When
Jake Hanchar didn't like what was happening in his school district, he decided
to do something about it.
By Bill Campbell
Special to Intercom
When
Jake Hanchar didn't like what was happening in his school district, he decided
to do something about it.
As a high school junior in Bellefonte, some 10 miles east of the University Park campus, he organized a student walkout in support of the school district superintendent whose contract was not renewed by the school board.
Now as a Penn State junior with a dual major in biology and chemistry, he hopes to make a greater impact after being elected to the Bellefonte Area School Board.
"A lot of people don't get involved," he said, "until they see something they don't like and they get upset. But I won't be serving on the board just to prove a point, or for revenge or out of malice. I simply want to see the students receive a better educational experience than I did."
While the student walkout years ago was not successful in that the superintendent was not retained, Hanchar was named a student liaison to the school board and learned something about its operation.
"The incident with the school superintendent and a softball coach whose contract was not renewed were always in the back of my mind and led me to take a greater interest in local politics," he said. "During that time, I realized how influential the school board was and what I could have done had I been a member."
That interest led him to work for Scott Conklin, a candidate in an unsuccessful bid for a state Senate seat. This year, Hanchar served as Conklin's political adviser in his successful run for commissioner of Centre County, where University Park is located. Conklin, who was sworn in on Jan. 3, received the most votes in that election and has been named chairman of the Board of Commissioners.
While working on the county commissioner campaign, Hanchar was encouraged to run for school board. He organized a write-in campaign in the primary election, which generated enough votes to get him on the ballot for the general election.
"I didn't do much campaigning in the general election," he said, "but I wanted to be certain that people knew they were voting for me and not my father so I ran under the name Jake Hanchar rather than Harry J. Hanchar. I wanted the voters to know they were voting for a student. And I also made them aware of the fact that I was 20 years old on Oct. 13."
Although he didn't go door-to-door and wasn't able to be at the polls on Election Day because he had two mid-semester exams, he got the second highest vote total of three candidates for two seats and was elected to the board.
Hanchar, who is planning to go to medical school, already has begun studying major issues facing the school district. They include block scheduling at the high school, under which students would have four extended class periods per day, as opposed to an eight-period class schedule, and overcrowding in the district's rural elementary schools.
"I don't anticipate any problems working with the other members of the board," he said. "I think things will work out for the best and my age will not be a detriment. And, I'm not concerned about the time involved. In fact, I'm planning to dedicate a lot of time to the effort. I was able to complete high school in three years by adhering to time management principles, and I've learned in college to budget my time wisely. I've already applied my study habits to learn about the intricacies involved in serving on the board, including its bylaws, the occupational taxes and other issues."
He is looking forward to serving on the board, but is aware that the voters may not agree with all his decisions.
"There will be times where I won't be right, but I'll vote my conscience after thoroughly studying the issues. And I'll always be certain to inform the public of my reasons for doing certain things.
"Even if the voters don't agree, they will know how I voted and why. Part of the problem in the past was that board members would ignore the public and not explain what they did and why. That won't be the case with me."