Nate Tinbite

Nathaniel "Nate" Tinbite (born May 9, 2002) is an American activist and politician of Ethiopian descent, serving as Student Member of the Montgomery County Board of Education (Maryland). Elected in April 2019, Tinbite is the third student board member to serve with full voting rights on the board.

Tinbite was born in Montgomery County, Maryland: a suburban county northwest of Washington, D.C. His mother and father immigrated from Ethiopia. Tinbite is a current senior in high school and has one older sibling.

In 2018, Tinbite sought out the SMOB nomination for the upcoming 2018–2019 school year, however fell short in a surprising third place behind Ananya Tadikonda and Nimah Nayel. He eventually was elected in April 2019, by 53,776 students to serve as the Student Member of the Montgomery County Board of Education for the nations 15th largest school district: Montgomery County Public Schools, representing all 164,000+ K–12 students. Tinbite is the fourth student board member to assume full voting rights, except for negative personnel. He currently serves on the board's Policy Management and Strategic Planning Committees. Since the start of his term, Tinbite has unanimously passed two resolutions at the Board table. Tinbite's first resolution directed the Superintendent of Schools to award a one-semester physical education credit for interscholastic student athletes. Tinbite's second resolution directed the Superintendent of schools to seek a public-private partnership to expand drivers education to impoverished students.

The student member of the board has been officiated by the Maryland General Assembly as a publicly elected official. The student member of the board can vote on matters related to collective bargaining, the $1.7 billion capital budget and $2.5 billion operating budget, school closings, re-openings and boundaries. The student member of the board cannot vote on negative personnel actions. The student member of the board is not paid, but receives a $5,000 college scholarship, student service learning hours, and one honors-level social studies credit.

The student member of the board election process lasts from January to April; in late February, delegations from all secondary schools convene to narrow the candidate pool to two candidates. From February to late April, the remaining two candidates campaign to all 85,000+ secondary students at 66 schools. Tinbite based his candidacy on achieving socioeconomic equity among all student groups, expanding mental health resources and improving technology in schools. Also on Tinbite's agenda is increasing career pathways for students by expanding the Achieving Collegiate Excellence and Success (ACES) program to all schools. ACES, now available at 14 of the county's 25 public high schools, provides intervention and support to help low-income students enroll in and complete college. "Every student deserves a quality education, regardless of their ZIP Code or background," Tinbite said during his installation ceremony. "The voices and stories of our students will ground my priorities in the year to come."

Tinbite previously served as the President of the Montgomery County Student Government Association from 2018–2019, leading the district's 163,000 students to fight for English Language Learner program funding and frank classroom discussions of implicit bias. As president, Tinbite received the MLK Day Youth Award by Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network alongside honorees Michael Bloomberg, Vice President Joe Biden, and Martin Luther King Jr. III. In his role, Tinbite co-led a voter registration drive with 2018-2019 Montgomery County Students for Change co-President Michael Solomon at 26 high schools over a 4-week period: registering more than 1,000 students, drafted and lobbied statewide voter registration bills, and hosted forums with local elected officials.

Tinbite also served as a founding member of Montgomery County Students for Change. Montgomery County Student for Change, in 2018 and 2019 mobilized over five thousands students in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area to protest gun violence at the U.S. Capitol. In 2018, Tinbite, Matt Post, Michael Solomon, and Brenna Levitan were on the national stage of March for Our Lives as Post delivered a speech. Tinbite, in 2018, also got arrested at the U.S. Capitol for civil disobedience, calling on then, Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump to put an end to the child separation policy at the U.S. Mexico Boarder. Tinbite's livestream on NowThis News received over 600k views. He has delivered speeches with advocacy organization MoveOn, been featured on the front cover of Time magazine in the "Guns in America" issue, and has worked with numerous national organizations.