A new contender for the Abbotsford School District board of education hopes a different face will make for a refreshing look for a trustee seat this fall.
“Michael Battel, who is that guy?” the candidacy announcement begins.
Battel, born and raised in Abbotsford and its schools, notes his lack of experience in the school district, but he feels it could be a “fresh outlook and new ideas; while being mindful not to disrupt anything unnecessarily.”
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Battel’s children will, in the coming years, attend school in the district, which he said adds to the attention he pays issues surrounding education and local schools.
“You never care more about something (than) when it affects you directly.”
Battel noted “an array of interests and hobbies, mostly sports,” as well as an interest in civic issues.
“It started early,” he said, noting in particular a successful campaign in Grade 5 to become the Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts North Poplar Campus’s “communicator.”
“He is looking at that early success and parlaying it into this 2018 election.”
Battel is currently an account manager at Freeman Signature, a sales and marketing firm for Canadian food service.
He has a history in sales, according to his LinkedIn profile, which also notes work at Sysco Canada and Meadowfresh Dairy Products.