The Vancouver School Board’s new student trustee has already seen a motion he suggested pass unanimously.
Nick Milum isn’t permitted to move motions himself, so board vice chair Mike Lombardi forwarded the motion on the Grade 11 student’s behalf.
The board agreed to send a letter in December to Port Metro Vancouver in support of Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health’s request to conduct a comprehensive health impact assessment of the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks-Texada Quarries thermal coal export project before making a decision on the project.
Prince of Wales student Sam Harrison, director of Kids for Climate Action, approached Milum about a motion and they worked on it together.
Milum has also been working with district student council president Chansey Chiang, superintendent Steve Cardwelland the board’s director of instruction, Rob Schindel, to develop a six-month plan to tackle key problems.
“The first that I’ve seen personally from being on the board the last couple of months is the impact of budget cuts and the impact of a lack of public funding,” Milum said. “I’ve realized students haven’t been very vocal in the matter… I’m hoping to change that going into this next budget proposal.”
Milum is keen to use an online survey tool he learned about while attending a conference for student trustees in Ontario last month.
“And to get input on what students think is really important that shouldn’t be cut during the budget times as well as things that could be improved… Things that aren’t useful anymore to students that were implemented several years ago and have gone out of use,” he said.
Milum, who attends an accelerated program at Eric Hamber, doesn’t want gifted programs or mini schools touched by budget cuts.
He says students yearn to learn how to write a resume and practical financial skills.
“You go to high school and you learn about Shakespeare and calculus and all these things that we need for university, but we don’t really learn a lot about the things you need for life,” Milum said. “Applying for a credit card, saving, how to set up a chequing account, how to set up a savings account, how to pay off a mortgage, those kinds of things are really applicable for students.”
Planning 10, which covers career plans and finances, doesn’t cut it, according to Milum.
“The stuff that’s really applicable is bogged down under a whole bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter that much to students right now,” he said.
Milum also wants more students sampling work in a field they’re interested in at an earlier age. Work experience is offered in Grades 11 and 12 and it isn’t mandatory.
Milum and the district student council are working with the VSB to make changes to the curriculum.
