John Bopp has been a busy Bomber. He ran the 400 meters, threw shot put and has started as a football tight end and a basketball power forward at Stissing Mountain high school.
Bopp is also treasurer of the National Honor Society, vice president of the varsity and yearbook clubs, a member of Key Club and the Math Honors Society, and president of Students Against Destructive Decisions. He studies back-to-back calculus and physics, and counts English among his favorite subjects. In his spare time, Bopp has organized club fairs, chaired senior-year celebrations, and coached younger students on résumé-writing skills and time management.
Oh, and he’s been class president for four years running. “I usually run unopposed,” said Bopp, a tall 17-year-old with wavy brown hair.
And if all that wasn’t enough, last fall Bopp became the Pine Plains Central School District’s first-ever student liaison to the Board of Education. As such, he’s the lone high schooler with a seat at the table when the school board and superintendent meet twice a month to discuss everything from budgets and testing standards to food security and student safety.
“I was really excited,” said Bopp, who learned of the offer when Robert Scott — the dean of students, who also serves as the school’s athletic director – approached him during football practice in August 2022. “It’s been a phenomenal opportunity to help the board understand what’s really going on at the student level.”
The position was created after New York state drafted guidelines allowing school boards to add an advisory role for students. Amie Fredericks, vice president of the PPCSD board, said she and her colleagues were enthusiastic from the start, endorsing the position in September 2021.
The public then approved the role as part of the May 2022 school budget vote, with Bopp stepping in last autumn at the start of the 2022-23 school year. Fredericks said the student liaison position, which comes up for public renewal every two years, has been critical to helping the board understand the challenges that students face.
“Being a high school student today is very different than when we were all in high school,” said Fredericks, who works with hearing-impaired students throughout Dutchess County. “As much as we like to think we understand what they’re going through, it’s been really crucial to get the student perspective, and to hear it firsthand from an insider.”
As student liaison, Bopp doesn’t participate in the board’s formal decision-making. But that hasn’t prevented him from weighing in on serious issues that come before the group.
For example, Bopp has shared students’ frustration over the state Regents exams, which are compulsory throughout New York but at some schools are not factored into grade point averages. At Stissing Mountain, where Regents scores make up 20% of class grades, Bopp said many students have seen their GPAs affected as a result, creating a disadvantage compared to students elsewhere in the state. The board is reviewing the issue.
Bopp has also shared that students from economically challenged families may not be getting enough to eat during the school day because of the perceived stigma attached to applying for free-food programs. One in seven students in New York lack regular access to healthy food. The issue prompted District Superintendent Brian Timm and other school officials across New York to appeal to Governor Kathy Hochul to consider adding no-cost school meals to the state budget.
Timm touches base with Bopp ahead of each of the school board sessions. “John has been great – he does a very nice job of really getting out there, talking to all the classes and representing the whole student body,” Timm said. “He’s done an excellent job of highlighting mentorship programs for ninth-and-10th graders, and giving them a sense of what’s important as they start planning for college or careers post-graduation.”
Bopp, who unhesitatingly describes himself as “louder and more outgoing than most,” said he enjoys providing a voice for fellow students. To that end, he maintains a group chat that allows peers to share their thoughts and hear his feedback from the board meetings. (The school board meetings are streamed live and open to the public, including students.)
The two-way communication, Bopp said, has not only helped the board understand what issues are important to students but also dispelled misunderstandings among students about how the school uses its resources. “Sometimes students complain that our sports uniforms are old, when in fact they’re just three or four years old,” Bopp said. “I can help explain this to them.” Sitting in on the board’s budget discussions, he added, has been “eye-opening.”
Bopp, a lifelong resident of Pine Plains, credits his grandmother Patricia Nannetti with inspiring him to get involved in student life. “Ever since I was a little kid I’ve been tagging around with her” as she managed the church-sponsored town food locker and volunteered at the library, he said. “I always wanted to be part of the community the way she is.”
Leadership appears to run in the family – Bopp’s sister, Amelia, is president of her eighth grade class. (Time will tell whether their brother, Evan, a second grader, will follow suit.)
Leadership is one thing. Politics, however, does not appear to be a draw.
After graduation this month, Bopp – who as a fourth grader helped his grandfather repair car engines — heads to Binghamton University to pursue studies in mechanical engineering. “I don’t see myself in politics,” he said. “But someday, wherever I end up, I’d like to be involved in local government or the school board where my own kids go to school.”
Graduation later this month means the school will now need to find a new student liaison to replace Bopp. Christopher Boyd, the principal at Stissing Mountain, said the board is discussing a system to determine who will come in next year. “John has done a great job as the first student to take this on,” Boyd said. “He’s going to be hard to replace.”
“The junior class is very outgoing,” Bopp added hopefully. “It shouldn’t be a problem.”
As his high school career draws to a close, Bopp grew thoughtful about life in a small town and the stability it has provided. His mother, Samantha, a kindergarten teacher in Millbrook, always encouraged his school work. His father, John, a financial advisor, helped him polish his basketball skills with frequent practice at the Stissing Lake courts. And at school, where this year’s graduating class is just under 70 students, he’s enjoyed a comforting mix of familiarity and freedom. “I get to be around kids who I’ve known since preschool,” he said, “and I also get to be myself.”