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Samantha Marks- co founder

Samantha Marks is a current senior at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest. Following the tragic massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during her sophomore year, she collaborated with her fellow peers to orchestrate county-wide walkouts and spoke at the March for Our Lives rally in Hackensack. She has since co-founded Students Demand Action of Bergen County, started the Girl Up chapter at her high school, and is the student representative of Stanton Strong. Samantha was selected as the delegate for American Legion Auxiliary Jersey Girls State ‘19 and had the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of effective leadership. Her extensive experience with various political incentives has landed her invaluable internships and opportunities to work for Senator Corey Booker and Congressman Josh Gottheimer. She hopes to further her political pursuit throughout her higher education.

Samantha lives in New Jersey with her parents, younger brother, and dog, Sugar.

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Ava Lindstrom- CO founder

Ava Lindstrom is a current senior at Nightingale-Bamford School in New York City. After interning with Council Member Ben Kallos and Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney last year, she has amassed extraordinary knowledge in politics. Ava has since created an advocacy course on foster care with Citizens Committee for Children and will be a youth action member next year. Additionally, she has spearheaded the Ben Franklin Circle at her high school, the Current Events Club, and will be its magazine editor as well.

While her dad lives in California, Ava lives with her mom, stepdad, and 3 younger brothers in NYC.

After both attending Student Exploration at Yale University in 2017, Samantha and Ava bonded over their incessant desire and drive to help educate and instill change within our youth. In a collaborative effort, they created Politickin with the intent to help initiate the conversation surrounding pressing issues that many choose to ignore. They hope that you can share your own truth, just like they did.

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Rajan Srinivasan- Chief Media Coordinator

Rajan is a senior at Northern Valley Regional High School at Demarest. It wasn’t until sophomore year when Rajan joined the high school debate team where his passion in politics grew. After being exposed to a myriad of political issues that consumed the American public, he had the opportunity to have a taste of the real world, and conversely found his voice in the process. He was the school’s delegate to the American Legion Jersey Boys State ‘19 where he learned the foundations of what makes up Politickin: the passionate discourse that we are striving to encourage and strengthen the rising generation of America’s youth. During Rajan’s junior year, he met Sam in their AP Government and Politics class where they immediately bonded over shared political ideas, and thus learned how to articulate beliefs, craft ideas, and debate current events.

This year, Rajan will be the Varsity Debate Captain, Swim Team Captain, and Mock Trial Publicist. Rajan lives in New Jersey with his parents, and is the eldest of his brother and sister.