WESTBROOK – As far as Westbrook school officials are aware, Westbrook is the first and only city in Maine to appoint student representatives from their high school to the City Council, and while the representatives have no voting power, they have the chance to weigh in on any issue – and often do.

Beginning roughly five years ago, the City Council began appointing student representatives through an application and recommendation process. This year, Westbrook High School sophomore Trina Sayed is the newest appointee to this highly regarded position.

The 15-year-old Sayed, whose family emigrated from Afghanistan in 1989, was born in New Jersey, grew up in Portland, and moved to Westbrook in 2008.

She is heavily involved in school programs such as Interact Club, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, theater, French Club, and writes for the school newspaper, the Torch Tribune. Sayed takes leadership roles in these programs such as treasurer of French Club and is one of four leaders of Interact Club.

The American Journal caught up with Sayed recently to find out her inspiration for getting involved and what her long-term goals are.

Q: What was your inspiration for becoming a student representative?

A: I would always have meetings for Interact Club in room 114 where the City Council meetings are held, and I would see the nameplates of all the members of the City Council, including the student representatives names. I would wonder why the names of my peers were there, so I did my own “research” and discovered that the Westbrook City Council offered WHS students the opportunity to be representatives for the school. In October, when I heard the morning announcements that there was an opening for a student representative position for the City Council, I immediately got an application.

Q: What got you interested in politics?

A: My family would discuss political issues when I was a child, and I was always intrigued and had an opinion on every issue. As I got older, my brother and I would discuss political issues. He is now majoring in international affairs at the University of Maine in Orono, and we continue to have conversations regarding politics.

Q: Do you think your experience with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Interact Club can help you bring something new to the role of student representative?

A: Yes, it can definitely bring a new perspective as my role of student representative. I can gain knowledge of what people’s views are throughout the community regarding certain issues in our town.

Q: How do you plan to engage your fellow students in providing you with opinions on city issues?

A: My role as a student representative is to voice the opinions of my fellow classmates on city issues, and I will try to engage them and ask how they feel on certain topics and what they would like to see happen in Westbrook. My position will allow me to relay this sort of information to the City Council.

Q: Are there current issues in Westbrook schools that you feel need to be discussed? How will you bring those issues into the City Council’s discussion?

A: The method the high school is going about to implement the program that was adopted in 2011, the Common Core State Standards. It’s an issue the students are finding difficult to adjust to due to the sudden change in the method they are being taught.

I can bring it up in a student representative update, but this issue is not something the City Council can change. It is something that the school board can discuss and improve.

Q: You currently write for Westbrook High School’s newspaper, the Torch Tribune. Do you think being involved with the City Council will affect your writing or story ideas?

A: It may help me be able to relate to more topics, but for the most part, no. For the Torch Tribune I write articles about national and international political issues. If there are issues in our community that students in Westbrook High School need to know about, I will write about it.

Q: Even though you’re only a sophomore, do you have plans or goals for college and beyond?

A: I have an unusual interest in pursuing a career in the medical field and in politics, so I am unsure of what I should major in, but it will be in either of those fields. Right now though, my plan is to focus on high school and do well in all my classes to prepare myself for the obstacles that lay before me to get into my dream college, Yale.

“My role as a student representative is to voice the opinions of my fellow classmates on city issues,” says Trina Sayed.