Maya McFadden Photo
Student rep-elect Jonaily Colon (right) and challenger Vikram Dalal after Friday's election.
High School in the Community (HSC) sophomore Jonaily Colon prevailed in her bid to bring the voice of smaller high schools to the city’s Board of Education — after winning a school board student representative election to replace graduating Wilbur Cross High School senior Harmony Cruz-Bustamante.
Students at all ten of New Haven’s high schools voted Friday to pick the next Board of Education student rep. Colon will now join Wilbur Cross junior John Carlos Serrano Musser as the two non-voting student representatives on the nine-person school board.
The two high schoolers who competed in Friday’s election were Wilbur Cross’ Vikram Dalal and HSC’ Jonaily Colon.
Colon decided to run for the student rep seat because “the smaller schools always get left out,” she said. She added that she looks forward to enhancing her own skills, including around public speaking, through the role. “I’ve been looking for a place to put my passion for helping people,” she added.
Colon hopes to bring her creativity and determination to the new role. She said that she wants to encourage the district to bring more art to students because it’s “powerful to show things through art.”
She also aims to advocate for more school funding to help address daily concerns in schools around bathrooms and staff shortages. She said she hopes to organizer fundraisers and inspire and participate in more “days of action,” like the one recently led by the teachers union in regards to next fiscal year’s schools budget.
She also hopes to implement more mental health resources for students because “school is tough and life is tough.”
In order for students to be eligible to run, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) students have to collect 50 student signatures from their schools and an additional 50 from at least four other high schools.
This year, NHPS Asst. Supt. Paul Whyte said, several of the city’s smaller schools had larger student voting turnouts than in the past. That wound up working in Colon’s favor, as she received a total of 802 votes against Dalal’s 565, even though Dalal — just like outgoing student rep Cruz Bustamante and current fellow student board rep Serrano Musser — attends the city’s largest high school. Democratic Registrar of Voters Shannel Evans announced Colon’s win Friday on the second floor of City Hall.
Evans, Whyte, and city Director of Legislative Services Al Lucas encouraged the two students to stay in touch to continue organizing as a team and to not give up on their political interest. “It’s a big deal to do this,” Whyte said.
Colon will officially be sworn in during the school board’s first meeting in July.
Colon said she was nervous as the ballots were counted, because of how big of a school Cross is and how both of the two most recent student reps have come from that school. She was excited to take the win and said she looks forward to hearing more of Dalal’s ideas to be sure all of her peers are heard.
Colon: Focus on arts, mental health, and small school voice.
Colon, 16, attended Strong School and Truman before HSC. She’s moved around to several New Haven neighborhoods over the years and currently resides in the Annex.
She is enrolled in local college classes and works as a museum educator for the Peabody museum and as a growing entrepreneur for Gather New Haven. She also volunteers with the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK).
She has goals to establish a career in public health and business in a way that will advocate for others’ mental health. She is the lead for HSC’s book club and has a passion for crocheting.
When asked about a fun fact about herself, Colon said she loves to read and particularly loves the Harry Potter series.
Also in attendee at Friday’s count was Cross student Vikram Dalal, 16, who ran against Colon for the student rep seat.
Dalal lives in East Rock and was inspired to run for the role by his father Mehul Dalal, who previously worked as the city’s top social services administrator. He said his father, along with his experiences meeting so many new people at Cross, taught him about the importance of community and helping others.
“Being around so many students and different life stories and experiences, made me realize that it’s really important to represent that,” he said.
Dalal has an interest in history and politics and hopes to have a career in helping people through government services or social work.
When asked about a fun fact about himself, Dalal described himself as a “die hard Celtics fan” who is “excited to see them choke in the finals.”
He’s tasked himself with the goal for the remainder of high school to “say yes more” and therefore is a part of Cross’ student council, band, cross country and track teams, tennis team, and culinary program.
His main concerns expressed during his campaign were focused on updating school bathrooms, implementing more sustainable and greener school infrastructure district-wide, and adding more mental health programing to all schools for students.
