Lewisburg Area High School Senior Gibson O’Mealy Selected for PDE Video

Lewisburg Area High School senior and Student Council President Gibson O’Mealy delivered an 8-minute address to Pennsylvania’s top education officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Education annual all-staff meeting Jan. 14 at the Forum Building on the State Capitol complex in Harrisburg, and the Lewisburg Area School District announced Feb. 26, 2026 that Secretary Carrie Rowe has invited him to appear in a statewide PDE video highlighting public education.

The Jan. 14 meeting convened department employees to review the previous year, present awards and outline future priorities, where O’Mealy spoke alongside Leon Smith, the 2025 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, and Cathy Hall, special assistant to the secretary. Standard-journal coverage and photos show O’Mealy meeting Rowe at the Forum Building as the only student selected to address the gathering.

District officials said the invitation to the statewide video came after O’Mealy’s address, and that he is preparing to appear in the campaign at the department’s request. Several images of O’Mealy with Rowe, Smith and Hall were provided by O’Mealy to local outlets and circulated alongside reports of the meeting.

The Feb. 26, 2026 announcement follows a November 20, 2025 visit to Lewisburg Area High School at 545 Newman Road when Acting Pennsylvania Education Secretary Dr. Carrie Rowe toured the building. Student council officers Gibson O’Mealy and Mette Faden guided the tour, which included Superintendent Vincent Hoover, high school Principal Joshua Popowycz and several administrators and school board members; Daily Item photographs by Robert Inglis captured Rowe speaking with Rylee Ramsey, Rylie Tornez, Kinley Swanger, Madison Finn and Drake Osunde during the visit.

Beyond school leadership roles, separate political coverage identifies O’Mealy as 16 and active in statewide youth politics, naming him vice chair of the Pennsylvania High School Democrats and quoting him saying, "There's a new sense of vigor here." That background frames why local and state officials tapped him to represent a student perspective at a meeting focused on year-end review and the department’s priorities.

Lewisburg officials have emphasized student involvement during Rowe’s visits and at the Forum Building appearance; the district announcement made Feb. 26, 2026 formal the sequence that began with the November tour and moved to O’Mealy’s Harrisburg address and the subsequent PDE invitation. As the PDE rolls out its statewide video campaign, O’Mealy’s selection places a Lewisburg student voice into the department’s public messaging at a moment when the agency is outlining its agenda for the coming year.