Kyle Smith, a senior at North Point High School, has been named Student Member to the Maryland State Board of Education.
As Student Member — known as SMOB — Smith will be the voice of the state’s students who attend public schools around Maryland.
The role is a big one, but it’s one Smith’s friends and colleagues know he can fill.
“He’s one of the brightest people I’ve ever met,” said Drew Carter, the Student Board Member of the Charles County Board of Education and a senior at St. Charles High School. “He’s diligent, he’s hardworking,” Carter said. “Whatever he sets his mind to, he gets it done.”
Smith is in the engineering Science, Technology and Industry (STI) program at North Point and in the school band. He is or has been involved in the National Association of Student Councils, the Maryland Association of Student Councils, is a student member of the Maryland State Board of Education advisory council, the Charles County Association of Student Councils (CCASC) and North Point’s SGA, in which he’s held several leadership positions. Smith is a member of the school’s mock trial team that was in the final four out of 33 teams in its region, and he participated in the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar as a HOBY ambassador.
Outside of school, Smith is an advocate and volunteer. He has given his time to the nonprofit Dream to Soar Foundation and is active in the state and county National Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he and Carter became friends. Smith served as the presiding president during the October 2016 NAACP Maryland State Youth and College Division Conference, where he was the master of ceremonies at the event’s luncheon. He is the chairman of the NAACP Youth Council Region VII, was the vice president of the NAACP Charles County Youth Council from 2014 to 2015 and is the president and an executive board member of NAACP Charles County Youth Council.
When he was told he was named the SMOB, he was instantly excited. To let it soak in, he walked around his house a few times before telling his parents. “All the hard work, it’s all come to this,” Smith said. And he’s ready to put in more hard work. “I’m going to advocate for the needs of the students,” he said. “I’m going to fight for the issues that are important to a lot of students.”
Gary Winsett, advisor to the CCASC, said Maryland students have a champion in Smith. “He can look beyond and see an issue from all sides of the equation,” Winsett said.
Smith also brings something else to the table. “He’s kind,” Carter said. “He has the tools in his personal arsenal to get things done without hurting the feelings of others.”
The Maryland State Board of Education has 12 voting members, including a student member with a full vote who has partial voting rights (the student member can’t vote on the budget, legal appeals and certain personnel issues). The student member can be a high school junior or senior and serves a one-year term and is selected by the Maryland Association of Student Councils for the governor. A student member has been on the Board since 1985.
Smith’s appointment is the first time in more than a decade since a Charles County student has been the student member to the state board.
Smith has plans for the summer that include an internship with Maryland Circuit Court Judge Hayward J. West, attending a business academy in New York and going to the National Association of Student Councils in New Hampshire.
“He’s going to do a lot of for this county, state and beyond,” Carter said.
“I know I have to be spot on on the issues that are raised,” Smith said. “I need to bring my ‘A game’ to each and every event.”