- May 5, 2024
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Brendan Wang and Stanley Gatzek will represent Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas high schools, respectively, as student School Board members this year.
The two were introduced to the School Board at a Sept. 19 School Board meeting and will sit with board members at the dais during board meetings and offer input.
“We want to help come together as a community to help all students and just have a positive environment for them to succeed,” Wang said.
Stanley has already earned his AICE diploma with merit and is currently an AICE and dual-enrollment student who will earn his associate degree from Daytona State College upon graduation from Matanzas. Stanley is ranked first in his class academically, with a 5.4 weighted GPA.
Brendan is a senior in FPC’s IB program and has already been awarded the title of AP Scholar for his scores on recent AP exams. He was recently recognized as a College Board National Rural and Small Town Scholar, and he was one of only 70 high schoolers selected to the Four Star Leadership Conference with Four-Star General Tommy Franks.
They sat down for an interview with us this week.
What inspired you to take on your roles?
GATZEK: So actually, one of my biggest inspirations were my peers before me. I've been friends with the last two people who have been the students' board representative, and I've always looked up to them and how they run the virtual teen town hall meetings. And I also believe it's a great opportunity to kind of get my voice out there, share my perspective on things.
WANG: I definitely had a similar experience with Stanley. I've also known the last two students school reps, and they've also been great throughout the community within our school — and, as Stanley mentioned, with a unique perspective that the School Board meetings kind of shed on to what happens within our schools, as well as the opinions of the School Board members and be able to work together with them to help present students' voices differently. And that’s a unique opportunity that is very hard to come by. I think we're both very thankful for this great chance.
Do you have any role models?
GATZEK: My teachers at the school, for sure, I definitely look up to them. Everything that they've done for me and my other peers is always great. My guidance counselors are very helpful. And, of course, the School Board members, I look up to.
WANG: Personally, some of my fellow students, and some of the people I know, all of them are leaders in their own respective rights, whether it be their own club or organization, and a lot of them just have a lot of effort, whether it be starting nonprofits or just helping run their organization to such an extent where everyone is together and cohesive. And they just have such leadership qualities that I admire and I aim to emulate within myself as well. As Stanley mentioned, the School Board members, especially since they care so much about us, the students, and about the different policies that they make, and how I think especially our new superintendent is working all her best to kind of better our school and county despite this perhaps being a new experience for her.
In your opinion, what are the most significant obstacles that students face in achieving success at your schools?
GATZEK: That's a big one. I would maybe have to say lack of time; maybe we dedicate ourselves to a lot of different extracurriculars, and, you know, work experience, and we're always just managing our time and trying to fit everything into a schedule, but we can't always get it all in there.
WANG: I believe that the biggest obstacle within our school is probably related to mental health, especially after COVID-19. And with all the isolation and everything being online, and then being transferred back to school, a lot of different regulations were put in place. And this definitely caused a lot of our student population to be perhaps a little bit less involved in the school, a bit less secure, or a bit less, just in general, a Bulldog, at least at FTC. And we've always been trying to bring this back. But the mental health ramifications from COVID-19 have definitely influenced a lot of our student population, whether this be perhaps a little bit of social anxiety, or just perhaps a general idea of 'Hey, we can do this online, don't have to meet up,' and that sometimes, because you can't see it, it's not very present. So it kind of becomes an issue sometimes, whether it be anxiety or depression. And I think that's a very big issue that a lot of students face, especially in this new kind of generation.
What about the loneliness and mental health epidemic? Is there anything you think you would be able to do to combat that?
GATZEK: There's this club that recently started this year — I know some students campaigned for it — called Pirates and Peers. And it's a mental health kind of club where they seek to spread mental health information and kind of provide resources to students. And I think that's a great step forward. But I think maybe something we could try to push as school representatives is to implement that throughout the district, because I know that the district definitely has the resources available. But do the students know that? That's definitely one of the things that I've noticed recently.
WANG: We also have a lot of different precautions that we try to put in place so that students have someone to talk to, whether it be their counseling with their teacher, we try to kind of make them always feel like they're welcome. And on the same line of thought, we should likely also make these resources not available to just high school students, or perhaps also at a lower grade ... such as middle school or elementary schools. Because a lot of the time ... middle schools, elementary schools also face similar issues that they (students) perhaps may not feel safe to talk about. And just leaving these resources spread throughout the county, and for all grade levels, would definitely be a big improvement, especially for our students.
