This article was originally published in The Notebook. In August 2020, The Notebook became Chalkbeat Philadelphia.
Alfredo Praticò and Julia Frank are the two students who will serve as advisory members of the Philadelphia Board of Education.
The board announced its selection on Tuesday, and the two will formally be installed at a ceremony during Thursday’s action meeting.
“These are two exceptional Philadelphia students who are going to be instrumental in expanding the reach and thinking of the board,” said Joyce Wilkerson, the board president, who will mentor the students.
Praticò, 17, a senior at Masterman, has long been active in student government and is on the Philadelphia Youth Commission. “We want students to know that there is someone their age who they can reach out to when they have concerns,” he said in a Q and A on the District website.
Frank, also 17, attends Northeast High. She is an active volunteer and an entrepreneur, with her own business, City Slickers Lip Balm Co.
“I think that my school experience will help me to better represent students with diverse educational and vocational interests,” she said in her Q and A.
Both cited the struggles of their parents with education as inspirations for them.
They were chosen from among 54 applicants and will alternate in attending Board action meetings.