J’Dae Simmons is getting her first taste of politics starting this summer.
The Grade 11 Nantyr Shores Secondary School student will serve as Simcoe County District School Board student trustee for the Central and South regions from Aug. 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025 — a term spanning the 2024-25 academic year. She hopes to bring her life experience to the position and create a more welcoming and inclusive atmosphere for students at schools throughout the board.
Simmons can vividly recall feeling like an outsider among her peers just a few years ago. Her family moved to the area from Brampton shortly before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns and other health and safety restrictions meant she didn’t have an opportunity to develop friendships in person and forge strong relationships with classmates.
“(Grade 8) was pretty isolated; you could only interact with your class,” she said. “Grade 9 was actually my first time seeing other students (within the school). It was definitely a shock. COVID gave me the time to reflect and think about how I could get accustomed to this new environment. I was new and didn’t know the area.”
Schools should be places where students can freely showcase their cultures and backgrounds, Simmons said.
“I really want to focus on making more schools feel like a community,” she said. “Especially for the Grade 9s, it can be a little nerve racking coming to a school with so many people. Then you’re kind of pushed into the crowd. I want them to know there’s a community there for them. Schools are growing more diverse. We love the diversity and want to see more of it.”
But the position of student trustee is one she didn’t know she wanted until the application process got underway. Nor is it her long-term goal to enter politics — Simmons plans, instead, to study law after high school.
She’ll represent an area that includes Nantyr, Barrie North Collegiate Institute, and Bear Creek, Innisdale and Maple Ridge secondary schools.
Representatives are elected for the upcoming term by their student peers by April 30 of each year. The goal is to bring student perspectives to board discussion, gather opinion, build leadership skills and foster communication between the board and its student body.
Simmons will be joined in the student-trustee role come September by Georgian Bay District Secondary School’s Aubrey Shaw (North and East regions) and Banting Memorial High School’s Vishid Lad (South and West). They beat out several other teenagers seeking the job.
“J’Dae did not just get it on a whim,” Nantyr vice-principal Joan Osawe said. “She had to prove herself. It was a tough competition.”
Although student trustees do not get a formal vote around the board table, what they say carries influence at that level.
“Having student trustees is a very important aspect of the school,” Osawe said. “If you take a look at the strategic priorities of the school board, whether being (in) diversity, equity, inclusion, community and excellence in teaching and learning, it only comes together if those are the centre to the students represented. That sense of belonging is key. The representation is key. The ultimate goal is for the students to graduate and be ready for the outside world.”
Simmons believes she was chosen due to her honest, down-to-earth approach.
“I was like, ‘I’m just going to keep it real to who I am,’” she said. “I just explained what I wanted to see and my journey and what it meant to me. It all circled back to community, and that’s what I want it to be — I want other students to know there’s always going to be a community at school. It’s not just a place to learn. It’s where you have support.”
The position gives students a prominent “voice” within the system.
“It’s exciting, but at the same time it is a little bit of pressure,” Simmons said. “But I’m excited to see how it’s going to go. I look forward to hearing student input and getting a sense of what they want.”
