ALISHA DESAI

Hometown: Moorestown

Internship Placement: 8th Legislative District - Senator Jean Stanfield, Assemblymen Michael Torrissi and Brandon Umba

Alisha Desai currently attends Moorestown High School in Moorestown, New Jersey and will be entering her senior year. She holds leadership positions in her school's Interact Club and Mock Trial Team. She also serves as the grade's Class Historian for the Student Council. She is very passionate about the topics of politics and economics, which led her to cofound her school's own Economic and World Newsletter. The newsletter was created with the goal of offering her fellow peers an outlet to write about news that interests them and to give peers an easy way to stay informed about seemingly complicated topics. 

To that same sentiment, Alisha's career aspirations include working in a job that is at the intersection of economics and political science. Alisha also enjoys playing golf or watching movies in her free time. She is excited to be a fellow for NJ Lead as it will allow her to build her network and gain professional experience! 

ROHAN JOIS

Hometown: West Windsor

Internship Placement: Office of Senator Vin Gopal

Rohan Jois is currently a rising senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. He was born in Edison, New Jersey and, apart from the three years he spent in India, he has lived in New Jersey his entire life. At his school, Rohan is involved in the Debate, Model Congress, and Philosophy clubs while also being a member of his school's swim team. Outside of school, Rohan has had two articles published on the subject of tribal sovereign immunity and judicial review.

Rohan is passionate about both politics and law and aspires to be involved in both fields in his adult life. In his spare time, Rohan enjoys reading, swimming, and playing and listening to music.

JESSICA JAIN

Hometown: Ridgewood

Internship Placement: Office of Assemblyman Chris DePhillips

Yessica Jain is a rising senior at the Bergen County Academies. She loves economics, politics, writing, and above all learning. She is the author of The Prisons of Magic, a fantasy novel about the war that spawns over the potential release of magic. She has been published in literary magazines including the Paper Crane Journal and Juven Press, is the editor of her school newspaper, and maintains a weekly blog at yessicajain.com. She is also the founder and president of Shadow Your Future (shadowyourfuture.org), a nonprofit that organizes shadowing and meeting opportunities for high schoolers interested in exploring future career options. She loves learning about different cultures and speaks four languages: English, Hindi, Spanish, and Mandarin

In college, she hopes to double major in economics and international affairs. She plans to pursue a career in business, but she recognizes business and politics are deeply intertwined, which is why she joined NJLP as a fellow.

KAVYA KATKURI

Hometown: West Windsor

Internship Placement: Office of Assemblyman Sterley Stanley

Kavya, a rising senior at West Windsor Plainsboro High School South, is an advocate and active member of her school community. As a representative on the student council, she effectively addresses important issues and collaborates with administrators to improve school life. Kavya also holds the position of Chief of Curriculum in the Business Club, guiding members to success in prestigious conferences. Furthermore, she serves as the Senior News Editor for her high school's newspaper, where she utilizes her writing, editing, and graphic design skills to share important stories with the student body.

Outside of school, Kavya co-hosts and co-founded the "Unraveling the World Podcast," collaborating with influencers to raise awareness about stigmatized issues and shed light on overlooked topics through weekly episodes.

During her free time, Kavya enjoys baking new recipes, going on bike rides with friends, and indulging in Netflix show marathons.

MAHEE PATEL

Hometown: Woodbridge

Internship Placement: Offices of Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn and Gerry Scharfenberger

Mahee Patel is a rising senior at John F Kennedy Memorial High School. She has started her school’s first Youth in Government Club to get high schoolers involved in local government. She is also an officer of both the Student Council and the Autism Awareness Club.  She is involved in the national English honor society and national honor society. She actively participates in her school’s model united nations team. She is a proud player on her school’s varsity volleyball team. On her weekends she tutors young Ukrainians in English through a global nonprofit. She helps out at her family’s local business in her free time. She is always found with her head in a book. She has always had a strong passion for law and political science and has been part of various political organizations where she has worked with many elected officials through campaigns.

In the future, she hopes to work as a congressional representative and obtain a law degree.

SANIA SHAREEF

Hometown: Warren

Internship Placement: Office of Assemblywoman Michele Matsikoudis

Sania is a rising junior at Watchung Hills Regional High School. She has always been interested in learning about public policy, law, and government, and hopes to further her knowledge through this program, clubs, and other projects. Alongside government, she enjoys statistics and math, as one who recently took AP Statistics in high school. She also loves writing stories or books, and am excited to be able to edit her school’s daily newspaper this upcoming school year. Outside of academics, she likes to read about the daily news in order to become more engaged in her community’s issues, and dancing. She has been dancing since the age of three and has been featured on several television commercials for it, including Universal Kids and Nickelodeon.

Sania loves collaborating with others to get a task done and I hope to continue using these skills while learning and developing in this program. 

RUBINA SINGH

Hometown: Scotch Plains

Internship Placement: Office of Assemblywoman Linda Carter

Rubina Singh is a rising senior at the Union County Magnet High School for Science, Mathematics, and Technology in Scotch Plains. Despite participating in an engineering-oriented curriculum, Rubina’s passion lies in civics and social studies. She channels her love for politics through leadership, advocacy, and public speaking. She is actively involved in student government, serving as both Class Council President and the Treasurer of the New Jersey Association of Student Councils. She served two terms on Congressman Tom Malinowski’s Youth Advisory Council, where she drafted bills pertaining to the climate crisis and global human rights awareness. She also presented a TEDx talk at her school about the lack of civics education in the nation, and this inspired her to start a district-wide Civics Club.

Rubina hopes to pursue public policy and economics in the future and will continue to advocate for a stronger civics education system. She is excited to start her political career as a fellow in the NJ Lead program. She hopes to connect with other passionate individuals and gain new policy interests.

JANHITHA VEERAMACHANENI

Hometown: Jersey City

Internship Placement: Office of Assemblyman Raj Mukherji

Janhitha is a rising junior at Infinity Institute. She is a student looking to positively impact society by exploring her interests and passions. Janhitha is the President and Founder of the Red Cross @ Infinity Institute, through which she helps students at her school advocate for the things they want. Beyond her leadership through the Red Cross @ Infinity Institute, Janhitha takes active leadership roles through the YMCA. She serves as the Vice President of her school’s Model United Nations Club and actively participates in the Youth and Government program. Janhitha serves as a Newark YMCA’s Youth Council member to advise on decisions that genuinely affect youth. She currently serves as the YMCA New Jersey State Youth Advocate. Janhitha firmly believes that youth drive the community, as she is working to help drive youth advocacy by collaborating with a group of youth to pass the Michigan Infrastructure Act into law. Through her love for the community and youth, she is helping lead the Alliance Against Bias Initiative through school districts to help students recognize everyday biases. She is an astute member of the Bergen County Debate Club.

Janhitha has big dreams of achieving things for herself and her community. She joined the New Jersey Leadership Program to create meaningful relationships and gain insight into politics. With the knowledge she amasses, she looks forward to applying them in all her endeavors. She is eager to continue fighting for the rights of people in her community while exploring new things to go above and beyond! She strongly believes an impactful change starts with one small step!