Meade High Student, NAACP Youth Leader Elected as 2020-2021 Student Member of the Board of Education

Drake Smith, a junior at Meade High School and a Youth Leader for the Anne Arundel County Branch of the NAACP, has been elected by members of the Chesapeake Regional Association of Student Councils (CRASC) to be the 2020-2021 student member of the Anne Arundel County Board of Education (SMOB).

The results were announced today on CRASC’s Twitter page, @CRASC_Online. Conor Curran of Old Mill High School and Princess Merritt of Meade High School were the other finalists for the position.

Drake’s name will be forwarded to Governor Larry Hogan, who must make the formal appointment. He would succeed current SMOB Rida Alvi of Annapolis High School, whose one-year term expires in June.

Drake said he will focus his efforts on helping students and the school system recover from the effects of the shutdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing transparency, and helping the school system become more environmentally efficient.

“I have a flood of emotions right now,” Drake said shortly after learning of his victory. “I have a lot I want to get done in the next year. My main thing is making sure that we recover from coronavirus and help every student get back to this new normal. I also want to make sure every student knows that there is a SMOB and that they have direct representation on the Board.”

Drake is a student in the International Baccalaureate and Project Lead The Way programs at Meade, where he also plays baseball and runs indoor track. He currently serves as secretary of Meade’s Rho Kappa National Social Studies Honor Society and is president of the Anne Arundel County Branch of the NAACP’s Youth & College Division.

Upon appointment, Drake will become the 47th student member of the Board. He will be the seventh Meade High School student to serve on the Board, and the first since 1998-199. Students have held a seat on the Board since 1974, when Andover High School’s Jeffrey Robinson served in an advisory capacity. Anne Arundel’s student member has had full voting rights since 1975 and is the only member of a local school board in the nation to have that status.

If appointed, Drake would assume his seat on July 1, 2020.