Senior Angel Hidalgo joins BOE as Ex-Officio member

Senior Angel Hidalgo knows how to keep busy. He’s the president of the Alexander Hamilton High School Student Council, a member of the Coding Club, GREEN Club, RADD Club, Finance Club and he plays Football as well as Winter and Spring Track. And yet, somehow, he has managed to add one more item to his “to do” list. 

This summer Angel was appointed the Ex Officio member of the Board of Education.

Beginning on July 1, 2025, New York began to require Boards to include at least one student on their board. Student representatives do not get a vote or attend executive sessions. Individual districts determined how students were selected.

For Angel, who as Student Council President presents updates on council events to the Board at their meetings, it was a natural progression for him to take a seat the table.

“I was surprised,” Angel said when he was selected for this new role.

“Now I want to bring more perspectives and share how students feel,” he said. “I report to the Board, and if they are discussing something important, I’ll chime in.”

He said it’s a great opportunity for the Board to hear an opinion from a student.

“Everyone has been so welcoming,” he said, when he first joined the meetings over the summer. 

He said he was encouraged to speak his mind, and Superintendent Susan Yom encouraged him to not be shy and speak.

“I really like how they actually want to hear from the students,” Angel said.

One idea he suggested was to have a student suggestion box, a place where students can anonymously submit their ideas to improve the school environment. At the next meeting, Angel said he’d like to discuss editing the Student Council By-Laws, in order to have a better balance of class representatives that is not based on the number of students in each grade.

Angel’s leadership philosophy, he explained, is to “take charge,” and “do first, and figure it out later.”

He enjoys being a part of the Student Council, describing the experience as being a family.

“You have a group that is a real community,” he said. “We work to be engaged; no idea is a bad idea.”

Angel is also focused on the future and would like to study economics and finance at Syracuse University. In the little bit of free time he has, he is working on the e-commerce business he started this past summer, an app that helps athletes develop a plan for recovery in the event of an injury.