Hereford High Teen Sets Record for Leadership

A senior at Hereford High School has set a county record for Baltimore County Public School (BCPS) service.

Olivia Keithley, 17, was elected to her third term as president of the Baltimore County Student Councils (BCSC). She is the only student to ever hold the post of president for three years.

Keithley also made the record books two years ago when she was elected president of the BCSC as a rising sophomore, which was the first time a sophomore has held the post.

The BCSC is affiliated with the Baltimore County Board of Education and the Maryland Associate of Student Councils. The organization is staffed by secondary school students who unify the student councils of every BCPS middle and high school to share ideas, troubleshoot common problems, provide leadership training and serve as a liaison between the student populations and the administrations that oversee them.

“I never really thought any of it would happen this way,” said Keithley, who started serving on the BCSC as a seventh grader. “A lot of people get involved with things like this have it planned out. I never really thought about it until the end of my freshman year when I decided to run.”

Keithley's spontaneous decision turned out to be a good one.

The BSCS acts as a voice for more than 100,000 students attending BCPS, and she enjoys bridging the gap between those students and the myriad legislators, school boards and administrations that make so many of the decisions.

“The biggest thing is it's a way to advocate for students, so it really serves as the students' voice,” Keithley said. “We take trips to Annapolis and talk to legislators, we communicate to the school board and principal, teachers, other students, and interest groups.”

As president, Keithley also works with Superintendent Joe Hairston and serves on the Superintendent's Student Advisory Board.

Last year under Keithley's leadership, the BCSC started working with the Office of Food and Nutrition Services.

“We starting working really closing with the nutrition people,” Keithley said. “It started happening this year. We were taste-testing all these organic foods. It was exciting.”

Keithley also implemented a charity director position on the council to oversee Kids Helping Hopkins, the designated charity of The Maryland Association of Student Councils for Middle Schools and High Schools.

“We've done benefits with them, we've done bucket collections, we've written holiday cards, and a couple kids participated in a walk that benefited them,” Keithley said. “That was one of my touches, one of my personal goals.”

Barbara Fuller, the regional advisor of the BCSC, said, “Olivia is just a natural born leader. She's a great role model for her peers and also she mentors a lot of other students.”

Keithley's mother agrees that her daughter's leadership skills have been in the making for a long time.

“It's certainly no surprise, having lived with her,” said Keithley's mother, Susan. “Her preschool teacher said, 'Oh, shes going to be president of something.'”

Her mother continued, “I totally believe that people are born with certain strengths and energies, and her energy has always been in the area of being committed and passionate. She's always had a zest for life. She's just really into life.”

For Keithley, the third and final year of her service will be a busy one. Currently boasting a 3.8 GPA, Keithley will be taking five AP classes, dancing three to four days a week for school at Moving Company Dance Center in Cockeysville, practicing her violin and filling out her college applications. She has a list of seven colleges she is eyeballing, but has three favorites.

“Columbia, Georgetown and Brown are the three that I want to go to,” Keithley said. “I am probably going to go into social sciences—political sciences and education. I definitely want to teach at some point in my life. I also want to go to grad school and all that.”

She confessed that the commitment to her presidency of BCSC does take a lot of time, but she's okay with it.

“I'm the kind of person that really can't sit still,” she laughed. “I kind of have to be doing something at every point in my day. I don't sleep as much as I probably should.”