By Zamourad Iqbal
At 16, Jerry Yang serves as the elected student board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District for the 2025-2026 school year, representing about 500,000 students. Yang, a senior at North Hollywood High School, is passionate about combating environmental issues and helping other young people use their voices.
Yang’s advocacy around environmental issues began with his personal experiences stemming from the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak.
“My entire advocacy journey started within the realm of environmental advocacy after experiencing the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak with my family, which released tons of harmful gases into my community,” Yang said. “I got really involved with advocacy on the city and state levels. I started to recognize a pattern: the lack of youth voices in these spaces that drove me to get involved with youth development and advocacy.”
Although Yang is not allowed to vote alongside the adult board members at LAUSD, he can participate in board discussions, share his viewpoints, students’ needs, and concerns.
“My position is to inform the students what is going on and then to bring their interests back into the Board of Education,” Yang said. “I would say to all the students out there, don’t be afraid to reach out if you have any concerns, questions about anything that’s going on. If you want me to say something about agenda items on the board, don’t be afraid to ask me. Because at the end of the day, I’m representing your voices, then it’s my responsibility to push for it and make sure that I do everything within my power to make it happen.”
Before being elected as the non-voting student member of the LAUSD Board, Yang served as president of the Los Angeles City Youth Council, which empowers youth in L.A. by developing programs and policies that amplify young people’s voices.
“I worked a lot with the City of Los Angeles Youth Development Department to create additional resources and disseminate them to students,” Yang said. “I really want for the youth of Los Angeles to be well-informed citizens, (and know) what is going on in the world, and to be able to advocate for themselves, especially students with lived experience.”
Yang was one of 10 candidates who ran in the student board member election, including two other students from North Hollywood High School. “I didn’t expect to win based on the vote. It’s hard to get many votes when three people split the vote in one school,” Yang said. “I went into it with the mindset that, even if I don’t get this position, I will still be able to continue the work I’m doing and represent and advocate for students, no matter what position I have. That’s a valuable mindset to have.”
Yang drafted a resolution with his colleagues, called LAUSD High School Voter Education Week, that aims to strengthen high school students’ civic engagement and provide a comprehensive toolkit and information to help students participate in student board member elections.
Yang emphasized the importance of encouraging high school students to pre-register to vote.
“It has been proven that when students vote in high school, they are more likely to vote later in federal and state elections,” Yang said. “At the meeting in September, I drafted my first board resolution alongside my colleagues on the board to empower students and increase the resources available to students, so they have a really strong platform.”
Yang’s biology teacher, Christine Deutsch, described him as a genuine, caring person.
“He’s a leader not because he wants to be in charge, but because he wants to make a change,” Deutsch said. “He’s also very humble and one who will do the work.”
Deutsch said she hopes students will find inspiration from Yang by witnessing his work as a student board member, and believes today’s students are aware of the political climate. Yang can be that person to bring positive change, so that students can draw inspiration from him.
“When other students see Jerry, it could inspire them, like, ‘Hey, I can do something. I can be the change,’” Deutsch said. “One of my favorite sayings is ‘be the change that you want to see in the world,’ and Jerry totally embodies that — he knows the need to do things differently.”
Student Emily Mekpongsatorn says Yang is “one of those people who can make everybody laugh, but when it’s time to command the room, he knows how to do that, and he’s approachable. … You can always count on him to get things done. He knows how to have fun, but he also knows when it’s time to get serious.”
Mekpongsatorn said that apart from work and other school activities, Yang enjoys karaoke and exploring different foods. “He’s always the first one to bring up karaoke,” she said.
Yang said he was honored to be elected as a student board member and is ready for the year ahead.
“I’ve always had a passion for representing and talking to students,” Yang said. “Being elected by them is a great honor, and I hope I serve them well.”