Sandy City’s Youth Council officially started its 2024 to 2025 term, marking the city’s third consecutive year hosting the program after rebooting it in 2022.

Judge Paul Farr administered the oath during an installation ceremony. The new SYC consists of 31 youth council members—six more students than last year's council—representing eight schools.

All but one member of the previous youth council are still on the council. 

They swore to “represent and serve Sandy City to the best of [their] ability, faithfully perform the duties as a member of the sandy youth council and abide by the code of ethics, goals and mission set forth in the youth council policy guide.”

The majority of members come from Waterford and Hillcrest High School with six students from each, five from Brighton, three from Alta High, two from American Prepatory Academy and one from both Juan Diego High School and Chesterton Academy of Northern Utah. 

New councilmembers include Andrew Jamison, Catriona Kawamoto, Keean Kawamoto, Lucas Shen, Vitalia Sun, Zoe Lai, Aurora Clare, Ellie Glover, Jacklyn Wei, Lavanya Mohnani, Sarah Baird, Vineet Subramanyan, Annie Allred, Eliza Young, Jacob Farnsworth, Kate Andersen, William Buckley, Austin Madsen, Charles Funk, Robert Wilson, Cecily Wagner, Spencer Headlee, Kolin Rasmussen and Rachel Lowe. 

Sandy City Council members (left to right, front row) Brooke D’Sousa, Aaron Dekeyzer, Zach Robinson, Ryan Mecham, Alison Stroud, Cyndi Sharkey and Marci Houseman with the new Sandy Youth Council. (Courtesy of Sandy City)

The SYC is a sponsored program by the Sandy City Council. 

More than half of the council members are returning members for either their second or third year, said city Councilmember Brooke D’Sousa, the SYC’s city council liaison for the new term.

“I was fortunate enough to be the council liaison on our inaugural year,” D’Sousa said, adding she wasn’t in the previous year. “Over the couple of years we’ve had this program, it’s been really exciting to watch everybody grow, learn about civic responsibility and give hours of service to their community.”

D’Sousa called it “one of the most active councils in the valley,” with last year’s council completing hundreds of hours of community service.

“We have a very diverse group,” D’Sousa said. “That’s one thing that we’ve found which has really added to the experience of our youth—to be able to engage with their peers across different schools.”