By Pepper Parr
February 26th, 2025
BURLINGTON. ON
The Halton District School Board has announced that secondary school students Kaitlyn Hou and Jay Xu are to be the Board’s Student Trustees for the next school year (2025-2026).
These students were the successful candidates elected to the role by their peers through an online election that took place on Thursday, Feb. 20. This year’s election included 19 candidates and a total of approximately 3,970 students casting votes.
Hou is returning as Student Trustee for a second term, while Xu will be entering the role for the first time.
Hou is a Grade 11 student at Abbey Park High School and Xu is a Grade 10 student at White Oaks Secondary School.
The new term of office officially begins on Aug. 1, 2025. In recognizing the results of the Student Trustee election, Trustees of the Halton District School Board welcomed Hou and Xu to their roles as Student Trustees for the 2025-2026 school year. Hou and Xu shared the following thoughts about their upcoming terms as Student Trustee.
Jayson Zu, is a Grade 10 student at White Oaks Secondary School.
“I am incredibly grateful and honoured to have been selected as a Student Trustee from such a well-qualified group of candidates,” says Jason Xu. “To advocate for the student body that has supported and helped me so much throughout the election, I cannot thank you all enough. Now, I look forward to working alongside my peers, the Board and the community as a whole to fulfill the expectations for which I was elected, and to ensure that our beliefs and calls for meaningful changes resound across Halton!”
Kaitlyn Hou is a Grade 11 student at Abbey Park High School.
“I am beyond humbled and honoured to have been elected for another term as one of the two HDSB Student Trustees representing Halton,” says Kaitlyn Hou. “My absolute favourite part of being a Student Trustee is the connections and relationships I was able to build. After learning the ropes, starting passion projects and connecting with so many incredible, inspiring students from across Halton over the past year, I feel nothing but excitement and anticipation for the continued growth, development and change that is to come!”
Chair of the Board of Trustees Amy Collard said: “Student Trustees play a vital role in representing all HDSB students, amplifying their voices at the board table and collaborating with Trustees to make a positive impact in Halton schools. The Board values student perspectives as we work to equip our students with the resources and opportunities they need to achieve their goals. We look forward to working with Kaitlyn and Jay in support of student learning, achievement and well-being.”
In that she is spot on. In the decade that I have been following the public school board I have seen some remarkable high school students who delivered on a level that some of the trustees could not match.
An observation: I don’t ever recall seeing a student trustee from Burlington. The gender balance has always been good – realize that these trustees are chosen by their peers. That 19 students chose to run for the job has to be seen as a ray of hope for the future. The students from Oakville schools seem to be the most active – that activity is reflected in the number of community groups in Oakville compared to what we have in Burlington. There is a link between the two.
The other interesting point is that many, if not most of these student trustees, are from diverse communities.
