For the 2023-2024 school year, Fort Lauderdale High School Principal Erin Brown initiated the Principal’s Advisory Board. The board’s purpose is to give the school’s diverse student body a voice.  

“We wanted to represent every student in this school,” said Brown. “The main purpose of this board is having a select group of students who are known within the student body, [who are approachable], if students have a concern or a question about something they do not feel comfortable talking to an adult about. We have representation from all the different organizations and grade levels. [It’s] a mixture of everybody who can really represent the school.” 

To be a member of the Principal’s Advisory Board, students go through a selection process with Brown and ESOL Coordinator/Anatomy and Physiology teacher, Ms. Nori Suarez.  They need to demonstrate responsibility, have a minimum 3.0 GPA, and receive teacher recommendations.  After this process, almost 26 students were selected and chosen to be the voice of the FLHS 2023-2024 student body.

Student members consider being on the board both a privilege and a chance to represent their peers.   

“I’ve gained so many opportunities and have had such a great experience at this school,” expressed Yasmin Harebin (11), “so I wanted a way to ensure that other students can benefit from this environment just as much. The Principal’s Advisory Board gives me the perfect  opportunity to make that change happen.” 

FLHS students show their appreciation to the board’s goal of improved student involvement.

“As a new student, getting involved in the school community was one of my main goals. When the interest form came out I saw a new opportunity to make friends and rolled with it,” commented Rose Rodriguez (10).

Principal Brown enjoys the increased interaction with students and appreciates their input, goals, and ideas.  

“The students are amazing, they impress me every time I meet with them, they are so polite, articulate, intelligent, and they just bring a beautiful perspective.” expressed Brown while describing the students from the board. “It is very nice to listen to the students’ perspective, because a lot of times as adults we are only thinking about our perspective or the teachers perspective or the parents perspective, it really brings a whole new perspective to listen to the students.”

Although the Principal’s Advisory Board is new, it has managed to stand out and execute various goals that were proposed in the first meeting, which has caused Principal Brown to decide to continue or try to maintain this board for many more school years.