a time. Just focus on my speech, really try to get my point out there, and really put emotion through my speech,” Allmond said. “No matter where you’re from, a lot of people will tell you what they expect from you. You have the ability to do more than what people have told you.”

Praneel Suvarna:

“If you’re not nervous, you don’t care about it. So I’m nervous, but I’m ready to get things done and ready to be talked to. My goal today is to connect with the students. This is a really valuable opportunity that I don’t take lightly,” Suvarna said.  “I’ve created change in the past, and you guys can create change in the future.”

Rhyder Miles:

Miles says he’s feeling 80% excited and 20% nervous. “(My) goal today is to make it to the final two. I wanna make sure that if I’m elected, I’m organizing student voices.” Rhyder says he wants to tell the students to vote for passion. “Vote for who you think is going to be able to passionately advocate for what you want to see and get done.”

Bryan Doukouris:

Doukouris says he is feeling very nervous but also excited before everything takes place. “I want to send a message that all students are heard and their voices are very important, so people should speak up when they have problems so they can address (them) at the board level.”

Sam Ross:

Ross says she wants every student to know that their voice is heard and change can be made. “This is our time to have our voices be heard; change can be scary, and change can be uncertain, but we also know that we all want to make the school system truly the best in the nation.”

Christopher Luna Cruz:

Christopher says he is feeling excited and nervous. “If you vote for me, I’ll go to the moon and back for you.”

Now, all of the candidates are entering the theater, and we will begin proceedings with opening remarks from the Vice President of the Board of Education, Lynne Harris, and current SMOB, Sami Saeed.

11:53 – Update

All eight candidates have concluded their final speeches, mainly focusing on school safety, lunches, county-wide communication, and bathroom issues. MCR president Anusha Krishnan and fellow MCPS Students sing a few songs to hype up the crowd while MCPS staff members count the votes!

Concluding the first round of voting, delegates from each MCPS middle and high school selected the following six candidates moving on to the next round: Shaylie Allmond, Praneel Suvarna, Mitu Tegegne, and Sam Ross.

The next round will consist of a Q&A session with two pre-selected questions. Each candidate will receive 30 seconds to answer each question and will be allotted one minute at the end for a concluding statement. Following the closing statements, the delegates will vote to select the two finalists for the 2024 SMOB election.

12:50 – Latest Update

After the intensive Q&A session, concluding statements, and a brief lunch break, the final two candidates for the 2024 SMOB election are Praneel Suvarna and Sam Ross. Suvarna is a junior at Clarksburg High School, and Ross is a junior at Montgomery Blair High School.

The election’s public vote, open to all MCPS students grades 6-12, will take place on April 17, 2023.