HSDA History

Founding & Development

The High School Caucus of the Young Democrats of America (YDAHSC) was founded on December 2nd, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona following the 2005 YDA National Convention in San Francisco. Prior to the founding of YDAHSC, various state-level high school and teenage Democratic organizations existed but never before had there been a centralized national umbrella for high school Democrats. Jonathan Padilla of California and Ahmed Kokon of New York dreamed up the idea of YDAHSC and, after its founding in 2005, Padilla was elected the first National Chair in February 2006. At the same February 2006 meeting, YDAHSC was fully recognized as a voting caucus by the Young Democrats of America. By August 2007, there were 37 state organizations in YDAHSC.

The first National Summit debuted as the “High School Leadership Academy” in 2012. 48 students represented 27 states at the four-day Washington, D.C. event.

In June 2014, the YDAHSC broke off from YDA and re-founded as the High School Democrats of America (HSDA). Today, YDA and HSDA still enjoy a close partnership. A year later, in July 2015, the newly-independent HSDA held the “HSDA Strategic Summit” in Washington, D.C.

The last Summit before the COVID-19 pandemic was the 2019 Summit which included speakers like Nancy Pelosi, Sanford Bishop, Donald Payne Jr, Jahana Hayes, Mark Takano, Lizzie Fletcher, Paul Tonko, Conor Lamb, John Yarmuth, Mark Pocan, Deb Haaland, Jon Tester, and Doug Jones.

In a monumental vote, the 2019 summer session of the Democratic National Committee granted HSDA two voting seats, giving youth a strengthened voice and cementing HSDA as the official organization for high school Democrats.

When COVID shut down in-person organizing, HSDA’s leadership quickly acted and, in 2020 and 2021, virtual Summits were hosted to unite our membership and strengthen our communities. In 2024, the Executive Board made a bold move to return to an in-person format and will host the next Summit in Washington, D.C. in August 2024.

Leadership Archive

  • Jonathan Padilla - National Chair

    Andy Stanley - Executive Vice Chair

    Alicia Froio - Vice Chair for Political Affairs

    Eddy Foster - Vice Chair for High School Outreach

  • Alicia Froio - National Chair

    Julian Allen - Executive Vice-Chair

    Charlie Dann - Vice-Chair for Political Affairs

    Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons - Vice-Chair for High School Outreach

    Erich Reimer - Director of Action/Activities; later Executive Director

    Sadaf Shahid - Northeast Regional Director

    Matt Connolly - Mid-Atlantic Regional Director

    Evan Marxon - Pacific Director

    Julia Aromaporio - Great Lakes Director

    Stephen Ratner - Southeast Regional Director

  • Alicia Froio - National Chair

    Julia Aromaporio - Executive Vice Chair

    Charlie Dann - Vice Chair of Political Affairs

    Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons - Vice Chair for High School Outreach

    Erich Reimer - Executive Director

    Chris Cecchin - Director of Political Campaigns

    Ryan Davis - Treasurer

    Jordan C Rasmusson - Midwest Regional Director

    Allen Gannet - Mid-Atlantic Regional Director

    Elijah Sharma - Northeastern Regional Director

    Evan Larson; later Estevan Montemayor - Pacific Director

    Andrew Kaback - Great Lakes Director

    Jessica Stallone - Southeast Regional Director

    Hope Brookins - Southcentral Regional Director

    Wyatt Larkin; later Kyle Dignoti - Southwest Regional Director

  • Sania Rahim - National Chair

    Melissa Moskowitz - Executive Vice Chair

    Elijah Goldberg; later Joseph Luginbill - National Committee Chair

    Josh Huges - Political Director

    Molly Coleman - Development Director

    Elliott Minge - Finance Director

    Laura Hardwick; later Jocelyn Fong - Communications Director

    Chris Kramer - Parliamentarian

    Kyle Dignoti - Chief-of-Staff

    Jordan Rasmusson - Executive Director

    Samina Hydery - Administrative Director

    Samina Hydery - Northeast Regional Director

    Devontae Greene - Mid-Atlantic Regional Director

    Ryan  Davis - Great Lakes Regional Director

    Ryan Campbell - Southeast Regional Director

    Erik Roscom - Southcentral Regional Director

  • Sania Rahim - National Chair

    Jordan Rasmusson - Vice Chair

    Samina Hydery - Programs Director

    Atticus Francken - Communications Director

    Neel Yalamarthy - Parliamentarian

  • Samina Hydery - National Chair

    Atticus Francken - Vice Chair

    Hassan Haider - Programs Director

    Daqavise Winston - Communications Director

    Aaron Wilder - Parliamentarian

  • Hassan Haider - National Chair

    Nicholas Mitch - Vice Chair

    Tejas Konduru - Programs Director

    Nivedita Sankar - Communications Director

    AJ Guenther - Parliamentarian

  • Nicolas Mitch - National Chair

    Dino Kadich - Vice Chair

    Trenton Thornburg - Programs Director

    Eva Dickerson - Communications Director

    George William Robert Pearcy - Parliamentarian

  • Trenton Thornburg - National Chair

    Eva Dickerson - Vice Chair

    Neah Bois - Programs Director

    Jordan Cozby - Communications Director

    Miriam Young - Parliamentarian

  • Jordan Cozby - National Chair

    Liana Wang - Vice Chair

    Sedalia Mahlum - Programs Director

    Hattie Seton - Communications Director

    Logan Arkema - Development Director

  • Aylon Berger - National Chair

    Ana Little-Saña - Vice Chair

    Andrew Peng - Communications Director

    Emma Turner - Programs Director

    Anthony Luongo - Development Director

  • Jeremy Ornstein - National Chair

    Harshini Abbaraju - Vice Chair

    Lekha Sunder - Communications Director

    Cathy Sun - Programs Director

    Jack Ballou - Development Director

  • Jason Lam - National Chair

    Ariana Smartt - Vice Chairwoman

    Talat Aman - Vice Chairman

    Brennan Leach - Communications Director

    Haritha Kumar - Programs Director

    Annie Austin - Development Director

  • Jack Greenspan - National Chair

    Haritha Kumar - Vice Chairwoman

    Jackson Humphreys - Vice Chairman

    Sabrina Schoenborn - Communications Director

    Prescott Herzog - Programs Director

    Hasan Ali - Development Director

  • Charlotte Kerpen - National Chair

    Sam Dobson - Vice Chair

    Darby Fitzsimmons - Vice Chairwoman

    Sashu Machani - Communications Director

    Kritika Sethi - Programs Director

    Morgan Orozoco - Development Director

  • Alina Nodrat - National Chair

    Trenton Hightower - Vice Chairman

    Ala’a Tamam - Vice Chairwoman

    Tanaz Muhamad - Communications Director

    Bella Thomas - Programs Director

    Saanvi Merchant - Development Director

  • Samay Sahu - National Chair

    Claire Liu - Vice Chairwoman

    Jeffrie Chambers - Vice Chairman

    Sohali Vaddula - Communications Director

    Rebecca Ploski - Programs Director

    Matan Josephy - Development Director

    Annika Krovi - Chief of Staff

    Maryanne Agyei - Diversity Director

  • Annika Krovi - National Chair

    Henry Pahlow - Vice Chairman

    Stephanie Li - Vice Chairwoman

    Mizuki Yashiro - Communications Director

    Hannah Cho - Programs Director

    Neil Sachdeva - Development Director

    Luke Netto - Chief of Staff

    Myles Lanier - Diversity Director

  • Hannah Cho - National Chair

    Neal Tandon - Vice Chairman

    Jennifer Yu - Vice Chairwoman

    Rishita Nossam - Communications Director

    Matthew Brown - Programs Director

    Sahasra Yellepeddi - Development Director