UC High Sophomore Zachary Patterson continues to serve as the San Diego Unified School District’s first-ever student trustee with the role of representing over 100,000 students of all ages throughout the district.

According to CBS8, he began acting as a student leader almost a decade ago. “Patterson started on his road to leadership back in the third grade. He served as room representative at Marie Curie Elementary before becoming fourth grade vice president” (cbs8.com).

Patterson later worked with a district secondary resource teacher and eventually got in touch with some district board members. “In seventh grade, Patterson began working to create his now Student Board Member role” (cbs8.com).

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, the district officially approved the position Patterson proposed in early September, and then there was an election process in which students could run for the position (sandiegouniontribune.com).

“My greatest achievement, so far, has been the actual creation of the position,” explained Patterson.

According to the San Diego Unified School District website, Patterson was first elected into the position of Student Board Member on October 29, 2019 (sandiegounifed.org).

“As Student Board Member I am responsible for ensuring that the opinions and desires of students are communicated, and acted upon by the Board of Education. In order to be able to effectively achieve this goal, I have a number of responsibilities,” said Patterson.

“First and foremost, I am a Board of Education member. This means that I sit on the dias and discuss the issues that face our district just like any other Board Member,” Patterson continued.

“I am an active member of the Board of Education. When I feel a change needs to be made, I bring it forth to the Board of Education through discussion or a motion. I express my official opinions through my vote as a member,” added Patterson.

“In order to understand what my constituents want, I need to work with them. The Student Advisory Board allows me to achieve that. This board serves to advise me on what actions I can take to represent students, and most importantly, works to empower students to bring about change themselves. The students serving on this board were selected via a district-wide application. They represent the students in their geographic sub-district and work to bring forth their ideas,” Patterson explained.

Though he did work to create the position, it was not just automatically given to him. Patterson had to beat five other candidates for the seat (sandiegouniontribune.com).

According to the San Diego Community Newspaper Group, Patterson received a 56 percent majority during the election, running on the platform that “…consisted of issues dealing with sexual violence, gun violence, and in particular, making students comfortable in speaking out (sdnews.com).”

Balancing student and work life is no easy feat. “It is really hard as I am also managing other extracurriculars like the rest of us. I have yet to play a sport while having this position, but I will soon find out how I am going to manage it. This past winter has been difficult as I get used to the workload adjustment,” explained Patterson.

“On weeks when there is a Board of Education meeting, I can spend up to 20 hours a week. It is so time consuming due to all of the work that occurs outside of the meeting. In preparation for the meeting, I read the entire board agenda, which sometimes can include close to 60 items,” explained Patterson.

“I then meet with the Superintendent to discuss my questions and concerns. Getting to the Board of Education Office can be a 45-minute drive during rush hour. This combined with running the Student Advisory Board and meeting with constituents tends to consume my time,” added Patterson.

“Currently, I am working on the upcoming Earth Day resolution. Many schools will be hosting walkouts as well as Earth Day themed activities. I am currently working to make sure that students have the ability to do these activities without being disrupted by staff. It is of critical importance to me that students are able to express their opinions,” explained Patterson.

One of Patterson’s future goals involves a plan that increases the sustainability of the district as a whole, called Vision 2030. “Part of his Vision 2030 plan is making SDUSD a carbon neutral school district. He plans to work with environmental science classes to get student-led projects in place to make it possible (sdnews.com).”

Patterson’s term is set to expire on June 30, 2021 (sandiegounifed.org).