UTSA
Business Student By Day, Yorktown School Board Member By Night
At 18 years of age, UTSA business major Marcus Puente is more mature and responsible then his youthful appearance might suggest.
In addition to a six-hour round trip commute for classes twice a week, Puente was also recently elected to serve as the youngest member of the Yorktown Independent School District Board.
Puente says he made the decision to run for the school board after he completed a UTSA government class on American Politics taught by Jon Bernstein.
Marcus was familiar with the school district, having worked part-time for two years, serving as a trouble shooter and installer of new computer equipment and software.
With three at-large positions up for grabs, he decided to throw his hat in the ring as a candidate for the school board.
But running a campaign would take money, time and a strategy, so he enlisted the help of his family members and friends to work as volunteers and campaign contributors.
"At first, my family was skeptical. They gave me a responsibility lecture, and they were not too enthused, but that changed towards the end," said Puente.
Puente started his advertising campaign by putting several letters he wrote in the local paper, detailing concerns he had with the school district and changes and improvements he would like to see made.
Among his concerns was the low teacher salaries that led many educators to leave the school district. Puente wanted to increase teacher pay to help maintain teacher stability in the district.
In addition to the letters in the paper, Puente also purchased several yard signs from a San Antonio company and had his friend's parents place them in their yards to show their support for his campaign.
An interview with a local television news station also proved to be an effective tool in getting the word out about his candidacy.
All the hard work paid off as Puente finished with 374 votes, the second highest number of votes among the six candidates seeking the three at-large positions.
So far, Puente says he has been well received by the other board members. "It's kind of weird. Most of the other board members are in their 40s and 50s. They are the big guys in town. They own businesses, ranches, cattle, oil and real estate," said Puente.
There was little time to rest for the newly sworn school board member. In an emergency meeting on graduation night, the school board passed a $1,000 dollar raise for all the teachers in the district. Last week, the board accepted the resignation of the superintendent. Now they are starting to work on school district budgets.
As for the future, Puente says he wants to complete his business degree in information systems and work in San Antonio for a while. In the end though, Puente says he wants to return to Yorktown and continue to give to others in the community.