Zachary McGrath, a rising senior at Severna Park High School, will be sworn in as the 49th Student Member of the Board of Education of Anne Arundel County (SMOB) during a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 1, 2022, in the Board Room at the Carol S. Parham Building, located at 2644 Riva Road in Annapolis.
Zachary will succeed Bunmi Omisore, an Arundel High School graduate whose term ends on June 30, 2022. Anne Arundel County’s student member of the Board is the only one in the nation serving on a local school board who has full voting rights.
Zachary is second vice president of Severna Park High School’s Student Government Association and a member of the school’s Leadership Institute. He participates in Severna Park’s It’s Academic team and Model United Nations club and also contributes to the school newspaper. He is the state Legislative Affairs Coordinator for the Maryland Association of Student Councils, the youth representative for community outreach for the Anne Arundel Office of Health Equity and Racial Justice, and a member of the Youth Advisory Council for the Maryland Civic Education Coalition. He has done legislative internships for Del. Sandy Bartlett of District 32 and Del. Shaneka Henson of District 30A and is also an Eagle Scout who now serves as a junior assistant Scoutmaster.
Zachary said he plans to focus his work as SMOB on four key areas: student quality of life, student engagement, environmental justice, and equity.
The ceremony is open to the public with the only limitation being available space in the Board Room. It will be broadcast live on AACPS’ YouTube channel, www.aacps.org/youtube, and on AACPS-TV, which can be found on Channel 96 on Comcast and Broadstripe, and Channel 36 on Verizon. High definition broadcasts can be seen on Channel 996 on Comcast, Channel 496 on Broadstripe, and Channel 1961 on Verizon.
