The South Country Central School District Board of Education has appointed Bellport High School sophomore Brynn Johnsen as its student ex officio board member for the 2021-2022 school year. She replaces Jack Frankie, who graduated in June.

Johnsen, who will officially take her chair alongside the board on Sept. 15, is looking forward to the advisory position. “I like being able to give back to my school, and to get involved and encourage others in everything,” she said.

As a non-voting board member, Johnsen will provide the board with reports regarding the student body at each board meeting. She will also lend important insight and feedback to the board for designing special events that bring students together.

“I think it is especially important to bring students together through events during COVID,” she said.

Johnsen earned the ex officio position after running a successful campaign at her school. As a freshman, she was elected secretary of student council, a role she thoroughly loved.

“Ever since the fourth grade, I have been a representative in student council,” she said. “It is something I really enjoy.”

Apart from student council, Johnsen can be found running cross-country, playing basketball and lacrosse, and performing on French horn in the school band. As well as being an avid snowboarder and surfer, she has been sailing since the age of 6 and teaches sailing to children at the Bellport Bay Yacht Club.

Other extracurriculars include membership in the school’s Athletes Helping Others club and the science and math honor societies, with her sights set on National Honor Society membership this fall. This September, she will also participate in a training program at her school in which she will shadow the school’s athletic trainer, Gina Siracusano.

“She is a great mentor and I am looking forward to learning from her,” Johnsen said of Siracusano. “Athletic training has always been interesting to me.”