2021-2022 YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD

Aanna is a high school student in the Portland Oregon area focused on advocating for the youth community. After getting closely involved in her local Vote16 campaign through the local organization NextUp, Aanna pursued VOTE16USA to help the broader campaign through a national lens. She hopes that she can help her local campaign in Oregon by incorporating the insight of youth around the nation and using her strengths to be a unique addition to the team. Additionally Aanna is an avid hiker, skier, soccer player, and cook.

Angelina is a sophomore at Richard Montgomery High School in the International Baccalaureate Program. After working as a Democracy Summer Fellow in 2021, she joined Vote16USA to continue fighting to protect America’s democracy. Her hope for Vote16USA is to build grassroots momentum in Maryland and push for more city councils to change their voting laws. Aside from voting rights, Angelina is passionate about making schools more environmentally sustainable and participating in her school’s debate team.

Anjali is a junior in high school from Branchburg, New Jersey. She started to get involved with Vote16 before her sophomore year after winning Vote16USA’s Multimedia Contest. As Vote16 continues to surround her with other driven, civically engaged teens, she has grown to be more and more passionate about pursuing youth rights and other civil justice movements. When she is not working with Vote16NJ, she runs a fun non-profit, Metamorphic Mentoring, that facilitates free virtual mentoring between older teens and younger kids. In her free time, she loves shopping, singing, and, of course, watching way too much Netflix. She looks forward to seeing what is in store for Vote16 this year!

Elijah is a high school student from Northampton, MA. He is the Interim Co-Chair of the Northampton Youth Commission, and in this capacity he works towards a cleaner environment, better education, and more inclusionary housing policy in his community. Through the Youth Commission, he also helps lead Vote16 Northampton, which successfully passed Vote16 through the municipal process and is now focusing their advocacy on convincing the Massachusetts state legislature to allow Northampton to enact Vote16. Elijah is also an avid follower of politics and a proud progressive Democrat. He has volunteered for numerous progressive campaigns including Elizabeth Warren’s and Bernie Sanders’s, and worked as a field organizing fellow on the Ed Markey campaign. In his free time, he enjoys listening to podcasts, going on walks, and playing basketball.

Frances is a senior at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, CA. She is very passionate about the Vote16 project, and believes strongly in its message. In her spare time, she enjoys training her dog. She will also tell fun facts about the movie Dolphin Tail to anyone who will listen.

Kashish Bastola is a high school student from McKinney, Texas. He is a first generation Nepalese-American who traces his advocacy to gun violence and police violence prevention as a member of the Team ENOUGH Executive Council, climate justice as a member of the Sunrise Movement and through his participation in the 400 mile “Generation on Fire” march, and education equity and justice through his local work to fight for ethnic studies courses and equitable behavior management practices in his school district as well as through Student Voice. As a public education advocate, Kashish believes student voices must be the driving force behind all legislation affecting students and is very excited to work with Vote16USA members nationwide to fight for voting rights for young people and strengthen our democracy at all levels. In his free time, you can find Kashish at his local flea market or on a Zoom call strategizing a direct action.

Kathryn is a Senior at Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City. She is currently looking to apply to college as a Political Science major, and hopes to go to law school later in life. Kathryns ultimate goal is to become a Senator, and to help laws such as a lower voting age get passed.

Mariana Melzer is currently a senior in the Applied Math major at Brooklyn Tech in NYC. She is very passionate about animal rights and has worked on various campaigns around the city. Mariana first became interested in politics and international relations because of Model UN and aims to further study this in college, along with how politics and applied math interact. Due to her engagement in local politics, it became increasingly aware to her how important it is to lower the voting age, which is why she got involved with Vote16. She is excited to serve on the Youth Advisory Board and help spread awareness on the voting age issue. Outside of activism, Mariana loves sing, dance, and hang out with her friends and adorable dog.

Samiha is from New York, and very excited to be apart of Vote16! She first heard about this through another program (YPC) also actively working to lower the voting age. To her, being able to express political beliefs, opinions, and ideas is important, and she believes no matter what age, as long as you have the correct information, you should be allowed to partake in political decisions. Besides all that, some of her favorite things to do are watch horror movies and listen to music!

Trinity is a 17-year-old girl residing in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. She became involved in Vote16 by seeing youth leaders playing an instrumental role in social change. She witnessed youth participation by seeing how many children came to her voter registration desk to preregister to vote and young children speaking to their congressional leaders. Her goal/hope for Vote16 is to establish a safe, equitable community where people can learn from each other and create meaningful change. Besides lowering the voting age, she also cares about: No Poverty, Gender Equality, and Reduced Inequalities.

She is also a Founder/Host of a podcast, State Lead for Voters of Tomorrow, and an Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Maryland Highschool Democrats. One fun fact about her is that she loves baking!