One new candidate has filed to run for a seat on the Jefferson City School District Board of Education.
The board has two three-year terms on the April 6 ballot. Christian Cepeda, of Jefferson City, filed Dec. 21 to run for a seat on the board.
Incumbent Treasurer Ken Enloe and incumbent board member Lindsey Rowden filed Dec. 15 for a second term. Filing closes Jan. 19.
Cepeda attends Stanford University online where he is majoring in human biology. He said he decided to run for a seat on the board because his young age and Hispanic ethnicity would add a new perspective and more diversity.
"A majority of the people that are on the board now haven't been in high school since before I was born almost 20 years ago, so I feel like there needs to be a new, fresh opinion," he said.
If elected, Cepeda said his goals would be to try to offer AP computer science classes, focus on scholarship recognition, offer more resources for people with disabilities, advocate for more mental health counseling and mental health awareness, and to "serve the under-served."
"Unfortunately, low-income and mostly people of color don't have good resources for education, and if they're just aware of those resources before it's too late, they can take a hold of their own destiny and change their futures for the better," he said.
The News Tribune previously published articles including interviews with Enloe and Rowden.
Enloe, the director of human resources and business development for Huber & Associates Inc., said he decided to run for re-election because he wants to continue to make progress in the district.
"There's still challenges ahead and things that we can continue to do to make all of our schools even better and to serve the kids in our community," he said Dec. 15.
Rowden, a family care specialist at Freeman Mortuary, has three children attending different schools in the district.
"It just continues to be a good time for me to participate, and I can really take the temperature of what's going on in buildings because my kids are attending every day," she said Dec. 15.