​​HONOLULU – The Hawaii State Board of Education (BOE) announces Danson Honda as its student representative for school year 2014-15. Danson, who is an incoming senior at Pearl City High, was sworn in by Hawaii Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark E. Recktenwald at the July 1 BOE meeting.

Danson is a state medalist in cross country and is part of the Pearl City Charger Marching Band as a drum major. He represented his school on the Hawaii State Student Council, and will be counted on to provide valuable feedback to the BOE with his insight from students across the state.

“We are pleased to welcome Danson to the board. His experience with the Hawaii State Student Council will be an important asset. We rely on the Statewide Student Council and our student representative to be an important voice of our 183,000 student body,” said BOE Chairman Don Horner. “This voice is critical especially as we introduce strategic change within the DOE.”

The Board also extended its fond aloha and mahalo to outgoing student member Jannah Dela Cruz for her valuable contributions in the past year. Jannah recently graduated from Moanalua High School, and will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall, and plans to major in architecture.

“On behalf of the Board, we wish to thank Jannah for her invaluable service to public education,” said Horner.

“She is an excellent example of the quality of our public school students and represented them, her parents and her teachers with distinction. We wish her continued success.”

Since 1988, the Hawaii State Student Council (HSSC) has been responsible for the selection process of a nonvoting BOE student representative. In 2011, Act 5 was signed into law, establishing a governor-appointed BOE that continues to include a student member. HSSC developed a new, three-tiered selection process — school, district, state — that drew candidates from all 44 high schools.

For more information about the HSSC, contact Tiffany Frias at 203-5505, ext. 2117.