On Apr. 23, all eligible MCPS middle and high school students will vote for the 48th Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB). The SMOB is the only student given full voting rights on the Montgomery County Board of Education.
Watkins Mill High School hosted the SMOB Nominating Convention, Feb. 19, where Peter Boyko, a junior at Northwest High School, and Anuva Maloo, a junior at Montgomery Blair High School, were elected as finalists for the race.
As the student voting period nears, the B&W sat down with Boyko and Maloo to learn more about their future policies and visions for the 2025-2026 school year.
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
B&W: What inspired you to run for SMOB?
Peter Boyko: I have been involved in student advocacy and leadership for five years and SMOB was always in the back of my mind. When certain issues, such as school safety, infrastructure and career readiness, started becoming more serious, I knew I could no longer just keep testifying, joining organizations, or doing advocacy on the sidelines. I needed to step up and have a seat at the table. It became more serious when there was an incident at my school where a student had brought a loaded weapon for the entire day. That was a huge wake-up call that school safety is a major issue, one where our lives are on the line. We can’t wait to take action. We must act now before anything gets out of hand or another serious incident occurs.
Anuva Maloo: The truth is, my friends. I have a very diverse perspective. I grew up in the NEC [Northeast Consortium], where I went to Briggs Chaney Middle School, and now I’m in the DCC, where I go to Blair. The biggest thing is that a lot of the kids I grew up with in middle school worked incredibly hard, if not harder, than me, and I think that they could have been so successful if they were given the opportunities that I have today. The truth is that a lot of the time, their environments didn’t motivate them or push them to do better. A lot of the time, these kids get chalked up as lazy or unserious when, in truth, they just have other priorities. I have friends that are not attending high school right now, but it’s not because they’re lazy. It’s because they have three little siblings to take care of or they have to work other jobs. A lot of people don’t understand how lucky we are to be able to have food every single day and how lucky I am in the first place to be able to run for this position. The main thing is, I’m running for those kids that could have been so successful if they were given the opportunities that I have today, but their voices are just never heard.
B&W: What do you want students to know about you outside of this race?
PB: I really want any student to know that any role I assume, I try my best in. I joined the SGA as SGA secretary, and then in my eighth-grade year, I ran for a highly contested seat of SGA president for Kings Middle School, which I ended up winning. At that time, it was the biggest position I ever assumed in my life. I knew how grateful I was to have this role and wanted to make sure I utilized every minute to enact change and not just take advantage of the position. Whenever I run for something and whenever I take on a position, it’s always because I want to take action. It’s never out of self-interest or gaining a title or adding something to a resume. I just really want to reiterate that every role I assume or every role I enter, I will do my best, and every day, I will fight as hard as I can.
AM: I think it’s really hard to get to know someone online. You may see my posts or see what’s going on. In truth, if you do get to know me, you’ll learn that I’m a very loyal and hard-working person. Aside from SMOB and everything you see online, I’ve been swimming for a lot of years now. I’ve been dancing for 10-plus years too. Anything I put my mind to, I’m going to make happen because that’s just the type of person that I am. That’s my work ethic.
B&W: Why do you believe you are the most qualified candidate for SMOB?
PB: I have been involved in student advocacy, leadership and county-wide policy ever since seventh grade. I’ve been involved in organizations and SGA for five years. I’ve given speeches to local bodies of government on the county and state level ten times and signed up to testify on various issues ranging from school meals, school safety and wellness half days during exam season. I’ve also co-founded my own organization, Eco MoCo. It’s the largest student-led environmental organization in Montgomery County, with over 200 members and volunteers. I have a track record of getting things done, which is why I believe I am a qualified candidate for the role.
AM: I want to preface this by saying that Peter and I are both amazing candidates. I think that both of us have a lot of experience. I myself have been doing advocacy for five years. In middle school, I was SGA president and NHS president. In high school, I furthered that passion through founding my own organization called the NEC and DEC Advocacy Coalition and through so many other different opportunities and positions that I’ve had. What makes me unique as a candidate is my experience growing up in two different areas and understanding what it’s like for our voices not to be heard. Even before creating my SMOB platform, I made sure to talk to representatives from every high school in MCPS, and the reason for that wasn’t just for connections. I made sure that I got representatives from everywhere across the county, because I know it’s like for our voices not to be heard.
B&W: How do you plan to represent all MCPS students?
PB: The SMOB represents 160,000 students, and if you’re not actively seeking their feedback, then you’re not doing the job properly. I am committed to visiting every middle and high school at least once during my term to speak with students, get to know them and learn what issues matter to them. I’ve already been doing that during my campaign, having visited 20 middle and high schools in just six weeks. I’ve heard the concerns of bathrooms being locked, safety incidents and vaping. In addition, there’s a SMOB Advisory Council where students get to advise the SMOB on different issues and policies. I not only plan to organize that, but to organize the largest SMOB Advisory Council in history, opening it up to elementary school students because lots of times the SMOB focuses on middle and high school students, but they forget about that other 70,000 or 80,000 elementary school students’ voices. Also, I plan on staying active on social media, responding to DMs and asking for feedback and doing quick polls.
AM: I know how important it is to make sure that every voice is heard. I made sure that at least some part of my platform can address any high school. What I want to do in the future with my SMOB Advisory Council (SAC) is I want to ensure that I will have representatives from every high school. I also want to get middle schools involved because middle schoolers are the next generation. I can make all these decisions for high schoolers, but in the end, the middle schoolers are going to be the ones that are affected the most because they’re the ones that are transitioning into high school, not us. I’m also going to have an anonymous form where if, at any time, students do have any needs but they don’t feel comfortable speaking to me or anyone that’s a part of my SAC, they can fill out that form that we will always be checking to make sure that their needs are heard.
B&W: If elected, what is the first student issue you would address?
PB: The SMOB gets sworn in in July, and I want to make sure that as soon as I get sworn in, we are preparing for the new school year. One big thing I want to focus on is bathrooms. I know if people are not familiar with the issue of bathrooms, that might sound like a really weird place to start, but we’ve seen students overdose in bathrooms, vandalism and vaping. I want to make sure that we start the school year with open bathrooms that have vape detectors, stocked menstrual product dispensers and fixed infrastructure. Making sure that our bathrooms are open and stay open is also an accessibility issue for students with disabilities. That is why the first thing I plan to work on with the Superintendent and with the Board as we open the new school year is bathrooms.
AM: The first thing that I’m going to address is bathrooms. I’m going to make sure that bathrooms are unlocked. That is a necessity. The fact that there’s not even at least one open per floor in some schools is absurd because I don’t know how you’re dictating a person’s body. The second thing that I’m going to address is menstrual products. It’s a necessary product, and there’s no reason that the county is not treating it as a priority to ensure that our dispensers are not only not broken but also filled with good quality products too. The third thing that I want to make accessible is Narcan. I myself had a friend pass away due to overdose, and I think that we need to let kids know that if they are ever in a situation, safety is an option, whether that’s through fentanyl strips throughout the school or in care kits. Either way, I just want to give kids the option of knowing that they can be safe if needed because the truth is telling a kid to sit down and watch hour-long videos about how drugs are bad is not doing anything.
