Oak Grove High School’s Michelle Xie selected as 2025-26 State Board of Education junior student representative

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  June 19, 2025

Oak Grove High School’s Michelle Xie selected as 2025-26 State Board of Education junior student representative

JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) has selected Michelle Xie of Oak Grove High School in the Lamar County School District to serve as the high school SBE junior representative for the 2025-26 school year.

Crosby Parker, the 2024-25 junior student representative of Gulfport High School in the Gulfport School District, is now serving as the 2025-26 SBE senior student representative.

Student representatives are non-voting SBE members who serve two years and provide input on policy decisions that affect Mississippi public schools. Each year after the senior representative graduates, the junior representative is promoted to the senior representative position and a new junior representative is appointed.

At Oak Grove High School, Michelle serves as the captain of the Speech and Debate Team, secretary on Student Council, and treasurer of the Beta Club. She is also a member of the school’s French Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta Club. Michelle advocates for gender equality in STEM and is co-founder of HerStemJourney, an initiative designed to empower girls to pursue STEM. She also created a YouTube Channel – Michelle’s STEM Journey – to support the cause. Her additional community service and extracurricular activities include being Mississippi’s sole delegate to the YMCA Youth Advocate Program, representative on the Hattiesburg Mayor’s Youth Council, author of the novel titled Skyborn, violinist in the Hattiesburg Youth Orchestra and STEM tutorer.

“I am interested in serving as a Student Representative of the Mississippi State Board of Education because I am passionate about creating equitable opportunities in education and advocating for programs that empower students to succeed,” Michelle wrote in her student rep application. “I hope to amplify the voices of students from different backgrounds and bring their thoughts to the table. It would be my honor to be a part of the process that works to create a more positive educational experience for students.”

The SBE chose Price Denham also of Oak Grove High School in the Lamar School District to be the alternate junior representative. An alternate is named to fulfill the term of the junior student representative should the representative be unable to complete the term for any reason.

The eligible applicant pool for the 2025-26 junior representative included 30 students. The 10 semifinalists will join the Mississippi Department of Education’s Student Advisory Council, which will provide input about educational opportunities and policy with the state superintendent of education.

Approximately 15 state boards of education have successfully implemented student advisory programs. In 2018, the SBE adopted a policy outlining the criteria for adding student representatives to the State Board.

Find all MDE news releases at mdek12.org/news.

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