Student Spotlight: Joshua King, Senior, Sarasota High

Not every high school student takes an active role in preserving local history, but Sarasota High School senior Joshua King has local history in his blood.

King’s interest started when he began researching his mother’s maiden name, Gillespie. He scoured local records at Sarasota County Historical Resources and learned about one of Sarasota’s founders, John Hamilton Gillespie (no relation). Since then, he’s been hooked.

This year, King joined the Sarasota County Historical Commission through Students Taking Active Roles (STAR), a Community Youth Development program.

To be a STAR student on the Historical Commission, he had to spend almost every Saturday for six months training, learning how county meetings work and what the role of the commission is. Although King is a student, he will be treated the same as any other commission member with the right to vote and discuss issues.

King said he can bring a younger person’s perspective to the table. He can help the commission understand what the younger generation wants and what matters to them in terms of the county’s history.

He already has ideas on how to improve the advisory board: King hopes he can get the commission before the Sarasota County Commission more.

“I think the commission needs to go in front of the County Commission more often, to make it and the public more aware of what we’re working on,” King said.

When he’s not studying for school or local history, he participates in student government, the National English Honor Society and the JUNTO club, a student advisory council based on a similar advisory board Ben Franklin founded.

King’s favorite historic building in Sarasota is the Chidsey Library, because it was the city’s first public library building. He is excited to help the commission fight to keep the building a place for county historical records.

“If we don’t preserve the history, we’ll never be able to know about what happened ... how our community started,” King said. “We can’t just let those all become office space.”

Russ Gutmann, chairman of the commission, is looking forward to King’s presence and participation at meetings.

“He has a real love of history,” Gutmann said. “It’s inspiring to see someone so enthusiastic.”