Meet alumna Keerthi Eraniyan, a student leader making sure English learners have a seat at the table in California education!
Keerthi founded the English Learner Student Advisory Committee in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. She believes it is the first committee of its kind in California. It creates dedicated seats in district governance for English learner (EL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) students, so they have a direct voice in the decisions that shape their education.
As a Contra Costa County student board member, Keerthi saw that the students most affected by education policy were often left out of the conversations about it. She didn’t want to only advocate for English learners. She wanted to build something that would let them speak for themselves. She proposed the committee to district leadership at the end of last school year and won approval over the summer. Now she’s recruiting its first student members. Her goal is simple: language barriers should never become barriers to being heard.
Keerthi’s work to open new paths for student voice doesn’t stop there. She recently founded the California Student Board Member Association and is serving as its Executive Director for the 2026–27 school year. The statewide network connects student leaders who represent California’s 5.8 million students. It also helps new student board members make a real impact in their roles.
Keerthi joined IGNITE as a Youth Advocacy Intern during her first semester as a county student board member. While interning with IGNITE, she helped to plan a national high school workshop on student voice. She says the internship gave her the confidence to look past her existing role and think bigger about what student leadership could do. “I wanted to go beyond simply serving as a board member,” she says. “IGNITE motivated me to make my impact and effectively exercise my student voice.”
Join us in congratulating Keerthi as she builds a more inclusive future for student representation in California!
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