The 47th annual MCPS Student Member of the Board (SMOB) voting is taking place in schools from 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17. The elected SMOB candidate will be the next official member seated on the Board of Education (BOE).

The SMOB plays a crucial role in echoing students’ voices by attending meetings with the other elected officials and voting for issues such as what goes into the $3.1 billion spending budget. The two finalists running for the 47th SMOB are MCPS juniors Samantha (Sam) Ross from Richard Montgomery High School and Praneel Suvarna from Clarksburg High School.

Ross is currently the Chief of Staff of incumbent Sami Saeed’s (46th SMOB) advisory council. Along with that she is an avid member of the MCPS Well-Being School Safety and Districtwide Wellness Committee and the Social Studies Curriculum Advisory Committee.

“My goals as SMOB are simple: improving safety and wellness through transparency and innovative technologies, supporting student achievement by rethinking teaching practices and keeping free AP and IB exams and benefiting the student life by improving school lunches and funding extracurricular activities,” Ross said in the “Meet the Candidates” video.

Suvarna is currently the vice president of the Montgomery County Regional Student Government Association and the junior class president at Clarksburg High School.

“I am so grateful to be standing before you fighting for the change you want to see within MCPS,” Suvarna said in the “Meet the Candidates” video.

Students across MCPS on April 10 were given access to the candidate profiles of Ross and Suvarna and the Meet the Candidates video via email. The video was also shown in social studies classes leading up to the election day. On April 16, students received another email with a preview of the ballot and more information on how to vote.

On April 17, students will click the link in their emails and use their student ID number and special one-time password to access their private ballot.

MCPS urges students to get educated on the two finalists by reading the quick excerpts on each candidate. This will empower students to make a smart decision when voting for their student representative for the 2024-2025 school year.