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OUR TEAM
Our national team handles all top-level organizing. From writing bills to lobbying, we empower students to help us get the job done. You can see a list of some of our executive board members and their roles below:
Saanvi Arora is a a first year student at UC Berkeley, California, and serves as GENup’s Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships. Her passion for education reform started when she was 12 and visited developing schools in rural parts of India, which allowed her to recognize the importance of ample support for students and the need for more tangible policy changes both in India and across the Pacific in her hometown of Cupertino. Since then, Saanvi’s worked on numerous election-related and student-led campaigns, and formerly served on Congresswoman Anna Eshoo’s Student Advisory Board.
Saanvi Arora (she/her) is an avid mental and reproductive health activist and a second year student at UC Berkeley. In her junior year of high school, she published her own research exploring contemporary networking systems as solutions to public health disparities in the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Journal Pulse and presented this research at the Sino-US HSME in 2019. She’s continued her work to focus specifically on vaccine access and improving means for survivors of sexual violence to seek legal recourse, specifically with regards to policy designed to uplift young people of color.
Saanvi Arora
CO-FOUNDER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
⋅ She/Her/Hers ⋅
⋅ College Sophomore ⋅
⋅ California ⋅
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Isaac Alpert is a college freshman in Los Angeles, California. He first got involved in local campaigning during his time in high school. After high school, he joined the Youth Power Project as a Civic Engagement Policy Specialist and soon made his way in the Operations team where he currently oversees the organizations outreach, communications, and finance teams.
CO-DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
⋅ He/Him/His ⋅
⋅ College Freshman ⋅
⋅ California ⋅
Isaac Alpert
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Isha Yardi is a senior at the University of Maryland studying public health, and is passionate about designing and advocating for community-driven health policy. Interested in pursuing a career as a physician-public servant, Isha has witnessed first-hand how policy actively plays a role in shaping the health and wellbeing of communities. Isha has previously worked with elected officials, academic institutions, and local health departments to design and evaluate innovative health policy. Isha's policy interests broadly include insurance reform, mental health, and women's/reproductive healthcare.
HEALTH POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ She/Her/Hers ⋅
⋅ College Senior⋅
⋅ Maryland⋅
Isha Yardi
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Allyson Chan (she/her) is a senior at the University of California, Los Angeles studying political science and psychology. Her political advocacy began through representing student voices as the Student Board Member on the San Mateo County Board of Education. Through attending and contributing to board meetings, she learned more about the influence of tangible legislative reform. Throughout college, Allyson has focused mostly on advocating and mobilizing around education policy, most recently writing the language that became chaptered as Assembly Bill 2683 in California. Through the Youth Power Project, Allyson has become more informed about other issues facing youth and hopes to continue uplifting the voice of young people in the civic sphere.
Allyson Chan
EDUCATION POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ She/Her/Hers ⋅
⋅ College Senior⋅
⋅ California⋅
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
As a low-income Korean American with an immigrant single mother, Michael faced many hardships transitioning from a rural South Korean town to the fast-paced, big city of Los Angeles at age 6. He struggled with mental health and sexual assault in high school, yet he made it to Sac State. He's a 19-year-old political science major who works five jobs to support his family. He got into crafting legislation after leading a walkout at his high school, calling for better COVID-19 safety measures. Using compassion and his own experiences as a survivor, Michael fights for public safety and the end of sexual violence everywhere.
Michael Lee-Chang
SEXUAL VIOLENCE POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ He/Him/His ⋅
⋅ College Sophomore⋅
⋅ California⋅
Ani Chaglasian is an 18 year old Armenian American youth public health activist from Los Angeles, CA. She got her break in advocacy work through child abuse/exploitation work after she started a rehabilitation program for youth who were victims of trafficking to finish their schooling. She started writing legislation at 16 after the Covid-19 outbreak when she was unable to get access to health care because of her mother’s opposing views. Her policy work focuses primarily on getting teens access to vaccines, reproductive healthcare, student autonomy, and child sexual abuse reporting.
Anastasia Chaglasian
CO-FOUNDER, SEXUAL VIOLENCE SPECIALIST
⋅ She/Her/Hers ⋅
⋅ College Freshman ⋅
⋅ California ⋅
Arhan Surapaneni
CO-FOUNDER, HEALTH POLICY SPECIALIST
Arhan Surapaneni (he/him) is a college freshman from the Bay Area, CA. He first got involved with activism combating climate change. After realizing the consequences of oil drilling in the Amazon and the effects on wildlife and further communities he recognized the important of youth mobilization and activism. This led him to advocate for corporation reform working with cases like Donziger v. Chevron. He then transitioned into further public health policy and advocacy. Even now he continues to push pro-science campaigns through education programs and public health legislation in the hopes of increasing vaccine accessibility.
⋅ He/Him/His ⋅
⋅ College Freshman ⋅
⋅ California ⋅
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Alex Edgar (he/him) is a Gen Z activist and equity champion who approaches systems of higher education, workforce, and government with the intent of elevating and activating youth voices and engagement in order to build a society that is more responsive to the needs of his generation. He is a senior studying political behavior and public policy at UC Berkeley where he serves as the External Affairs Vice President of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) and the Civic Engagement Director for the University of California Student Association (UCSA).
CIVIC ENGAGEMENT POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ He/Him/His ⋅
⋅ College Senior⋅
⋅ California⋅
Alex Edgar
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Sanya Dhama (she/her/hers) is a third-year at Pitzer College in a joint medical degree program, studying Human Biology and Data Science. As an executive board of Pitzer's Student Senate, she works closely with the Title IX office on legislation to better trainings and resources for students of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, and abilities as an extension of her efforts in the drafting of the language for the now chaptered Assembly Bill 2683. She is a published researcher in The Lancet and Clinics and Practice in the field of immunology and public health with an emphasis in adolescent wellbeing. Through forwarding health autonomy and access, she hopes to empower people to care for themselves and their communities.
Sanya Dhama
HEALTH POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ She/Her/Hers ⋅
⋅ College Junior⋅
⋅ California⋅
Ayaan Moledina is an 8th grader in Austin, Texas. He first got involved with activism at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when he saw his community not following the guidance of public health experts and decided to take it upon himself to educate them about the virus. He went door to door in his neighborhood explaining the need for masking and vaccination. He also held multiple vaccine clinics at his local mosque vaccinating senior citizens in his community. Since then, he has engaged in many student-led public health and education policy campaigns.
Akul Gupta (he/him) is an undergraduate student at the University of South Florida pursuing a degree in Biomedical Sciences. Akul has co-authored several publications, including a paper on inflammatory mechanisms in heart failure published in the American Journal of Physiology. Akul has also presented research at major conferences like the ACC Asia 2023. Beyond research, Akul actively participates in healthcare outreach locally and globally. He co-founded the organization CardiacLife Foundation which provides cardiac care to underserved regions of Vietnam. Akul is a National Youth Advisory Board Member for Young Invincibles and Civic Leaders Fellow from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Akul aims to pursue a career where he can address health disparities and improve outcomes for vulnerable populations.
Akul Gupta
HEALTHCARE POLICY SPECIALIST
⋅ He/Him/His ⋅
⋅ College Junior⋅
⋅ Florida⋅
Philadelphia
Our team travels across the country to campaign for movements that we're passionate about!
Los Angeles!
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