Saratoga News

Photograph by Robert Scheer

City Council members talk to Youth Commission candidate Sydney Cohn during interviews June 10. Cohn later learned he had been reappointed.

City Council appoints youth commissioners

By Michelle Alaimo

Saratoga teens Sydney Cohn, Sarah Adolphson, Brian Luskey and Sheeva Ghassemi were reappointed as Saratoga youth commissioners at the June 10 City Council meeting, while Sam Kendall, Alison Chang, Alexander Scordelis and Candace Goodman were named new commissioners.

Youth commissioners are appointed by the council and provide information at council meetings about teen issues, Recreation Director Joan Pisani said.

The council spent about five minutes interviewing each of the 14 applicants, Pisani said.

"I was very impressed," Councilman Stan Bogosian said. "There was a very good group of people there."

Vice Mayor Donald Wolfe telephoned all of the chosen applicants that evening to notify them they had been selected. The Saratoga city clerk also mailed a letter of congratulations to each of them the following day.

Commissioners are appointed to two-year terms, unless they are graduating seniors, in which case the term is only one year. Any Saratoga resident in grades 7-12 is eligible to apply.

Commissioners serve as positive role models in the community and are involved in community projects. In addition, commissioners encourage other youths to become involved in community events. Commissioners also provide education, community involvement and recreation to all interested teenagers in the community.

"The Youth Commission is an excellent communication channel to those type of activities," Councilman Jim Shaw said.

All four of the reappointed commissioners attend Saratoga High School and are enthusiastic about serving another term on the commission.

"The part about the Youth Commission which interests me the most is the interaction with the community and the experience I get in working with government," Adolphson wrote in her application to the council.

When interviewing candidates, councilmembers asked questions about fundraising ideas and how the commission fits into their schedules. All commissioners must attend a two-day training session in July. In addition, the commissioners must attend at least 80 percent of Youth Commission meetings, scheduled for the first Monday of every month from August to June, and work at least 10 hours a month on commission-related activities.

The newly appointed commissioners come from a variety of schools: Redwood Middle School, Lynbrook High School, Bellarmine College Preparatory School and SHS.

"By using the community to unite our youth, there will be less time to waste worrying about what could hurt the youth, and more time to spend encouraging youth to become active citizens of our city," Chang, a Lynbrook High School sophomore, wrote.

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