Ben Kolendo, a Voice for ALL Students
Ben Kolendo, a student representative for the Mat-Su region, has championed the students’ voice for more than six years. According to the Kolendo Collective (his organization), over the past year, Ben has gained experience overseeing budgets and curricula and has collaborated under the direction of Mike Dunleavy to strengthen youth drug and alcohol abuse prevention in conjunction with the Alaska Department of Health. His ability to guide the future of young people is evident considering his activities in the Alaskan community.
While Ben has faced several challenges with the Mat-Su School District over the past two years, his efforts have focused on restoring student voice across Alaska. During a meeting that occurred in May 2023, Kolendo, who was serving as the student representative for his school district, asked pointed questions about what it means to conduct checks on school libraries to remove content with pornographic images. He also asked board members about their concerns around teachers threatening to strike. This led the Mat-Su School District council to act against him, reducing his power as student representative. According to the minutes from a Mat-Su district school board meeting, it was suggested to eliminate the student advisor position altogether. This would prohibit the student advisor from casting a vote, limiting himself to only giving a report at the beginning of the meeting, completely minimizing the voice of the students. On June 5, 2024, the MSBD school board approved the elimination of the Student Advisory Board. The goal of his organization, Kolendo Collective, is to pass a law in Alaska that ensures the protection of student voice and student representation. In addition, Ben supports the rights and well-being of Alaska’s youth, stating that “my values are founded on upholding First Amendment rights, including freedom of speech, speech, and association.” When asked by Sol de Media Noche how he feels about the gravity of the situation and if he is optimistic that the law will be put into effect, he replied, “I am optimistic about the outcome from what I have seen at Mat-Su, where students faced this problem firsthand. They understood the gravity of losing representation and organized large-scale protests, some with hundreds of participants. Their passion was a reminder of how powerful young people’s voices can be.” Hopefully soon, the state of Alaska will reveal whether this law will be put into effect to preserve the voice of students and ensure that the suggestions given by people making difficult decisions are taken into consideration. |