The City of San Diego’s Youth Commission is a crucial advisory body that bridges the gap between young residents and the city's leadership. Its primary objectives include:

Advisory Expertise: The commission offers youth-led insights and recommendations to the Mayor and City Council on various important matters such as education, employment, housing, and mental health.

Amplifying Youth Voices: It serves as a dedicated platform to ensure the diverse voices and perspectives of San Diego's youth are actively considered in municipal decision-making processes.

Empowering Youth Advocacy: Through active participation, it empowers young individuals to advocate for change, enabling them to contribute directly to shaping policies that affect their lives and futures.

Building Skills and Knowledge: Members benefit from valuable educational opportunities in civic engagement, public policy, leadership, and networking.

Community Engagement: Participating in the Youth Commission fosters a sense of community and collaboration among like-minded young individuals who share a commitment to improving the city.

Youth Commissioners

The Youth Commission includes 20 seats, made up of 2 seats nominated by each City Councilmember and 2 seats nominated by the Mayor. There are currently a number of seats that are unfilled, so we encourage interested youth to apply!

Active Youth Commissioners

Sadie Aleyna Wheeler, Chair

Sadie Wheeler is a senior at University City High School. At the start of 2026, she was elected by her peers to serve as Chair of the City of San Diego Youth Commission, a role she is excited to take on in advocating for youth priorities across the city. She first learned about the Youth Commission through the Employ & Empower Internship Program, which she completed during the summer of her sophomore year in San Diego.

In addition to her work with the Commission, Sadie served as Co-Chair of the California Youth Leadership Panel, a global NGO that builds partnerships connecting more than 1,800 cities across 140 countries. She is also a Co-Captain of her varsity cheer team, helping lead the team to CIF All-Academic Team recognition.

Sadie volunteers with the Library of Congress, where she transcribes and annotates historical documents to improve public access to primary sources. She is also the founder of the Student Legislative Accountability Project, which works to improve menstrual equity across San Diego schools, an issue she hopes to elevate through the Youth Commission. She looks forward to helping strengthen youth representation and amplify youth voices throughout San Diego.

Anay Sahbnani, Vice Chair

Princess Dunn

Princess Dunn is currently a freshman at East Village Middle College High School. She currently volunteers in their student body association. Last year, she was voted ASB President at KIPP Adelante Middle School, where she also competed and earned the Spelling Bee Champion title for two consecutive years. Additionally, she co-founded the “I AM ME” scholarship program with her mom and brother, which supports and celebrates inner-city college-bound high school seniors who have encountered and overcome bullying, as well as provides collegiate financial support. She is an active participant in the Detour FANCY (Focused And Naturally Confident Youth) leadership program, which is a life-changing program that motivates young ladies to achieve academic excellence, provides a source of education and arts, and allows a platform for exploring career and academic interests. Princess also devotes her energies to advocating for culturally matched mental health resources for youth, conflict resolution services such as mediation, and safe school and home environments for youth. Her goals are to attend a major university, play basketball and become a world-renowned investigator who transforms how crimes against children are handled. She attributes her strength, intellect, leadership and ambition as a testament to her brave mom, an educator, who gave birth to her on a freeway 14 years ago.

Aiden Hughes

Aiden Hughes is a senior at Point Loma High School. He joined the Youth Commission in the fall of 2025 and is pleased to serve alongside his fellow commissioners as advisors to the City and representatives of San Diego's youth. His priorities include strengthening the voice of young people in municipal policymaking and combatting teen substance abuse.

Beyond the Commission, Aiden serves as the Operations Officer on the San Diego Unified School District's JROTC Joint Brigade Staff, overseeing the planning and execution of events involving 14 schools and 2000 students. He has been teaching as a Taekwondo instructor for five years, and is a member of his school's environmental, Academic League, and philosophy clubs.

To explore different avenues of positively impacting and supporting youth, Aiden interned with the City of San Diego and the Center for Teen Economic Education. For the past three summers he has volunteered at the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System to give back to veterans and their families. He is eager to see the activities and membership of the Youth Commission expanded to better serve the San Diego community.

Harry Park

Harry Park is the City of San Diego Youth Commissioner for District 1, representing La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Del Mar, Carmel Valley, University City, and Torrey Pines communities.

A senior at La Jolla High School, Harry leads the Speech & Debate Club and Math Club and is a varsity athlete in golf and cross country, where he serves as team captain. He also serves on the San Diego Unified School District Student Advisory Board, providing student input on district policies and delivering monthly updates to the Board of Education.

Harry plans to major in physics in college while continuing his youth advocacy work and volunteering in support of veterans’ welfare and youth sports programs. Last summer, he conducted computational chemistry research as a UC San Diego REHS intern at the San Diego Supercomputer Center. He has also applied his data science and coding skills to community-focused projects with the Data Science Alliance in Point Loma. He is excited to work alongside local leaders to create meaningful opportunities and lasting, positive change for youth across San Diego.

Vinayak Venugopal

Vinayak Venugopal is a sophomore at Mission Bay High School who is passionate about giving back to the community in which he lives. He has been an avid chess player since middle school and recently won the "Under 2100" player award at the 2024 American Open tournament. He is a US Chess Federation Candidate Master with a rating of 2050. Vinayak started a chess club at his local library and coaches young children in the game.

In the summer of 2024, he served as an intern for the County Recorder/Clerk’s Office, assisting clients with filing forms, submitting document requests, and e-commerce. He continues to work at the office three days a week after school, further serving his community.

His academic interests include STEM and Finance. He runs a monthly Finance news segment in the school’s student newsletter, Buc Bulletin, and a video series on Buc TV. Vinayak is actively involved in several clubs at school, holding leadership roles in Model UN, Academic League, Youth Advocates, and Debate Club. He was nominated by his school and selected to attend the HOBY Youth Leadership seminar at UCSD next year.

Vinayak is proud to serve on the Youth Commission and hopes to make significant contributions.

Layla Al-Khafaji

Layla Al-Khafaji is currently a junior at Mission Bay High School, and she is the Youth Commissioner for the Mayor. Layla is ready to work with her fellow commissioners to support the youth of San Diego. She is very interested in protecting the environment and increasing youth voice in policymaking. 

Layla is the co-president and co-founder of the Safe Horizons Club at Mission Bay, which helps support refugees in Mexico. Through this club she facilitates donation drives, volunteer opportunities and more to support refugees. Layla is also the co-president of the Model United Nations Club at her school, where she helps teach and support club members with Model UN. She has competed at various conferences worldwide, including winning Best Delegate at the Oxford Model UN Conference. Outside of academics, Layla plays water polo for her school's varsity team and at La Jolla United Club. 

Over the summer, Layla worked as a volunteer intern for Assemblymember Tasha Boerner’s Office where she assisted constituents, supported the office, and proposed a bill to ban plastic utensils. This opportunity has furthered her dedication to her community and her desire to get involved. Layla is eager to be a San Diego Youth Commissioner, and she hopes to make a significant difference for her community.

Melanie Yau

Melanie Yau serves as a District 5 Representative on the City of San Diego Youth Commission. Appointed in 2025, she is honored and committed to strengthening youth representation across her community.

A senior at The Bishop’s School, Melanie has developed strong leadership skills through guiding and managing a team of student journalists as the Editor-in-Chief of the official student publication, overseeing conference logistics as a secretariat member of the Model United Nations team, and facilitating meetings as a founding leader of the Military Families Affinity Space.

In addition to her school leadership, Melanie serves as President of Hope4Kids, a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit, where she has organized free lab and campus tours at UCSD and raised over $10,000 through performance fundraisers for underserved communities. She has also emceed for cultural events and performed in dance outreach programs across San Diego. Passionate about supporting military families and expanding educational access, Melanie looks forward to advancing initiatives that elevate youth voices in City decision-making.

Henry Anderson
Arnav Dagar
Angela Ortner
Wyatt Spencer
Rodrigo Morales Villarreal