Whiz Kids: Seaholm, Groves Students Named to City Boards, Commissions

Every week, Patch spotlights young people in the Birmingham community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. We're pleased to introduce this week's Whiz Kids:

2011 student representatives to city boards and commissions

• Kristen Thut, Planning Board
• Hailee Schuele, Historic District Commission
• Thomas Fink, Parks and Recreation Board
• Christy Wells, Parks and Recreation Board
• Corrin Hepburn, Parks and Recreation Board
• Lauren Hall, Public Arts Board
• Sophie Mendel, Public Arts Board
• Sarah McBride, Public Arts Board
• Ryan Graham, Traffic and Safety Board
• Jasper Apollonia, Museum Board
• Samuel Cusimano, Historic District Study Committee
• Rebecca McCurley, Historic District Study Committee

• Year: Juniors
• Schools: and
• Achievements: These students have been appointed to serve one-year terms as nonvoting members of several city boards and commissions. Each student will be asked to perform all duties of an appointed adult representative, including participating in discussions and helping to shape decisions by lending a young person's perspective. Students will learn firsthand how their city government operates and makes decisions, and they will develop their leadership skills.
• Key to awesomeness: Each student was chosen based on an application, essay and letters of recommendation. According to Mayor Gordon Rinschler, student representatives are a valued part of city government. "A lot of the time at these kinds of meetings, you have a lot of old guys, like me. It's always good to have young ideas," Rinschler said at the students' swearing-in ceremony Monday during the City Commission meeting. These students will help improve government, and their naming to these boards and commissions is an honor, he said.

Do you know a special student in the community who deserves a round of applause because he or she volunteers instead of playing video games after school? Or maybe your daughter's science club is trying to challenge the way we think about the energy crisis? Or maybe your son's lacrosse team won its first game in three years? Everyone deserves a little attention, and we want to tell these stories.

So e-mail your Whiz Kid nominations to Editor Laura Houser at laura.houser@patch.com, fill out the information given above and include a photo with names and ages. Then, come back every Wednesday for our Whiz Kid spotlight; you never know who will be up next.