Midwest City names new council member to complete Ward 1 term

Jenny Ha, a junior at Western Heights High School, is one of 17 students named to first lady Michelle Obama’s Better Make Room student advisory board.

Obama’s public awareness campaign, Better Make Room, is designed to help students ages 14–19 to celebrate education, change the national conversation and navigate the college-going process, according to a news release.

The student advisory board’s mission is to create a college-going, college-persisting and college-graduating culture at their schools and connect fellow students to resources they need to succeed. The board has 12 high school students and five college students. Two-thirds of the members are, or will be, the first in their families to attain postsecondary degrees.

Ha is Key Club vice president, junior class vice president and Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America vice president. She represents Ward 3 on Oklahoma City’s Youth Council and is a member of the National Honor Society. She has worked with

teen journalism program and served on the Federal Reserve’s student board of directors for Oklahoma City. The daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, she said she challenges herself in academics and extracurricular activities because education enables young people to reach their full potential and change the future for the better.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Susan Eads is the new Ward 1 city council member, succeeding Daniel McClure Jr., who resigned last month for personal reasons.

Eads will complete the unexpired term of McClure, which ends on April 9, 2018, according to a news release.

Eads is a resident of the Original Mile and active in the neighborhood association, as well as the PTA at Jarman Middle School, where her daughter attends.

She grew up in Illinois and came to Oklahoma to attend the University of Oklahoma Law School, graduating in 1998. She works as a deputy general counsel for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

Eads said she is interested in the redevelopment efforts going forward in the Original Mile, as well as being interested in helping to better the neighborhood and the community.

“One of my goals by serving as a council member is to be involved in the continued redevelopment of the Original Mile and other improvements around the community,” Eads said.

The swearing-in ceremony for Eads will take place in the city council chambers at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.