Tupper Lake Central School District student Board of Education members Alivia Hopkins-Estus and John Tower, as well as Middle-High School Principal Chris Savage at the district’s regular monthly Board of Education meeting held in the Middle-High School Library on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

TUPPER LAKE — A Tupper Lake Central School District Board of Education student member is hitting it out of the park — in more ways than one.

John Tower introduced himself to the community at the start of the board’s regular monthly meeting on Monday. Tower, along with fellow sophomore Alivia Hopkins-Estus, joined the board at the beginning of the year. Due to schedule conflicts, Tower was unable to make his introduction until the March meeting.

He kicked off the meeting with a slideshow presentation highlighting his numerous accomplishments, which TLCSD Superintendent Jaycee Welsh said, in part, made him a standout applicant when the board voted to add the two student members at the end of 2024.

During his presentation, he explained how he stays busy over the summer, clocking in nearly 40-hours per week at Skyline Ice Cream in Tupper Lake. The work doesn’t end there. He also maintains his own side business of lawn mowing and property maintenance, adding that he is the caretaker of several parcels near the Wild Center.

Baseball is a huge part of Tower’s life. In addition to playing for Tupper Lake, he plays for a travel team based out of Plattsburgh. He plays about 30 baseball games each summer with his travel team and has won numerous awards on the field. For instance, he was named the in two of his team’s three total games — in one single tournament.

He has also received several overall tournament MVP honors and other athletic awards while competing with the school and travel teams. He is also on the basketball team, and enjoys fishing and juggling in whatever spare time he has.

Tower’s academic accomplishments are just as impressive. Since middle school, he said he has maintained an overall grade-point average of 96 or higher, hitting the pinnacle most recently.

he said.

He has also twice been named TLCSD’s for exhibiting strong moral character.

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Students’ role

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Student board members are non-voting and they don’t attend to executive sessions. They do, however, participate during the public portions of the board meetings, and can offer district officials feedback and questions based on their experiences as students and interactions with fellow classmates.

Hopkins-Estus and Tower were officially named to the board on Dec. 2, 2024 in a unanimous vote by the TLCSD Board of Education.

The board’s decision followed a law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sept. 12, 2024, which requires every school district to have at least one ex-officio student board member.

The law goes into effect on July 1, 2025. Welsh said that districts are allowed to move into compliance ahead of the deadline and thought it was important and beneficial for the TLCSD to get an early jump on it.

The district opened an application to all students in grades nine through 12 earlier in the fall. The application invited students to answer a series of questions about how they would contribute in their role, gather letters of recommendation from staff and community members and provide a personal statement.

While the board made the ultimate selections, the application process was organized by Middle-High School Principal Chris Savage and Guidance Counselor Brian Bennett. Welsh said in October that the law gave districts wide latitude in how to select student board members.

She commended Bennett and Savage in October for their research into the process, noting how they reached out to other districts that already had ex-officio student board members to look into best practices.

Welsh, along with the board members, expressed support for the new law at the Dec. 2, 2024 meeting. She called it to have student voices at the table.