BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — For the first time ever a Sullivan student has been elected state president of the Tennessee School Boards Association’s 40th annual Student Congress on Policies in Education.
Kylee Collins, a junior at Sullivan East, will serve as President of SCOPE for 2024. The event was recently held in Nashville.
“The student delegates from all across the state vote on who they want their officers to be for the following year,” Brent Palmer, who chaperoned the Sullivan students said. “Our junior from Sullivan East High School, Kaylee Collins, was elected to president of SCOPE for this coming year, which is something that’s never happened before. So, we’re very proud of her.”
Collins was one of four Sullivan students who participated. Others included Anthony Torbett from Sullivan East High School, as well as Hope Greene and Reid Haas out of West Ridge High School, were among the 260 students from across the state of Tennessee to take part in SCOPE.
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Palmer explained that throughout the course of SCOPE, students are taught various debate skills, practice public speaking and gain insight into the work being done by school boards across the state.
“It’s really a good opportunity for students to get a really good appreciation for our school boards and what they deal with and a good education for our students on what it’s like to experience debate in a public forum,” Palmer said. “It turns out to be a really great experience for the students, especially students who are interested in participating in government.”
Every year, the students are presented with four debate topics, which are based on actual discussions being had on school boards across Tennessee.
The four topics for this year’s SCOPE were as follows:
1. Should school boards have two student representatives who serve in a non-voting role?
2. Should students have the option of submitting club sports to meet their physical education requirements?
3. Should submitting electronic threats be a zero-tolerance offense?
4. Should students have to take a career readiness assessment as part of their graduation requirements?
