SMU’s own Warren C. Seay doesn’t let age get in the way of leadership. As the youngest person ever to be appointed to the DeSoto ISD school board at age 22, Seay works diligently to improve and serve his hometown.

Seay and his siblings attended DeSoto schools from elementary until high school graduation. After graduating high school in 2006, Seay received a Ray and Nancy Ann Hunt Scholarship from SMU, where he majoring in Political Science and minored in Sociology with an emphasis on Ethnic Studies.

The DeSoto ISD school board has been dealing with controversy surrounding it superintendant Kathy Augustine.

Augustine previously served on the Atlanta school board. She has been accused among other officials that administered the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) in part of a massive cheating scandal.

GA Governor Nathan Dean reported that the investigation “found cheating in 44 of the 56 schools.”

Augustine was placed on paid leave on July 11, after only one day as the DeSoto superintendent. During this time, the DeSoto ISD school board deliberated on how to handle this controversy, and what actions they should take.

“We had to make a decision: do we fight it out or let her go,” Seay said.

After intense debate, the school board decided to let her go in the end.

In early September, the school board released details on Augustine’s severance package.

The settlement amount equated one year’s pay at just over $156,000.

Seay ardently stands by the school board’s decision.

“One of the things about leadership is that you’re going to be into situations that will be out of your control,” Seay explained.

“We need to focus on making our kids college ready. We’re doing this for the thousands of kids who sit in our classrooms.”

Seay graduated Summa Cum Laude from SMU in 2010.

He was also named SMU’s Most Outstanding Senior.

In June 2010, Seay was also named to the USA Today All-American Academic Team.

Outside of academics, Seay became the youngest elected official in Dallas County history when he won a seat on the DeSoto Independent School District Board of Trustees in May 2009. At the time, he was only 20 years old.

Seay was one of only fifty students in the nation to receive a Harry S. Truman Scholar appointment from President Barack Obama in 2009.

During his college career, Seay was named Big Brother/Big Sister of the Year for his work at Cockrell Hill Elementary in DeSoto. Seay served as president of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. and was political action chair of the Association of Black Students.

Seay is currently in his second year at the SMU Dedman School of Law.