Cedar Dwyer (he/him) is excited to be MoCo Pride Youth’s President this year! He is a junior at Richard Montgomery High School, and last year, he served as MPY's Vice President. In the past, Cedar has worked to improve LGBTQ+ inclusivity in general education and health curricula, and helped to plan events like last year's Pride Town Hall. This year, Cedar hopes to expand MoCo Pride Youth into an even more open and diverse community with more membership across the county. Outside of MoCo Pride, he can be found singing in RM's chamber choir and participating in Model United Nations. In his free time, Cedar enjoys redecorating his room, tending to his plants, and playing guitar.

Aarsh Raja (he/any) is happy to be this year’s MoCo Pride Secretary! They are a senior at Poolesville High School and have an extensive knowledge on LGBTQ+ history, queer liberation and other social issues. He is passionate about helping reach out to LGBTQ+ youth and helping them shine in their truest form. As Secretary, they hope to help run the organization smoothly by connecting to local GSA’s and expanding the reach of the organization. In their freetime, Aarsh can be found listening to a wide range of music, reading philosophy books, looking at pictures of cats, and tending to their plants.

Lizette Miranda (they/any) is thrilled to be one of MoCo Pride’s co-PR directors this year! They are a senior at Poolesville High School, and this will be their second year in MoCo Pride Youth. Since his freshman year, they’ve worked with media for countless MCPS student organizations, such as MCR and the SAC– and want that same pertinence for queer issues. Their goal this year is to increase the accessibility of LGBTQ+ information & history (psst, look out for more Media Mondays and Terminology Thursdays this year!!!!). In her free time, Lizette loves to explore DC, bake, or find a cat to cuddle (they don’t have one :c)

Sam Ross is a sophomore at Montgomery Blair High School who is so excited to serve as a MoCo Pride Co-Policy director this year! Over the last year she has served as a policy deputy in MoCo Pride, an executive and general member of MCR, a SMOB Advisory Council member, co-facilitator of the MCPS Districtwide Assessment Committee, an executive board member of Project Spirit, a member of the Maryland Center for School Safety Student Focus Group and she has testified to the Board of Education 5 times. Aside from advocacy she works as a gymnastics instructor on the weekends, rows for Blair Crew, and she loves all things podcasts, music and tabletop roleplaying games. She’s so excited for this upcoming year working with the policy department!

Justin Yang (He/Him) is “really hype” to be Finance Director for the 2022-2023 school year. He’s a senior and SGA Vice-President at Whitman High School. Outside of advocacy he lives to eat and is the President of his school’s fruit club. Additionally, he cooks often, and his favorite dishes to make are seared salmon, smash burgers, and cast iron pizza. He knows okay English, middling Chinese, and tattered Spanish.

Daniela Guevara (she/they) is excited to be MoCo Pride Youth’s Vice President for the 2022-2023 school year! They are a senior at Albert Einstein Highschool, and have been part of MoCo Pride Youth for the past three years. Last year Daniela was the Co-PR director, and loved being involved in so many interesting conversations during MoCo Pride Youth meetings. This year, they hope to further their work in LGBTQ+ advocacy! Her goals for this year are to further the accessibility of MoCo Pride Youth, while being able to plan virtual and in-person events throughout the year! She cannot wait to work with the board of members, and make their last year a good one! Outside of MoCo Pride Youth, you can find Daniela going on a long run with her cross country team, or listening to music.

Gretchen Gilmore (he/they/she) can’t wait for all the fun they’re going to have as PR Co-Director this year! Ironically, he got their start doing PR and graphic design work in middle school through MoCo Pride. They do lots of different advocacy around the county like volunteering for local campaigns, testifying to the Board of Ed, and student organizations like MCR-SGA, MoCoPride, etc. When she’s not standing up for students’ rights, he loves Joan Jett, writing, and being a teaching intern! LGBTQ+ student rights have been a huge priority for them, especially as she focuses on the mistreatment of trans individuals in schools. As PR Co-Director, they want to see how creative she can get!

Richa Tripathi (she/her) is delighted to be this year’s Policy Co-Director! She is a freshman at John F. Kennedy High School and served in many organizations in middle school including SGA, NJHS, AALEAD, & MCJC. Outside of advocacy, she can be seen watching horror movies, reading long books, sketching landscapes and writing stories!

Laila Bityeki (she/her) is ecstatic to be Advocacy Director for the 2022-2023 school year! She is a sophomore at Clarksburg highschool. This will be her second year as advocacy director for Moco Pride Youth. What she hopes to achieve as advocacy director is to make queer youth feel like there is someone always on their side trying to make things better for them. Other things that have kept her busy are advocating for a tobacco free country, volunteering at a program to help disabled children, and helping teach a dance class. She speaks English, French and Chinese. Her hobbies include cooking, writing poetry, and listening to anything pop-punk!

Kai Zhou is a sophomore at Winston Churchill High School.