YGP Representatives

The Dane County Youth Governance Program has incredible youth representatives serving as members of the different Dane County Board committees, bringing youth voices to local government decisions and making positive contributions to their communities.

We proudly introduce you to our Youth Representatives for the Dane County Youth Governance Program!

Aleena Sanghvan

Aleena is a sophomore at Vel Phillips Memorial High School and is a proud representative of the Park Commission. Whether it is rehearsing violin pieces for WYSO (Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra) or competing in HOSA, you can find Aleena enhancing her leadership skills on an everyday basis. She enjoys spending time outdoors, swimming, teaching her peers, and serving the community with resilience. She lives by the motto “A dream doesn’t become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work”

Arya Sengelmann

Arya will serve on the UW Extension Committee. She is in her Senior year of High School at Middleton High. In the past, Arya has been a volunteer for the Middleton Youth Center, helping middle schoolers with day-to-day activities in the summer and has volunteered for the Middleton Public Library as well. Currently, she is the founder and president of a club called the Muslim Student Association, dedicated to increasing our school’s awareness regarding the needs of the Muslim community to ensure their educational success. Arya is also an equity senator of MHS’s Student Senate. Some of Arya’s personal interests include hanging out with her friends, traveling, snow skiing and reading. If given any opportunity to learn more about anything pertaining to law or politics, she is very much expanding her interest in those areas as well!

Ava Kietzman

Ava Kietzman, a junior at Waunakee High School, is serving on the Personnel and Finance Committee. Ava is highly involved in 4-H, where she has served as treasurer and is currently Co-president of her local club. At school, she is involved with student council, drama, NHS, and FBLA. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and going to concerts.

Andrew Peters

Andrew is junior attending Sun Prairie West High School and is excited to be serving as a youth representative under the Public Protection & Judiciary committee. Andrew participates in Mock Trial, FBLA, and is a state qualifying Cross Country and Track & Field athlete. He works at both local Fleet Feet locations and lifeguards at his school pool. He also attended Badger Boys State last summer and was elected to be a Supreme Court Justice by his peers. In his free time Andrew enjoys running, reading, seeing friends, listening to music, and being outdoors!

Ellen Kwon

Ellen is a Senior at Middleton High School. She serves in the Health and Human Needs Committee. Beyond YGP, Ellen works as a Pharmacy Technician as a youth apprentice, Vice President of Public Relations for her school’s HOSA chapter, Co-leader of Chamber Music Club, Mock Trial captain, GFAJ chief executive director, Forensics and Math Team competitor, and NHS member. Ellen is super passionate about Heath and Human needs and is very excited to serve as a youth representative. In her other free time she likes to lift, play volleyball, and draw.

Hannah Machleidt

Hannah is a senior at Middleton High School and is on the Environmental, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Committee. This is her second year on YGP where she previously served on the Dane County Food Council and was a Wisconsin Representative at the National 4-H Conference. She is the leader of her LGBTQ+ Student Union, a member of Middleton High School’s Student Senate, as well as captain of her school’s Mock Trial team. She’s very passionate about food sustainability and has written a literary review paper about the effects of food pricing on the diet quality of low income US households. You can find her working at Will Street Coop, reading a good book, or in the pool swimming. She’s very excited to support her community on learn more about the innerworkings of Dane County.

Jacsyn Disrud

Jacsyn is a member of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee and is a senior at Oregon High School. She is an active member of her school’s Math Club, Model UN, and LGBTQ+ organization (GSA). Jacsyn was also a volunteer assistant for a middle school volleyball team and Math Club. She is interested in going into government, with some experience being her participation in American Legion Auxiliary Badger Girls State’s mock government and assisting a Political Science class. In her personal life, Jacsyn enjoys karate, puzzles, and hanging out with friends.

Nuha Khatri

Nuha Khatri is a 12th grader attending Middleton High School. She is ecstatic to be apart of YGP this year and will be serving on the Personnel & Finance Committee. Nuha is an avid learner and feels very passionate about youth empowerment, especially when contributing to youth financial literacy awareness. Outside of her involvement in YGP, Nuha is actively involved in a wide range of extracurricular activities. She is honored to be serving as the 2024-2025 WI DECA State President where she leads 10,000 members throughout the state of Wisconsin, and serves as a 2x Middleton High School FBLA Executive Officer. Moreover, Nuha is an engaged member of the Middleton High School National Honor Society, National Charity League and serves as a GameChanger for the Sexual Violence Resource Center: RCC. In her spare time, Nuha enjoys traveling, indulging in her musical capabilities and running her small business centered towards creating handmade accessories. Nuha is thrilled to be participating in this program this year and cannot wait for the experiences and knowledge she will gain!

Olivia Morsbach

Olivia Morsbach (She/Her/Hers) is a senior at Edgewood High School and is currently serving her second term with YGP, where she is a member of the Health and Human Needs Committee.

Her local leadership experience includes being a member of BYFY, a subcommittee of Dane County dedicated to allocating funds to student-led and student-run projects. Additionally, she interned in 2023 by co-editing the Dane County Youth Assessment Survey and in 2024 for the City of Madison’s Youth Climate Action Fund. This spring, she had the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C. with other YGP youth members to present on local environmental issues to the White House’s Office of Environmental Quality.

In her free time, she enjoys participating in debate, playing the piano, and creating art.

Pragnya Vella

Pragnya Vella is a Senior at Sun Prairie West High School and she is thrilled to be serving as a Co-Chair of the Youth Governance program on the Youth Leadership Team! This year, she is a member of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee and used to serve on the Health and Human Needs Committee. Outside of YGP, Pragnya is very involved in her community as a youth representative on her city’s business improvement district board, founder and President of a social justice club called Envision, national officer and local President for FBLA, DECA President, Mock Trial captain, and other roles. She is very passionate about youth advocacy and civic engagement.

Radhika Gupta

Radhika is a youth representative on the Food Council. She is a junior at Middleton High School. Radhika has a passion for helping her community and she enjoys volunteering at the Middleton Youth Center. She participates in several clubs at school such as HOSA, Future Business Leaders of America, Future Problem Solvers, Debate, and Amnesty International. Some of her interests include hanging out with friends, biking, and playing chess.

Sam Olson

Sam Olson is a youth representative on the Public Works and Transportation Committee.

He is currently a senior attending Monona Grove High School. He enjoys participating in DECA and Model UN, he loves to play soccer, and is a member of his schools varsity team. He enjoys learning new things, researching government, and coaching young soccer players.

Sofia Suazo

Sofia Suazo (she/her) is a 12th grader at Madison Country Day School. Sofia will be a youth representative for the Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee (EANR.) Sofia has a deep passion for government and environmental advocacy. Outside of school Sofia has participated in an abroad program to Costa Rica to learn about entrepreneurship and environmental sustainability, conduced research with mentors at Edgewood College and Madison Country Day School studying the effects of phosphorous runoff on Macro-invertebrates in Lake Wingra, and recently participated in the National Security and Intelligence Academy at Georgetown University. In school, Sofia is a blood drive leader, Model UN chair and captain, student-writer for her school’s magazine, Students of Color Affinity Group and Student life member, and extremely active in her school’s theater department.

Steve Hoang

Steve is a junior at McFarland High School and he will be serving on the Personal Works and Transportation(PWT) committee this year.

Steve’s favorite hobbies are playing Hockey and Soccer but mainly Hockey. In Hockey Steve plays goalie and for Soccer he likes to play in the midfield or winger. He also enjoys playing the piano and the tuba for his school. In school, he was the Vice President of his grade and is now serving as the Treasurer, as well as being an officer for the Asian American club at this school. For clubs, this year he will be in Student Council, Deca, and AASA.

Beside sports, he loves to hangout with his friends and just living in the moment.

Vivienne Metcalf

Vivienne is a senior at Verona Area High School and will serve as a youth representative on the Public Works and Transportation Committee. Vivienne is on her school’s tennis team and works in her free time! Additionally, Vivienne loves to read and loves Madison and all of Dane County and she is very excited about this program.

Meet the 2023-2024 YGP Representatives

Aariya Gopal

Aariya Gopal (she/her) is a 12th grader at Verona Area High School. She has been a part of the Verona Area School District for her entire K-12 education and is proud to represent it, along with other Dane County youth, during her participation in the Youth Governance Program.

Aariya will be serving on the Dane County Food Council this coming year.

Some activities that have inspired Aariya to apply for this program and participate in the policy-making process are Model United Nations, Debate, and Forensics. She’s seen a simulation of how a county board works through the American Legion Auxiliary’s Badger Girls State Program. Additionally, the volunteer organizations she’s a part of – Medicine Education and Development for Low-Income Families Everywhere (MEDLIFE), Red Cross, and NextGen America – has taught her the importance of solving root causes of issues and how anyone can positively impact a community at home or abroad. When she’s not busy with school and activities, she relaxes by hanging out with loved ones, meeting new people, playing or listening to music of many types, watching TV shows, and biking around my neighborhood.

Aariya is thrilled to join the Youth Governance Program because she will understand local issues better, positively impact my community, gain real-world experience working in government, and learn from her mentors and peers.

Arya Sengelmann

Arya will serve on the UW Extension Committee. She is in her Junior year of High School at Middleton High. In the past, Arya has been a volunteer for the Middleton Youth Center, helping middle schoolers with day-to-day activities in the summer and has volunteered for the Middleton Public Library as well.

Currently, she is the founder and president of a club called the Student Muslim Group, dedicated to increasing our school’s awareness regarding the needs of the Muslim community to ensure their educational success. Arya is also an equity senator of MHS’s Student Senate, and has recently started her internship for the office of Representative Baldeh of the 48th Assembly District.

Some of Arya’s personal interests include hanging out with her friends, traveling, snow skiing and reading. If given any opportunity to learn more about anything pertaining to law or neuro-science, she is very much expanding her interest in those areas as well!

Christine Negovani

Christine Negovani is a youth representative on the Public Works and Transportation Committee. She is a senior in high school and is on track to earn her Associate’s Degree in Science, Math, and Technology by the time she graduates as part of her dual-enrollment at Madison College.

Among other things, Christine has served two years as part of the UW-Madison Extension committee By Youth For Youth, has helped to plan the 2022 Dane County High School Climate Action Conference, and is a member of the Dane County Youth Environmental Committee. She is passionate about climate activism and sustainability, and she currently plans to double major in Environmental Science and English. In her extra time, she loves to write and enjoys journaling, reading, singing, being outside, and listening to music.

Though she doesn’t get to go as often as she’d like, she treasures visits to her family in Albania, and hopes to go more often in the future.

Connor Lee Chavez Vance

Connor will be serving as the YGP Representative on the Personnel & Finance Committee. He is a Senior at Madison West High School.

Some of Connor’s experiences include being the owner of a sneaker resale business, an active member in West High School Investment Club, and a former business intern at NeuGen, LLC.

In his free time, Connor enjoys working at his part-time job, managing his fantasy football team, and all things Milwaukee Bucks!

Dima Llanos

Dima Llanos is a senior at Middleton High School. Dima will be a Youth Representative on the Library Board for the 2023-2024 term.

Dima has a passion for community outreach & bureaucracy, which has led her to take on lots of roles that help her express these passions. She’s been part of her high school’s UN Girl Up Club for two years, and has been elected to the student government organization at her school since sophomore year. Along with that, she is a head delegate at her high school’s Model United Nations delegation, where she’s traveled around the country to compete with her teammates.

Outside of school, Dima plays soccer year round for a club team and her high school team. She also loves traveling, collecting vinyl, and going to concerts.

Hannah Machleidt

Hannah is part of the Dane County Food Council and is a Junior at Middleton High School.

Hannah is the leader of SAGE and Mock Trial. She also participates in Math Team and Philomusica, works part time at Willy Street Coop and swims for the Middleton High School Girls Team.

In her free time Hannah enjoys reading and listening to Mitski. She also loves hanging out with friends when she has time!

Josh Leslie

Josh is a senior at Middleton High School and is serving a second term on YGP. This time, as a Youth Representative on the Environmental, Agricultural, and Natural Resources Committee.

Some of Josh’s experience include being a part of the Dane County Board Personnel and Finance Committee, United Nations Ocean Decade YAC, Ballotpedia Researcher, Youth Climate Action Team Policy Committee, Youth in Policy Fellow, and Citizens for Civic Education.

Josh’s personal hobbies include skiing, hiking, and reading.

Kate Greller

Kate will serve on the UW-Extension Committee. She is a Senior at Middleton High School

Kate runs an internationally recognized mental health campaign, is part of the board for NCAT (a local tutoring Nonprofit), and also is involved in her school community through things like Student Council, NHS, and our MHS Ambassador Program.

Kate is super passionate about environmental sustainability, so she spends a lot of time volunteering with organizations that support that initiative. In her other free time she likes to run, cook, and make ceramics!

Olivia Morsbach

Olivia is a Junior at Edgewood High School. She will be serving as a Youth Representative on the Environment, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Committee.

Her interests include participating in speech and debate, playing the piano, and crafting collages and pottery. Additionally, she dedicates her time to volunteer work, continually seeking ways to improve her community. Notably, Olivia served as a BYFY member during the 2022-2023 school year and later as an intern, co-editing the Dane County Youth Assessment Survey over the summer.

Pragnya Vella

Pragnya Vella is a Junior at Sun Prairie West High School. She is very excited to serve as a youth representative on the Health and Human Needs Committee!

Pragnya is a passionate advocate for human and immigration rights, fighting to establish legislation for underrepresented immigrant groups. She is dedicated to advocating for the well-being of our community’s members and ensuring their voices are heard in matters of public policy and social welfare. In addition to her position on the committee, she also serves as the Vice Chair of the Sun Prairie Youth and Family Commission and is one of two representatives on the City of Sun Prairie’s Business Improvement District Board. At her high school, she is the founder and President of a social justice club called Envision. She is also a part of FBLA, Mock Trial, Forensics, Student Council, DECA, Leaders of the Pack, HOSA, and the varsity tennis team. She hopes to make a meaningful impact in the community and effectively represent the interests of youth.

Simon Mehring

Simon is currently a Junior at Stoughton High School. He will be serving on the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee.

In school, Simon is a part of the Student Council, where he serves as his school district’s student representative to the school board. Additionally, Simon is the associate editor-in-chief for Stoughton High School’s award-winning student-run newspaper.

Outside of school, Simon enjoys spending time with friends and being active outdoors.

Sofia Pieton

Sofia is a Senior in High School at Waunakee with a large passion for government and politics. With leading her mock trial team and attending various citizenship workshops, Sofia is eager to further her knowledge this year on the Public Protection & Judiciary Committee.

Sofia is a returning YGP Representative. In the previous term, she served on the Health and Human Needs committee as well as participating in the YGP group project. With that group project, she gained a larger understanding of what it means to be a child facing homelessness and the struggles to break the school to prison pipeline. Throughout the experience she became even more enamored with the process of making change and hoped to continue that into her professional life outside of YGP.

In her personal life, Sofia enjoys a variety of outdoor activities ranging from kayaking and paddle boarding to running with her track and cross country team during the fall and spring months. Overall her goal with YGP is to meet more of her peers interested in the world of government and start to use my voice in the local government sphere.

Steve Hoang

Steve Hoang, a sophomore at McFarland High School, has been appointed to the Park Commission Committee where he will be mentored by Supervisor Ripp. Steve’s deep interests lie in history, government, and international organizations. In addition to his academic pursuits, he is an active volunteer at the Madison Children’s Museum, McFarland Youth Hockey, and Second Harvest Food Bank. Outside of his volunteer work, Steve is a skilled hockey player in the goalie position, a soccer player (midfielder), and an accomplished young pianist.

Sydney Dai

Sydney is a Senior at Vel Phillips Memorial High School. She will be on the Dane County Library board Committee.

During her free time, Sydney enjoys dancing, baking, reading, and wandering around Dane County with her friends. She is a member of her school’s Varsity dance team and also involved in volunteer, math and business clubs.

Vidhi Patel

Vidhi is a Senior at Middleton High School. Vidhi will serve as a YGP Representative on the Health and Human Needs Committee.

Vidhi works at UW Credit Union as an intern teller. She has also hosted marketing events at the High School for UW Credit Union. Vidhi is the Vice President of Social Media for Middleton DECA, and an officer for Middleton Investment Club. She has mentored students who are interested in finance and banking. Vidhi has been part of the American Legion Auxiliary Badger Girls State as a City Clerk.

Besides all of this, Vidhi loves reading about historic events and a lot of finance books. She also loves cooking and traveling!

Xavier Davis

Xavier Davis serves on the Public Works and Transportation committee and he is a Senior at McFarland High school.

Xavier attended Badger Boys State in the summer of 2023, as well as the Rotary Ethics symposium in the spring. He was also a member of Model United Nations, and volunteers at Habitat for Humanity.

Xavier is a Drum Major of his High School. He is in the school jazz bands as well as a student band through the Madison Music Foundry called the Blue Dyes.