Q and A with BOE student representative Ethan Yang

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Each year, a public high school student is selected by the Hawaiʻi State Student Council and the Hawaiʻi State Board of Education (BOE) to serve as a non-voting student representative on the voluntary board. This student has the same responsibilities as other BOE members and plays a critical role in ensuring that student perspectives are considered in Board decisions, requiring a comprehensive understanding of student issues and concerns.

Ethan Yang, a senior at Kaiser High School, will serve as the student representative for the 2024-25 school year. Yang is the first student from Kaiser to serve in this role.

At Kaiser, Yang served as the student council vice president and school representative to the Hawaiʻi State Student Council. He participated in National Honor Society, Mock Trial, and Science Bowl, and was involved in the first complex-wide service event. Yang also serves as the captain of the varsity soccer team and was named to the OIA East first team twice. He received the Harvard Book Award and was a national finalist in the Voice of Democracy Audio Essay Contest.

We caught up with Ethan to learn more about his background in student government, his goals and what he hopes to accomplish as the BOE student representative.

Q: Why do you want to serve in the role of Student Representative of the Board of Education?

A: A year ago, I attended the Student Leadership Conference and I attended a breakout session with the previous and current Board of Education student members. I didn't know anything about this position at all when I first went in, but we came in there and we started talking about the issues that people face. It was just really inspiring and really empowering to see all these really accomplished students having these very humble and down-to-earth conversations… I joined the Hawai'i State Student Council the following year to observe (former) Board of Education member, Ahryanna, and her work and hear her reports. I was gaining interest, but I still didn't apply or I didn't want to apply because it's very intimidating. I always thought I wouldn't be able to get the position. After some encouragement and support, I applied. Being a public school student all my life, it's just really great to be able to represent us and be public school proud, and just being a part of something that's big and greater than myself and trying to create some change.

Q: Why do you feel like you are qualified to serve as the student representative on the BOE on behalf of all of Hawai'i public school students?

A: To determine qualifications for such a big role is definitely hard, but I have a lot of experience in communicating and talking one-on-one with people and I think that is the biggest requirement for the position. Growing up, I've always played soccer. It's taught me the importance of collaboration and I was able to dabble in a lot of different areas in terms of extracurriculars. I've been able to meet a lot of diverse people, which has really taught me to be open minded. Whether it's through academics, athletics or extracurriculars, I've learned to basically just be open minded about the different interests of students and being able to listen to them and convey their stories. I think that's the most important qualification for the Board of Education student member.

Q: How do you manage your time for your extracurricular activities?

A: It's definitely difficult because growing up, I always thought there was a stereotype you can kind of only do one or the other; you can't really do sports on top of this. It really just comes down to time management - cutting out different things, like, being on my phone and just being smart about it, managing schoolwork. It all comes to prioritization and I know that in the upcoming school year, I'm definitely going to have to cut back a little bit on the soccer part. I'm still going to try to pursue school soccer because I think it's really important and I think it's really valuable. It's taught me a lot of skills, and gave me a lot of great experiences, a lot of unforgettable memories.

Q: How will you represent the best interests of all public school students?

A: Because every school is so diverse, one of my goals is to do school visits because I think that's going to help a lot. Being able to talk to students while they're in the classroom, it's also less intimidating...to be able to talk to a peer instead of someone who's older. We also have conferences with the Hawai'i Student State Council, Children and Youth Summit and Secondary Student Conference…where students come together to talk about the issues that they see in their schools. So attending those and participating in those and then being able to talk to students, I think that will help me accurately reflect their interest. It's also encouraging others to be active and participate in the processes, whether they're attending a meeting or just stay informed or talking to their representative on the Hawai'i State Student Council, because that's also where we learn a lot about the specific issues that schools face. Branching out and reaching out.

Q: What are your personal values?

A: I think having a strong family support system is really important in developing yourself. Education is also a big emphasis in my household. That's very important to do well in school and try and tie in to that by just working really hard. In general, in whatever you do, whether it's academics or athletics or extracurriculars. Because (my parents) are immigrants, they had to work extremely hard to get me and my brother where we are now. Finally, just having very good character and trying to be caring, be empathetic. My mom is a nurse, so she always stresses you never know what people are going through. Especially for my position when I talk to other students, I'm going to have to be very considerate because everyone has extremely different backgrounds. It's very important to be empathetic, be caring, help out whenever and just try to leave a positive impact.

Q: What are your plans after high school?

A: I'm kind of undecided of what I want to do, but I'm definitely going to attend higher education. Not exactly sure where yet, but that's kind of my goal. My participation in Mock Trial is really fun and really inspiring. I watch Suits, so I'm kind of interested in maybe becoming an attorney - but all subject to change.

Q: What kind of advice has your predecessor Ahryanna McGuirk given you as you now step into this role?

A: She told me that as the Board of Education student member, it's not about you. You have to be open minded because it's your job to be a representative host of the whole student body. She also said while it can be a little bit frightening at times, just to stay grounded and knowing that 170,000 students are putting their trust in you and relying on you to voice their concerns to the Board. It's a really empowering position, but it's also very humbling.

This interview was conducted by HIDOE Communications Branch 2024 summer interns Tara Oyama and Kimi Maligaya. Tara and Kimi are seniors this year at Mililani High School and Roosevelt High School, respectively.