JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has selected 10 semifinalists for the SBE junior student representative in the 2025-26 school year.
One the finalists announced is Kosciusko native Hayes Tyler.
Tyler is currently a sophomore at Kosciusko High School where he is a part of the basketball and tennis teams.
The SBE student representative program includes one high school junior and one high school senior who serve as non-voting SBE members and provide input on policy decisions that affect Mississippi public schools. The current junior SBE representative, Crosby Parker of Gulfport High School, will serve as the senior representative in 2025-26.
The eligible applicant pool for the rising junior representative included 30 students.
SBE student representatives are responsible for attending monthly SBE meetings and any standing committees or subcommittees to which they are assigned. Student representatives are excused from school to attend SBE meetings as official school business.
The SBE adopted a policy in 2018 outlining the criteria for adding student representatives to the State Board.
Semifinalists will be interviewed and up to four finalists will be named. The SBE will interview the finalists and appoint one rising junior.
The 10 semifinalists are as follows:
- Isaiah Barbour: Tupelo High School
- Amy Choi: Starkville High School
- Katie Chung: Starkville High School
- Price Denham: Oak Grove High School
- Thad Garner: Houston High School
- Avani Pacharne: Starkville High School
- Abigail Ratcliffe: Gulfport High School
- Angelina Tan: Starkville High School
- Hayes Tyler Kosciusko School District Kosciusko High School
- Michelle Xie Lamar County School District Oak Grove High School
Jim Gilbert
April 22, 2025 at 2:02 PMLooks like Starkville is over represented! It would be good to know what the criteria might be…