Youth Advisory Committee created
Billerica Select Board members like two teens’ idea
billerica » The town has a new governing board, but its members will look a little different from the traditional town committee.
The Billerica Youth Advisory Committee was officially approved as a subcommittee of the Select Board Nov. 8. The committee will be comprised of youths ages 14 to 18 and will focus on the issues that affect teens the most.
Billerica Memorial High School seniors Sean Furbush and Thomas Postell, who currently serve as student representatives on the School Committee, are the masterminds behind the BYAC, and have worked over the past few months to bring the idea to fruition.
“We want the youth to be educated citizens in their community and understand how local government works, and how it affects them directly,” Postell said.
In August, before the school year even started, Postell said he was talking to a friend from Wakefield who told him about a similar program in that town.
“I thought about it for a second, and said, ‘Billerica doesn’t have one of those,’” Postell said. “I got on the phone with Sean and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a project for us.’”
They immediately started planning a way to get a committee up and running in town. In mid-september, they reached out to the Select Board members, who helped them through the process.
By November, they were ready to present their idea to the board.
Furbush said all of the Select Board members have been incredibly supportive of the project.
“They’ve always preached that this is our project, not theirs,” he said. “They’re there to put the guardrails up, but we’re carrying the weight on our shoulders.”