Maya Clements joined the Student Advisory Board as a high school senior, which meant that despite many hours of meetings, they have never met their peers on the SAB or the Impact on Education staff in person.
The 17-year-old is politically active, attending protests and advocating for causes on social media.
“My motivation for getting into a lot of political things is that I am an intersection of a lot of different identities. My household is multicultural. My mom is from Bolivia and grew up there, and my dad is Japanese and white, and then I’m also queer,” Maya said. “So I can represent a lot of different communities.”
Although Maya’s year on the Student Advisory Board was different from others’, they brought value to the group by acting as a liaison to the Equity Council.
“I feel that one of the capacities I have been helpful in is as the only person who overlaps between the Student Advisory Board and the BVSD Equity Council.”
Maya Clements, Senior at Boulder High
“My first year was definitely a little weird with the pandemic going on. But I feel that one of the capacities I have been helpful in is as the only person who overlaps between the SAB and the Equity Council so it helps both sides and I can connect those two,” Maya said.
Maya joined the Board in order to advocate for more sensitivity training among the school district staff and to increase opportunities for district employees from more diverse backgrounds.
Maya said that their involvement with the Student Advisory Board helped them with interpersonal skills, like interviewing. As part of their role on the board, Maya was able to interview fellow person of color Bhavna Chhabra, the tech site director for the Boulder Google campus.
“Being on the board really helped me with knowing how to interview someone. I had never done that before, and I really enjoyed that project,” they said.
In their free time, Maya likes to paint, do artistic sewing projects, and practice martial arts.
“I do kickboxing but not in a formal capacity yet because I’m still getting used to the idea of going back to a space with other people,” they said. “I’m trying to get back into embroidery projects because I used to do it as a kid, and I always have a little project going with stuff sketched out.”
After graduation, Maya plans to attend either Lewis & Clark College in Oregon or Smith College in Massachusetts.
“I’m still kind of exploring all my paths. Lately, I’m more interested in the idea of becoming either a human rights lawyer or an immigration lawyer because it seems like a service that a lot of people need right now.”
