Richard Montgomery junior Sami Saeed was elected to be the 46th Student Member of the Board (SMOB) for the 2023-24 school year on Wednesday, April 20. He secured his victory with 70 percent of the student vote, while Yoseph Zerihun, a junior from Springbrook High School, received 30 percent

The SMOB is intended to represent the voice of the highly diverse student body of Montgomery County Public Schools. Sami identifies as Arab-American and has been attending MCPS schools for the past 12 years. With his abundance of firsthand experiences as a student, he believes he possesses the fundamental knowledge and understanding necessary to determine the county’s future policies.

Sami became involved with student government in high school due to his longing to foster change in RM’s regulations. “I never felt like our leaders were doing enough to reach out to us. I wanted to become that change,” Saeed said. 

As RM’s school-wide president, he has had opportunities to enhance school functions such as homecoming and conduct a taste-testing event to rate various meals.

In addition to enriching school lunches, Saeed’s main goals consist of mental health, school safety and closing the opportunity gap. His plans include creating an app where students can anonymously report tips about potential threats, increasing course offerings to underfunded schools and organizing a SMOB advisory cabinet to accurately represent student voices. 

He also aims to decrease the student workload and strategically place four wellness, homework-free weekends throughout the year. “I want to be different than other SMOBs…as a student representative [with] goals that reflect the students, whether they’re seen as nice or not, and whether [or not] they’re seen as the main focus,” Saeed said.

Additionally, students agree that large-scale, systematic advancements should be implemented. “I would like equity [to be prioritized in] how resources are allocated across the county and in different schools,” senior Cate Christopher said.

Richard Montgomery is widely-known for its RM-to-SMOB pipeline, as Sami will serve as the tenth RM SMOB of the previous 45 SMOBs. There are 30 total high schools in Montgomery County, so this RM-dominated domain may lead to concerns regarding equitable representation across the county.

“Richard Montgomery is the third most diverse school in the county. We are not a rich school, by any means. The [past] SMOBS from RM’s cultural backgrounds [are all] different,” Saeed said. “RM is a melting pot. It’s a representation of the whole county…your school does not determine your ability.”

Saeed and his opponent were informed of the results yesterday at the Carver Educational Services Center. The candidates recapped their campaign and discussed their thoughts on the process before current SMOB Arvin Kim announced the election results. “When moments like these happen, it just hits and you’re kind of in shock. I definitely teared up a bit,” Saeed said. “The last few months and years flashed before me; all the things I wanted to do and worked so hard for paid off.” 

To celebrate his victory, Saeed attended dinner with his girlfriend at Silver Diner and plans to celebrate locally with friends and family in the near future. However, he is eager to get to work and contemplate his next steps. “I enjoy celebrations, but it’s like, okay, [what] now? What’s next?”

Many RM students feel ecstatic that Sami’s determination has paid off with these election results. “I’m not surprised,” junior Sarah Levit said. “I thought he stood out in his whole campaign, and everyone loves him.” 

However, others share ambivalence regarding Saeed’s new role as SMOB. “I never saw the big changes with school policies from my freshman to senior year,” senior Chloe Adossou said. “As for him being elected SMOB, I’m worried about nothing changing and him putting hope in students but never really doing the thing.”

Saeed’s upcoming term begins on July 1, where he will join six other board members to represent all seven voting districts of the county. “Just stay tuned, because big changes are coming,” Saeed said.