by Davy James, Staff Writer
Many senior students at South Brunswick High School spent Monday night doing homework, chatting with friends or watching television. But 18-year-old Elizabeth Chang spent her Monday evening being sworn in as the newest member of the South Brunswick Board of Education.
”I was just very surprised at being elected,” Ms. Chang said. “It wasn’t something I expected. I found out I was elected the morning after the election and I thought it was an April Fool’s joke.”
Ms. Chang finished third in the seven-candidate race for three seats in the April 21 election with 1,281 votes, behind incumbents Barry Nathanson, who finished first with 1,971 votes and Stephen Parker who finished in second with 1,767 votes.
Ms. Chang said she campaigned by handing out fliers and going door to door to introduce herself to the community and explain why she was running. Still, she said the number of people who cast ballots for her was a shock.
”I was surprised and I still don’t know where all those votes came from,” she said. “I guess I overestimated the number of people who would just throw my fliers away.”
Ms. Chang said she will attend New York University in the fall, but she intends to commute back to South Brunswick for the bi-monthly meetings.
”I’m not really worried about the extra work,” Ms. Chang said. “I was planning to do a lot of extra-curricular activities anyway so instead of that I’ll just do work with the Board of Education.”
Ms. Chang said her friends were just as surprised as she is about her election.
”A lot of my friends felt I could be elected, but they definitely didn’t expect it,” she said. “A lot of people have been congratulating me but I don’t think anyone thought I could win.”
Ms. Chang said she isn’t concerned that some people may not take her seriously because of her age, in fact she sees her inexperience as an asset.
”I think that some people will view my age as a disadvantage,” she said. “But I disagree with that. I think my age is an advantage because I’m going to be bringing a fresh perspective to the Board of Education.”
Ms. Chang’s firsthand knowledge of what goes on in the classroom is something she sees as a benefit and has helped shape her goals as a board member.
”I want to maintain the student-teacher ratio and work to improve technology in the classroom,” she said. “Our servers and computers are really slow and I’ve seen that hold up class time.”
Ms. Chang has a simple message for the 1,200 plus people who voted for her.
”Thank you,” she said.
Also at Monday’s board meeting, former vice president Matthew Speesler was chosen to become the new president and former president Martin Abschutz will become the new vice president.

