Fresh out of the brick and steel of Legacy, 2016 graduate Breton Hawkins has already made headlines. Back in February, Hawkins announced his campaign for place six on the MISD school board. His platform emphasizes a focus on students, defining them to be the most important aspect of public education.

“I’m really excited for this campaign. I believe it’s time for student voices to be represented,” Hawkins said, “Regardless of how my vote goes, I believe my candidacy will change the conversation.”

Hawkins’ platform has a theme of unique perspective. He believes that his recent experience as a first-year graduate makes him uniquely qualified to be the next board member because he has an insider’s view of the district. His goal is to bring new ideas and concerns to the MISD school board.

“The first bullet point on Mansfield’s 20/20 Vision is ‘Students First,’ but you can’t put students first if you can’t communicate and listen to students,” Hawkins said, “I want to run to give students a voice. I want to bring the much needed student perspective to the MISD School Board.”

There are eight other candidates from a variety of backgrounds beside Hawkins. He is optimistic about the future for the election and his campaign.

“There’s a lot of candidates, nine actually,” Hawkins said, “Each one of them is wonderful but I feel I’m the only one who’s bringing something truly new — a student voice.”

The other Candidates running are Darrell Sneed, a former MISD administrator; Jessica Camacho, a stay at home mom; Joshua Spare, an IT director; Houston Mitchell, a customer service employee; Scott Marburger, a financial advisor; Samer Yacoub, an engineer; Carl Lindstrom, school administrator; and Troy Washington, a realtor.

Breton’s website can be found here and his Facebook page here. Early voting for the election starts on April 24 and ends on May 2. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. on May 6, the official election day.

A more detailed schedule of election events can be found here.