“This was something that took years to get to,” said senior Arvin Sarkissian. On Sept. 13, Sarkissian became Student Board Member of the GUSD Board of Education. Since his freshman year, “student board member” was imprinted in his mind as a goal he would achieve.

“I’ve been wanting to participate in administrative educational decisions for a long time because I haven’t always been happy with the way things are being run on a school level and on a district level,” Sarkissian said. By choosing to be a part of ASB and the GUSD student advisory council, Sarkissian took all of the steps necessary to gain this position.

Sarkissian is Clark’s first student board member after three years. This year, four students were in the running, three being from Clark and one from Glendale High School. “Clark only gets two votes, and the other schools get three votes, so it’s hard enough if you’re the only student running from Clark, but we had three students running,” Sarkissian said.

On the day he found out about his appointment, Sarkissian had to give a speech and turn in his recommendation letter which Spanish teacher Anne Reinhard had written for him. “From opening Neurosociety Club, to applying for colleges early, Arvin always shows initiative,” Reinhard said. “He was meant for this job.” Sarkissian said that he also gained motivation during the application process from Principal Lena Kortoshian.

Sarkissian is to be sworn to office at the Board meeting on Sept. 20. “I was surprised when they told me I got it, because I knew how badly I wanted this, but realistically, we only had two votes,” Sarkissian said.

Sarkissian said that he hopes to improve the board meeting experience by attending the entire five-hour meeting, rather than leaving after one hour like many prior members have. He finds himself worthy of this title because of his experience with private, independent and public education. Senior Anna Parsamyan said that he deserved the role because of his good listening skills. “Arvin will take everyone’s comments into consideration, which is why he’s the perfect fit for this job,” Parsamyan said.

“Being able to participate in this level of decision-making is exactly what I’ve wanted for the past three years, so that’s why it’s fun for me,” Sarkissian said.