A few months ago, Zachary Hiller, a senior at Zeigler-Royalton in Indianapolis, Indiana, made the decision to run for a spot on the Royalton district’s school board. With the encouragement of his history teacher, Hiller is the first student to do this at his local school.

Hiller thinks his perpesctive as a student rather than an adult will allow him to make things better for students in the future.

“I think it’s pretty awesome that we’re going to have a student on the school board actually because we’ll have a voice for us,” Nick McPhail, a student at Hiller’s high school, said.

Hiller is concerned with extra-curricular activities, such as band and some sports that may be cut, and keeping them available for students.

“I’ll try to keep as many extra-curricular activities as I can to give as many opportunities as I can to the students,” Hiller said

A student representing students may be what the school board needs.

“On the board, he’d represent the student and the students’ interests it’s a good idea as long as he is fairly elected and fully qualified,” senior Sam Hurwitz said.

While having a member of the student body as part of the board may have its advantages, there are issues with having a student become a member.

“First of all, Missouri law requires school board members to be at least 24 years of age. However, I think that the confidential nature of school board work, especially in the areas of human resources and discipline, would not be a good fit with student participation on a school board,” President of the Parkway School Board Beth Feldman said.

The answer is up to the state lawmakers and local school boards. Hiller will find out on Tuesday the seventheenth of April if he’ll become the first student on his state board.