By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
While college students spent this past semester gearing up for final exams, finishing off capstone projects and preparing for graduation, Gabriella Kielbasinski managed to attend to these matters all while running for the Jamesville-DeWitt Board of Education.
Although she came up short in votes this time around, 21-year-old Kielbasinski still thinks of her campaign as a worthwhile endeavor.
“Looking back on my run, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for our community,” Kielbasinski said. “From the personal stories that people graciously shared with me to the community relationships I’ve forged, I am better for this experience.”
A member of Jamesville-DeWitt’s 2015 class and a recent graduate of St. John Fisher College, Kielbasinski announced her campaign on April 8 shortly after committing to Syracuse University’s law school for this coming fall.
In the last couple months, she travelled back and forth from Rochester to attend meet-the-candidate events and speak with constituents in person.
Mostly running her campaign online, she designed her own website, ran an official Instagram page and joined several Facebook groups pertaining to the Jamesville-DeWitt district.
Kielbasinski said she latched onto the online route to maintain a constant accessibility with voters, allowing them to contact her easily without taking out time or resources to attend a school board meeting.
She said her online presence also cut down on waste resulting from yard signs and other paper-based campaigning common around election time.
“Paper waste poses a large problem for the environment,” Kielbasinski said. “The board of education is tasked with creating policy and direction to better students’ future. I don’t think that’s limited to decisions within the classroom. That means changing overall traditional methods in favor of sustainable practices that leave a better, healthier planet for the next generation.”
She has a personal stake in the future of the district as well—she will have siblings in Jamesville-DeWitt’s elementary, middle and high schools starting next year.
“I want them to have a transformative educational experience that will serve them well throughout life,” she said. “I want the same for every child in our community.”
As an early twenty-something not far removed from her high school years, Kielbasinski entered this year’s race as a younger-than-usual contender.
The median age nationally for a school board member stands at 59.
“As members of our community grow older, they have greater life experience to pull from and deeper roots within the community,” Kielbasinski said. “Their age, and the perspective that accompanies it, is valuable. There is, however, also value in a fresh, younger perspective.”
She said she relates to students in this age of social media and has gained insight into their struggles through years of volunteer work with the non-denominational youth organization Young Life and its summer camps.
“There are kids who have entrusted me with the careful task of listening to their stories,” Kielbasinski said. “Many of our kids feel disenfranchised or brushed off. We have children who are hurting in real ways, in need of undivided attention. We have students doing incredible things that deserve to be celebrated.”
Her mother, Michelle, once served on the district’s school board and provided support to the campaign alongside other members of the community.
“I am grateful for every person who voted or posted online because they trusted me to listen to their stories and advocate for them going forward,” Kielbasinski said.
Along the way, she encountered her fair share of obstacles.
“One of the chief concerns regarding my age was an ability to handle and oversee the budget,” Kielbasinski said.
Kielbasinski said she wishes she had better expressed her knowledge of handling finances, garnered through St. John Fisher’s Service Scholars program. She served for four years on the program’s executive board, responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarship money.
Throughout her life, Kielbasinski said she has seen first-hand the power of youth in leadership and how it can empower others.
“Often times the world says to young people that they simply don’t understand yet or that they need to wait their turn before earning their seat at the table,” Kielbasinski said.
Regarding the future of the district, she said events in the style of town hall meetings should exist during lunch periods and after school for voting-age students, allowing for increased engagement and transparency. According to Kielbasinski, district officials told her such events would be “improper.”
As for school board elections, Kielbasinski said the ballot should be in alphabetical order to avoid any misunderstandings about perceived value or incumbency in the ordering.
“There are many voters who simply go down the ballot,” Kielbasinski said. “This puts those at the end at an unfair disadvantage.”
Though she remains unsure about whether she will run again, Kielbasinski said she will continue giving back to the community in the meantime and choosing empathy above all else.
