Ashley Caldwell, a 19-year-old Rutgers sophomore who served as the student representative to the Board of Education during her senior year at New Brunswick High School, has been tapped to fill a vacant seat on the board.
She fills the position left open when her dad, Dale Caldwell, resigned in June to devote more time to his role as president of Centenary University in Hackettstown.
Caldwell was traveling to California, and was unable to attend the board’s meeting Tuesday night, when her appointment was announced after an 8-0 vote.
Caldwell demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities as a member of the Class of 2022 at New Brunswick High School, where she served as student liaison to the board, president of the National Honor Society, captain of the girls tennis team and the school’s representative to the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council.
She was also selected as the most valuable player for the tennis team.
She was inspired while watching from her usual seat at the end of the dais as the school board members and administrators conducted business and fielded concerns from community members at monthly meetings.
She hopes she can have the same effect on others.
“I think now more than ever it’s important to have people from our generation in these kind of positions,” she said. “I think what inspired me was this opportunity and knowing that if I got this, it would be nice to show other students what they can achieve. I feel like being from an urban area, I think a lot of time people don’t expect much from us. But I think it would be amazing for the youth of New Brunswick to see like, ‘Oh, maybe one day I want to be a board member or make a difference in the city.’
“I also feel like I had my whole educational career in New Brunswick, and it would be so nice just to give back,” she added. “I had a wonderful experience. Even in college, I’m still in New Brunswick. I love the city and I think our students have so much potential and I would just love to be part of helping prepare, empowering and inspiring them.
Caldwell is studying public policy at Rutgers-New Brunswick. Her goal is to go to law school and become an attorney who will be “a voice for the voiceless.”
That seems apropos, considering social justice, activism and community leadership are in her blood.
Her late grandfather, Rev. Gilbert “Gil” Caldwell, participated in many of the civil rights movement’s landmark events, including the March on Washington in 1963, the Mississippi Freedom Summer voter drives in 1964, the March from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 and the 1968 Poor People’s Campaign.
One of her fondest memories of her grandfather was when he shared with schoolchildren at Woodrow Wilson School and New Brunswick High School during Black History Month his experiences of marching arm in arm with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other fellow civil rights icons.
TAPinto New Brunswick first reported in May that Dr. Dale Caldwell was stepping down after 26 years on the Board of Education. He served as president for 22 of his 25 years with the Educational Services Commission of New Jersey, the largest specialized school district in the state with seven schools serving students 3-21 with autism, multiple disabilities and at-risk behaviors.
Caldwell, a Princeton-educated author, athlete, entrepreneur, pastor, educator, father and university president, continues to serve on the city’s Housing Authority.
“Ashley has always been mature for her age and deeply committed to improving public education,” he said. “At New Brunswick, Ashley was an excellent student, a fantastic leader and a successful athlete. She will provide an extremely important student perspective on the New Brunswick Board of Education.
“I am so very proud that my daughter will follow in my footsteps as a volunteer, helping the students in the city,” he added.