Indali Bora takes a seat on FUHSD Board
October 5, 2018
As students adjust to the changes of the new school year, senior Indali Bora already has her work cut out for her as the 2018-2019 FUHSD student board member.
Bora has been involved in leadership in the past, being active in her class council in elementary and middle school. She decided, however, to take a step back from leadership at the beginning of high school.
“When you work so much in a leadership-oriented environment it is often hard to see how students react to events, so for a large part of high school, I didn’t really partake in ASB or anything in that field,” Bora said. “That was because I was trying to be involved in clubs and organizations and understanding students’ perspectives.”
During her time out of the limelight, Bora discovered an opportunity to serve as a student board member but did not, at the time, have any knowledge about the work of the Board of Trustees. After ample research, she was taken by surprise when she learned about the great impact the board has on students and immediately recognized the communication gap, which she hoped to bridge, that left many other students unaware of the board’s work.
As the only student member on the Board of Trustees, Bora primarily focuses on representing the district students’ voices at FUHSD meetings, which happen approximately every other week. She works with Lynbrook Intra-District Council (IDC) Representatives Amrit Ranjan and Aneesha Nema, as well as ASB President Emily Zhang, to improve her presentations on student matters before meetings.
“The most important function of the student board member is to provide a voice for students,” said Board of Trustees member Roy Rocklin. “Many of the decisions the board makes directly affect students, so it is important for the board to know what students think about the issues we confront.”
In addition, Bora is responsible for informing the Board of Trustees about student activities, collaborating with Nema and Ranjan as well as IDC Representatives from other schools in the district. Bora strives to promote students’ involvement in their respective schools.
Students tend to have an opinion, but they don’t know where to channel it or how it will be communicated to the district or the school. I try to provide a more clear and consistent channel for transparency and communication. — Indali Bora
Although her position comes with many responsibilities, Bora enjoys the work she does for the community. Because she represents students from all FUHSD high schools, she has the opportunity to observe the different people and environments at each school and communicate student opinions to the board.
“Even though some schools are just a couple miles apart, they can be different,” Bora said. “But being able to find the commonalities in that and sharing them with the Board of Trustees is a very unique and interesting experience.”
While her term has just begun, Bora has high hopes for the year to come. She hopes to continue Voter Registration Week, a second-semester project of the 2017-2018 school year, which got students involved politically by pre-registering for votes. Additionally, she wants to take on a district-wide service project, with the aim of connecting the district together.
“[Voter Registration Week] is a project that I’m really looking forward to continuing this year, and I also hope to do another district-wide project — maybe a service project or something — but just really finding more ways to connect the district even though we’re so far apart,” Bora said.
Aside from plans she has for the district, Bora has set goals for herself as a leader, one of which is working on her communication, both with the Board of Trustees and the students. Students are already experiencing the impact of Bora’s work.
“She’s really helpful to the rest of ASB,” Nema said. “She doesn’t have a set commission to lead like most of the other ASB officers do, but she took it upon herself this year to work closely with the class presidents in merging the gap between ASB and class officers. I think that’s one of the things Indali does best — connecting people. She’s really good at finding solutions to problems in a way that benefits everyone.”
Outside of her role in the Board of Trustees, Bora participates in various activities. She has been involved with her class since elementary school, and Homecoming is no exception — she has been the girls’ dance choreographer since her sophomore year. She is also active in clubs, debating with other role-playing diplomats for the competition club Model United Nations, as she is co-president this year.
Ultimately, Bora’s aspiration as a Board member is for students to feel comfortable communicating their concerns and to have issues resolved through doing so.
“It’s easy to find flaws and problems in things that are happening, but we don’t look hard enough to find what the solutions are, and that doesn’t really help — that just creates an endless cycle,” Bora said, in message to Lynbrook students. “So if you see a problem around campus, if you have an issue, address it to the necessary bodies. As an individual, my job is to represent student voices, and I can’t really do that unless students voice their opinions. I just hope that they’re comfortable in making their opinions heard.”
Click here to learn more about the current members of the FUHSD board: https://www.fuhsd.org/about-us/board-of-trustees
