Arnav Misra Gives Miramonte A Voice On Acalanes School Board

    If anxiety and sleeplessness defines the average high school student, Arnav Misra is an anomaly.
    The 17-year-old Miramonte High School senior juggles his packed academic and extracurricular schedule with ease – while maintaining a 4.4 GPA and completing college courses at UC Berkeley and Diablo Valley College.
    Oh, and he also currently serves as the student member of the Acalanes Union High School District (AUHSD) Board of Trustees.
    Not surprisingly, he’s good at that too.
    Chris Severson, who served on the AUHSD board with Misra before leaving in mid-December, calls him “the most effective student voice in my six years on the board. He is thoughtful, articulate, and together with the other students, he adds valuable perspective to our discussions.”
    And Misra is committed to the role.
    Despite his crammed schedule, Misra manages to attend all AUHSD board meetings and take part fully in their deliberations on critical issues. He has a “preferential vote”– meaning he weighs in, but his vote isn’t formally counted.
    Miramonte Principal Ben Campopiano, who picked Misra as the school’s candidate for the board after a rigorous application and interview process, said the teen “gives our school and community a great representative. There were many qualified candidates from Miramonte, but Arnav’s high levels of integrity, service and commitment to our community made him the standout candidate.”
    AUHSD student board members are selected from a group of candidates chosen by each school in the district. Nominees from each school are interviewed by the five outgoing school site representatives, students who serve in a non-voting advisory capacity to the board. Every school in the district has one – often the person put forward as the school’s candidate for the board position, and they make the final decision about the next year’s board representative.
    He’s currently the only board member with direct ties to Miramonte.
    “The board cares equally about the success of all the district’s schools, said Misra. “I have never seen an issue where it was ‘us versus them.’”
    More important, though, is Misra’s ability to communicate a teen-age perspective to board members from older generations.
    “High school students today live in a very different culture,” he said. “Some of our board members couldn’t see a clear benefit to using AI in the classroom, but I was able to point out that AI tools can be very useful for students struggling to understand a math or science concept.”
    But his impact would be less if he weren’t so diligent about his board duties. Before each meeting, Misra meets informally with the school site representatives, who also report about their schools at each board meeting. Sometimes the meetings run late into the evening and involve long hours poring over budget proposals.
    His effectiveness is partly the result of an extraordinary level of organization.
    “I sleep really well,” said Misra, “because every Saturday, I sit down and make a list. I plan meticulously for the week ahead so that when I wake up each morning, I know exactly what I’m going to do that day. If everybody had a to-do list, they wouldn’t be so stressed.”
    Misra’s family immigrated from India to New Jersey in the 1990s, and moved to California when his mother, a doctor, received a job offer. He grew up in Moraga and attended Moraga schools before transferring to Miramonte.
    “My brother went to Miramonte,” he said, “and he had nothing but good things to say about it. They have great public speaking and Latin programs, both of which attracted me.”
    He dove into both programs. He serves as president of Miramonte Public Speaking and was named the “Top Congressional Debater in the Nation” in 2024. He has held several leadership roles in the Miramonte Latin Club, and founded and continues to lead Miramonte Helping Hands, a community service club with over 200 members. Misra has even served as a Boy Scout Patrol Leader.
    His term on the board will continue through the end of the school year, as the district grapples with a growing budget deficit. It is an ongoing problem made worse as the federal and state pandemic funding subsides. Misra has had a front row seat for discussions about a possible parcel tax.
    He considers “post-high school life” the other big challenge for the district.
    “There is so much pressure to think that going to college is the only way forward,” he said. “It’s part of the culture. But it’s not the best solution for everyone. We must prepare students for more than one possibility. Fortunately, many parents are becoming aware that putting that kind of pressure on kids can have more negative effects than positive ones.”
    He said his work on the board, and the opportunity to collaborate with both board members and his fellow students has been rewarding.
    “I’ve been given so much,” said Misra. “This is my chance to give back.”