A Mancos High School student was formally appointed as a student liaison to the Mancos Town Board at its meeting on Nov. 13.
Olivia Jukes, 16, is in her junior year.
Announcements and advertisements at school targeting juniors and seniors to join the board caught her attention, so she decided to apply.
After submitting “a bunch of paperwork and letters of recommendation,” she found herself at her first town board meeting on the 13th, trying to digest “a lot of information really fast.”
“It was decently easy to understand,” Olivia said. “I got my huge stack of papers, and I listened.”
She said only one other student applied for the role.
“No one had any interest in it,” said Olivia. “It was the same thing with the school board applications, like three kids applied. Why wouldn’t you want to do that? It’s a great opportunity.”
In addition to her role on the Town Board, Olivia is a student member of the school board.
“She doesn’t get to vote in either place, though,” said Tressa Jukes, Olivia’s mom.
“Yeah, no I can’t vote,” said Olivia. “I just sit there and listen and ask questions about the many big words.”
Olivia said that what a lot of kids see as “cheesy,” she deems an opportunity to grow as a leader.
“And it gives me background into real-world stuff, and how real-world stuff works,” she said. “I tend to focus a lot on school-based stuff, and I know that’s not always what outside of school is.”
In return for her time on the Town Board, she’ll get a $500 scholarship to go toward a college of her choice. If she opts in for her senior year, too, she’ll get another $500.
“My goal is to go to Penn State and study business. Business management,” Olivia said.
Being on the town board is a great learning opportunity, since she’ll get to see how a town works and manages its finances. She said she’s also curious to learn how the town and school interact.
“Just getting my voice out there is pretty cool,” she said.
Her achievements may start, but do not end, with her contributions to boards in Mancos.
“I play volleyball; I made varsity this year,” Olivia said.
She’s been a Girl Scout since kindergarten, and is working on her Gold Award now, which is akin to the Boy Scouts’ Eagle Scout Award.
In May, she and her troop will go to Scotland, England and Ireland.
“We’ve been saving up for years, selling so many cookies. I sold over 1,000 boxes last year,” Olivia said.
“Over 1,000 the past three, four years,” Tressa said.
“Our main goal is to find a grassy hill – one of those stereotypical grassy hills – and roll down it. That’s the thing we’re most excited for,” Olivia said.
In school, she’s a straight A student – mostly A+’s, Tressa said – and is on the National Honor Society. She’s also class president.
“For some reason they picked me,” Olivia said with a laugh, about being chosen president of her class.
“I’m just thankful she can drive herself to all this stuff,” Tressa joked.
Plus, she coaches youth volleyball and is a student aid, helping elementary school teachers grade and teach. She said being around kids, in part, inspires her to do all she does.
“It’s just being there for them, and they can be like, ‘Oh, hey, I knew that girl. What if I do stuff like that,’” Olivia said.
Ultimately, she’d like to own a bookstore and flower shop; to her, “reading is everything.”
“I’m also running on spite,” said Olivia. “I told my coworker the idea and she was like, ‘well that would be a good idea for like when you retire maybe.’”
“I don’t know if ‘spite’ is the right word. Running on doubts maybe,” Tressa added.
“It is spite,” Olivia laughed.
Whatever it is, it’s “all culminating toward my goal of getting to the college I want to go to.”
