To say her senior year at Escalon High School has been busy for Lily Franks would be quite an understatement.

The teen, who is the vice president of the Associated Student Body, is also involved in activities ranging from soccer to PIT, the Peer Interaction Team, and serves as this year’s student representative to the Escalon Unified School District Board of Education.

Part of the job of being the ASB vice president is to take a seat on the school board, serving as a liaison between the students and the board members making decisions that affect them.

Franks, the daughter of Brian and Cami Franks, said she is learning a lot through the experience, which sees her take a seat on the dais for the regularly scheduled monthly school board meetings.

“I didn’t know how many people went to board meetings,” she noted. “Also just how many things that they (the board members) pass and all the businesses they have to do.”

As the student representative, Franks can make and second motions but isn’t allowed to vote on budget items or anything having to do with finances.

“I do tell them what’s happening at the school, the campus happenings,” she said of providing regular updates to the board. “I always also let them know when we are having special events.”

School District Superintendent Ron Costa said the school board representative has been a staple of the school board for years.

“I know it was well before my tenure, which is eight years,” Costa said. “I think the pluses are twofold: one, the student gets to experience the operation of the board and two, the board is able to get a student’s viewpoint.”

Franks was also able to see some of her fellow students in action at the Feb. 6 meeting, the most recent session of the board. Several students presented a petition to the board opposing the loss of three teachers, whose resignations were on the agenda for that night’s meeting.

Costa said the students presenting the petition were respectful and stated their case, unhappy with what they felt was the unnecessary loss of three non-tenured teachers at the end of this school year – Michelle Canfield, Jennifer Moore and Cody Walker.

Costa said he couldn’t discuss specifics about the teachers with the students as that is a personnel issue but did offer information on the process of tenure. The resignations of all three teachers were accepted by the board during the course of the meeting.

Along with a firsthand look at the board in operation, Franks said she feels the experience has been a beneficial one for her during this school year.

“I’ve learned how to talk better in front of people,” she said. “I’m not really shy but I get nervous in front of people I don’t know ... this has helped me with that and I have been able to meet new people.”

Franks plans to attend college in South Carolina so she will be leaving Escalon after graduation later this year.

She has been involved with the ASB student government group all four years, is in her first year with the Peer Interaction Team, plays soccer and did two years of basketball. She also has been involved in Drama Club and was a Homecoming Queen candidate this past fall, along with taking part in the summer’s Miss Escalon pageant.

“It goes by so fast, it’s crazy,” she said of not only her senior year but high school in general. “This year we’ve also done so much with ASB, but I feel like it is finally starting to slow down.”

Not for long, though, as there are finals to be studied for, a senior trip to plan and graduation to look forward to over the next few months.

Franks noted that, through all her activities, it is the friendships formed that have meant the most. She also said she has enjoyed “being involved with the community” that continues to be supportive of EHS and its students.