To learn more about joining our team, check out our open opportunities.
Amy Meuers is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Youth Leadership Council, the leading service-learning organization in the country for more than 40 years. Amy has spent 20 years with NYLC leading both national and international service-learning initiatives that expand the capacity of educators to utilize service-learning as an instructional strategy with students of all age-levels. Under her leadership, NYLC launched Youth as Solutions, a national service-learning program that supports teams of youth across the country in addressing issues impacting their communities. She co-founded the Coalition for Service-Learning to support advocacy efforts for service-learning at the federal level, and published Equity in Service-Learning: Self Assessment Tools for Quality Engagement, Engage: Service-Learning for Afterschool, and the revised Getting Starting in Service-Learning: Integrating the Process into K-12 Teaching. She is a graduate of the Hubert H. Humphrey Policy Fellows (21-22) and is a city commissioner in her hometown of Brooklyn Park, Mn. Amy holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Administration from Globe University, and a Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership from Regis University. She also completed Northwestern University Certificate of Executive Leadership and ASU Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership.
Pam Siebert is a skilled strategist and implementer, with over 20 years of experience in nonprofits and cross-sector initiatives– taking plans from ideas to action on topic areas including human services, substance abuse prevention, homelessness, education, and community service. Pam began her NYLC experience early on as program manager for service-learning training and technical assistance initiatives and then serving as NYLC’s Operations Director for 10 years. She then worked with professional associations for the ensuing five years to increase member engagement, enhance member service delivery, and create stronger organizations. Building communities for shared learning is one of her passions. In her current role as Vice President of Community Impact & Evaluation with NYLC, Pam supports youth taking action in their communities through advising the Youth As Solutions program, supervising AmeriCorps VISTA’s, conducting evaluation, and managing special initiatives. She earned a Master’s degree in Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Management from Gustavus Adolphus College, as well as certificates in organizational development, change management, volunteer management, and project management. Pam chairs the Board of Directors for Carol Mathey’s Center for Children and Families, is an ambassador for Moms on the Run, and actively participates in TeamWomen Minnesota and the GoGoDone co-working community.
Julie Rogers Bascom is a service-learning leader from Minneapolis, MN who has been supporting youth workers, teachers and young people to use service-learning as a strategy to solve problems in their communities for over 17 years. Her passion for supporting young people to become problem solvers formed when her own children attended an Oakland, CA school where every student, every year was engaged in service-learning. Julie also serves on non-profit boards that encourage civic engagement: the League of Women Voters and Doing Good Together, an effort to empower families to raise caring and engaged children. She also coaches and leads workshops on Respectful Conversations in Schools, a protocol designed for teachers and students to address controversial topics. Rogers Bascom has presented at local and national workshops on how to incorporate service into curriculum and community.
Miranda is a passionate champion for youth leadership and service-learning, currently serving as the Director of Communications and External Relations. In this role, she has spent the past several years driving initiatives that empower young people to lead in their communities, amplifying their voices and helping them become agents of change. Through strategic marketing and storytelling, Miranda works to elevate the work of youth leaders, connecting them with opportunities to make a lasting impact through service-learning projects. Her eight years of experience in nonprofit work, spanning youth development, human rights, and poverty alleviation, have deepened her commitment to creating spaces where young people can thrive as leaders. Miranda’s own community involvement, from founding an equal pay coalition to leading the first “No More” campaign for sexual assault awareness month, underscores her belief in the power of grassroots leadership.
Syed is passionate about learning, youth development and community. Previously, he has worked for an education nonprofit leading professional development, service-learning, and DEI initiatives. Within his own community, he is involved with his local boards and commissions, participates in community gardening, and started a mutual aid group. Syed is excited to learn and work alongside youth and adults to understand ways we can collectively make change and develop the next generation of leaders.
Anthony is passionate about youth development, service-learning, and contributing to his community. During his time at the University of Minnesota, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies, he served as the president of the Minnesota International Student Association. As a student leader, he collaborated with multiple student organizations to promote inclusion, diversity, and learning opportunities. Anthony previously worked at NYLC as a Youth Advisory Council Advisor during his time in college, an experience that ignited his passion to work with young people and educators. In his new role, Anthony hopes to inspire those he works with to be active leaders in their communities.
Bella has always been passionate about youth leadership, service-learning, and community empowerment. A recent graduate of Colby College, she studied English and Philosophy—disciplines that shaped her ability to think critically, communicate effectively, and engage with complex social issues. Her journey with the National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) began in high school. Over the years, Bella deepened her involvement by joining the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), mentoring future leaders, and interning during multiple summers. As NYLC’s Marketing and Events Coordinator, Bella hopes to leverage her service-learning experiences to inspire and elevate young leaders around the country.
Meet our Youth Advisory Council! We are proud to prioritize youth voice as one of our core values, as we recognize youth as partners in decision-making. Learn more about the role of the Youth Advisory Council.
Chloe Ng is a junior at Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School in LI, NY. Chloe enjoys being a volunteer firefighter Cadet, coding, solving logic puzzles, and making an impact throughout her community. She feels deeply connected to the issues of cancer and disability awareness and hopes that her role in the YAC will allow her to expand her influence and spread awareness for other causes.
Seth Liv is a sophomore at Shakopee High School in Minnesota. Seth is passionate about keeping the diversity in his community alive and thriving. In school, he’s a part of Leaders in Education And Diversity, the Asian Student Union, and various others too. While in YAC, Seth’s goal is to build leadership skills that he can use to further contribute to his community. In his free time, he likes volunteering for organizations in his city, reading, weightlifting, playing basketball, and playing guitar.
Angela Wu is a junior at Winston Churchill High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. Passionate about advocacy and elevating youth voices, Angela loves spending her time working for student-run organizations like Maryland Students Against Drugs, Princeton Learning Experience International School, and Junior Civitan. Here, she has testified multiple times to her state and county Board of Education on important subjects such as Narcan education in health curriculums and rights for minorities. At the NYLC YAC, Angela hopes to continue her work and expand her impact to reach the ears of national and international leaders!
Aymen Elamir is a freshman at Williamsville East High School in Buffalo NY. Aymen is a new member of the YAC and excited to make the world a much better place. Aymen is passionate about gender equality, specifically making sure that male-dominated sports are no longer male-dominated and that all genders are welcomed in sports such as Chess. What Aymen likes to do in his free time is solve Rubik’s cubes, play chess, be a part of his school cross-country team, and do taekwondo.
Matthew Lee enjoys researching and supporting immigrants rights, with a particular emphasis on education. After being a volunteer player for Ukranian refugees in his town, he co-founded the Education Refuge, an initiative which pairs high school students of immigrant backgrounds with refugees in need of both academic and cultural support. In Matthew’s role as a member of the Youth Advisory Council, Matthew strives to use the wider platform to continue his work in supporting the displaced communities on a larger scale, whilst learning and growing with the diverse community of educators and students that come together through NYLC.
My name is Adonai Yidnekachew! I am focused on equity in my schools and my community as I am part of an international non-profit organization, ARCC, which fights to eliminate racism and educate anti-racism and have brought that fight in my school community with a club called SOAR working for equity at Chaska High School and District 112. We hope to educate students, the next generation, about a diverse range of cultures so they can put aside their differences and help eliminate their biases. I love to lead, take up challenges, and work on bringing youth voices to change-making spaces, so all of our voices can be heard! I am excited and ready to represent a diverse range of youth in advocacy issues that matter to them, around the nation!
Madelyn Qayyum is a junior at Obra D. Tompkins High School in Houston, Texas. An advocate for positive psychology, gender empowerment, and digital wellbeing, Madelyn serves in organizations such as United Nations Girl Up and Half the Story. When she’s not pursuing her academic and personal interests, you can find her running through a local park, curating Spotify playlists, or reading Stoic philosophy. With NYLC’s YAC, she hopes to use her creative communication skills to inspire positive social change at a national and global scale!
Emiliana Korin is a junior at Athens Academy in Athens, Georgia. Passionate about social justice, human rights, and volunteerism, Emiliana loves community organizing and working with local and national organizations to promote educational and advocacy initiatives. She established a student chapter of Amnesty International at her school and has leadership positions in several other student-run organizations. She has also been the recipient of several awards for her volunteer work. She hopes that her role in the YAC will allow her to expand her influence and inspire other young people to get involved in their communities in various ways.
Ralitsa, a freshman at Princeton University, loves finding unique intersections between medicine and technology. Whether that be with Operation Smile, increasing access to affordable cleft palate surgeries, through the Stanford Neuroscience Journal Club, or in means of independent research, she spends much for her free time advocating for the issues she cares about, working first hand with community members to tackle topics in cancer diagnosis, food insecurity, stroke-resulting paralysis, and women’s health. Ralitsa has been honored to be able to speak at many conferences such as the MIT Undergraduate Research and Technology Conference regarding such as well. To relax, she enjoys flying, a hobby that has inspired her to write the first free, public curriculum for small planes, and also plays volleyball. As a member of the Youth Advisory Board, Ralitsa is looking forward to building upon her previous work and helping to highlight student voice in the quest towards a kinder, more equitable future.
I’m Feven Tesfaye and am a junior at Burnsville High School, located in Minnesota. I’m deeply interested in the forms of advocacy amongst youth and the intersection of service learning and environmental equality. I’ve served as my Congressional District representative for the Minnesota Youth Council, which is continuing to place importance on environmental sustainability with the hopes of increasing interaction with young people. I’m also keen on equity for all minorities to have a right to speak out, and continue to help this mission as a Youth Fellow for my county’s League of Women Voters. At my school, I participate in a Youth Service Advisory Council, Speech and Debate, Student Council, and Women in Stem in all hopes of getting more service participation with the students at my school. I’m so excited to be on the Youth Advisory Council and interact with people across the country, and create a more interactive and sustainable youth-led future!
Natalie is a sophomore at Mountain View High School in Mountain View, California. She is grateful to be a TEDx speaker, a NSDA MS speech national champion, and an Informative Speaking semifinalist as a freshman at the 2024 UC Berkeley invitational. Natalie feels devoted to addressing the lack of financial education among youth- and reaches students in her community, across the nation and around the world. On a personal level, she feels truly dedicated to increasing eating disorder prevention and treatment, as well as tackling the concern of screen time and scrolling. Natalie’s goal at the Youth Advisory Council is to embrace opportunities to learn from others and to further enhance platforms for the three listed objectives. In her free time, she loves biking to new places, watching Warriors basketball, and is a Crumbl Cookies connoisseur.
Katherine Nguyen is a current Junior at Clayton High School located in St. Louis, Missouri. As a proud midwestern Vietnamese American, she works in her community for Asian American advocacy. She is a leader in the Asian American Civic Scholars group, an intern for the Very Asian Foundation, and assists her school with the Asian Student Association and other Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion events. She also enjoys other passions including music, STEM, and literature. With the YAC she hopes to build leadership skills that will benefit her community. She is excited to assist the NYLC in their various programs and empower youth. In her free time, you can catch her drinking boba, dabbling in photography, and baking!
Grace is a junior at Syosset High School in New York, committed to researching and advocating for gender and education equality and sustainable development through STEM. As a United Nations and TEDx speaker, and Technology Focal Point of the Major Group for Children and Youth, she strives to make a positive impact. Grace founded Research to Empower (ReTE), a nonprofit dedicated to making research accessible and enjoyable for young students in underserved communities. After serving as a 2022-2024 Youth Advisory Council (YAC) member, she is now proud to be a YAC Mentor. Grace is dedicated to supporting NYLC’s programs and continues to inspire and advocate for students and communities at local, national, and global levels.
Molly Mathis is a sophomore from Hoggard High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. She has an avid love and interest in STEM, and enjoys being on the school’s Science Olympiad team and pursuing Biology research. In her free time, she loves to run, weightlift, read, code, and volunteer! She is passionate about creating an equal playing field, and writes about local STEM activities and service learning for the school newspaper. One current issue she cares deeply about is equality of different languages, opportunities, and access to resources. She will use her time on the YAC to learn from older mentors about leadership and apply those traits to projects in her community and beyond.
Kaleb is currently a freshman at Columbia University, where he’s passionately pursuing a degree in economics while minoring in political science with a pre-law focus. His fervor lies in the realm of law and public policy, and he’s committed to making a meaningful impact in these fields. He’s been actively involved in the community, serving on numerous civic and community boards, and is proud to have been a member of the NYLC Youth Advisory Council. Kaleb looks forward to continuing the work as serving as a Youth Advisory Council Mentor. As an avid public speaker and servant leader, Kaleb uses his voice and leadership skills to advocate for positive change and progress at the local, state, and federal level of government.
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