Meet Alex

Alexander is an 18-year-old lifelong Chicagoan, recent CPS graduate, and former Local School Council Student Representative who believes that the people closest to our schools should have a voice in how they are governed.

Raised in West Lawn, Alexander attended Eberhart Elementary School and later John Hancock College Preparatory High School. Today, he is a student at the University of Illinois Chicago, continuing his education while remaining rooted in the community that raised him.

Alexander is the son of immigrant parents whose sacrifices shaped his understanding of hard work, perseverance, and service. His mother and father have worked tirelessly to provide opportunities for Alexander and his two brothers, even when making ends meet has not been easy.

“My parents have sacrificed so much of their lives to give their children opportunities they never had. They work every day, they keep going even when things are difficult, and they are my heroes. Everything I accomplish is built on the sacrifices they made for us. Thank you, Mom and Dad.”

Like many young Chicagoans, Alexander balances school with work. He currently works while attending college, an experience that has given him an appreciation for the families across Chicago who work long hours while still trying to provide the best possible future for their children.

His interest in public service started early. Alexander has long had a passion for politics and government and dreams of one day serving the country at the highest levels of public office. But he believes meaningful change does not have to begin in Washington – it can begin in our own neighborhoods and schools.

That belief led him to serve as a Student Representative on his high school’s Local School Council.

During his time on the LSC, Alexander worked alongside teachers, parents, community members, and school leadership. He regularly questioned decisions, communicated with fellow council members, and pushed administrators to consider the perspective of students before making decisions that affected them.

Those experiences gave him something few candidates his age—and many candidates of any age – have: firsthand experience with CPS school-level governance while simultaneously experiencing CPS as a student.

Alexander knows some people will look at his age before looking at his experience. He sees it differently.

Being 18 means the problems facing CPS students are not distant memories to him. He experienced them recently. He knows what it is like to sit in the classroom, eat the school lunch, depend on school resources, interact with teachers, and watch decisions made by adults determine the everyday experience of students.

Alexander believes the School Board needs that perspective at the table.

And when he isn’t studying, working, campaigning, or talking politics, Alexander is still an ordinary 18-year-old. He enjoys spending time with the people closest to him and playing video games – including Apex Legends.

He isn’t running to pretend he has decades of political experience.

He’s running because he believes Chicago needs a new generation willing to start gaining that experience by serving their community now.

What’s the Reason?

Our Students Are Being Asked to Do More With Less

I am running because I spent my life in Chicago Public Schools, and I refuse to accept the idea that declining conditions should simply become normal for the next generation.

We constantly ask our students to achieve more. We ask our teachers to accomplish more. We ask families to trust that their children are receiving the education they deserve.

But too often, we ask all of them to accomplish more with less.

As a recent CPS graduate, these aren’t problems I’ve learned about from reports or campaign talking points. I’ve lived them.

I’ve watched students receive meals they don’t want to eat and then go through the school day hungry. My own younger brother comes home hungry because of his experience with school lunch. Families should not have to choose between accepting inadequate meals and sending additional food from home.

I believe every student deserves access to a quality hot meal at school without placing another financial burden on families.

And food is only one part of the problem.

Our students deserve quality classroom materials. They deserve buildings that are safe, clean, modern, and properly maintained. Teachers deserve the resources necessary to actually teach rather than constantly finding ways to compensate for what their schools lack.

Smaller Classes. More Individual Attention.

This issue is especially personal to me because of my godson.

Some children need additional attention in the classroom. That does not mean they are incapable of succeeding – it means they may need a teacher to spend a little more time helping them understand something individually.

When classrooms become too large, that becomes increasingly difficult.

A teacher responsible for too many students cannot possibly provide every child with the individual attention they deserve.

That is why I believe reducing class sizes must remain a priority.

Smaller classes don’t only benefit students who need additional assistance. They give teachers more opportunities to know their students, identify problems earlier, provide individualized instruction, and build stronger classrooms.

Teachers should have the time to teach. Students should have the opportunity to be seen.

Student Voice Belongs at the Table

One of the biggest reasons I entered this race comes directly from my experience serving on a Local School Council.

I saw what happened when students attempted to participate in decisions affecting their own education.

Too often, student concerns could be treated as secondary rather than essential. During my time as Student Representative, I made it my responsibility to communicate with council members, question decisions made by administration, and continuously remind decision-makers that students deserved to be included.

That experience changed me.

It taught me that representation cannot simply mean inviting students into the room. Their voices have to carry weight once they’re there.

As a School Board member, I want to bring that same philosophy downtown.

When CPS makes decisions about students, there should be students and recent students willing to challenge assumptions and explain what those decisions actually look like inside a school.

Why Run at 18?

Some will inevitably ask why an 18-year-old believes he belongs on the Chicago Board of Education.

My answer is simple:

Why shouldn’t someone who just experienced the system have a seat at the table discussing how to improve it?

My age doesn’t prevent me from understanding CPS. In some ways, it gives me a perspective that cannot be recreated.

I graduated only recently. I know what students are experiencing because I was one of them. At the same time, my service on an LSC allowed me to see how school governance works from the other side of the table.

I have worked with educators.

I have worked with parents.

I have questioned administrators.

I have participated in public meetings.

And I learned that leadership isn’t determined by how old someone is. It is determined by whether they’re willing to listen, learn, show up, and stand their ground when the people they represent are being ignored.

I am young.

I am also energetic, independent, and ready to work.

The Board of Education should include people with decades of experience – but it should also have room for the generation currently inheriting the consequences of its decisions.

Voters Deserve a Choice

There was another reason I could not sit this election out.

I watched candidates face challenges that removed them from the ballot, including candidates who represented perspectives that I believed deserved to be part of the conversation. As the field narrowed, I looked at District 8B and saw the possibility that voters would be presented with only one name.

That didn’t sit right with me.

No candidate should be able to assume that an election is already decided simply because nobody else’s name appears beside theirs.

An election should be a choice – not a coronation.

I entered this race as a write-in candidate because the people of District 8B deserve another option.

They deserve an opportunity to compare candidates, question us, challenge us, examine our priorities, and decide for themselves who deserves their vote.

I may have chosen the more difficult path by running a write-in campaign.

That’s okay.

Public service was never supposed to be about choosing the easiest path.

Keeping Public Education Public

I am also concerned about the growing influence that wealthy individuals, political organizations, corporations, and special interests can have over public education.

Chicago’s schools belong to Chicago’s people.

Decisions about neighborhood schools should begin with students, parents, educators, school employees, and communities – not with whoever can write the largest check.

That is why I want this campaign to remain rooted in ordinary people.

I support strong neighborhood public schools, properly funded classrooms, smaller class sizes, quality school meals, safe and modern facilities, stronger student voice, respect for educators and school employees, and greater transparency in CPS decision-making.

I won’t agree with every organization or every person on every issue.

But there is one question I will continually ask:

“Will this make life better for the students walking into a Chicago public school tomorrow morning?”

If the answer is no, then we need to reconsider what we’re doing.

A New Generation at the Table

I don’t believe one School Board member can solve every problem facing Chicago Public Schools.

But I do believe one person can ask questions others aren’t asking.

One person can vote no when something isn’t right.

One person can bring attention to a student whose voice otherwise wouldn’t be heard.

And one person can remind an enormous bureaucracy that behind every statistic, budget line, policy, and presentation is a child whose future depends on the decisions being made.

I am running because CPS raised me.

I am running because I have seen what our schools can be – and what happens when bureaucracy gets in the way.

I am running because students deserve more than being told to settle for less.

And I am running because District 8B deserves a choice.