About NJHSD

The New Jersey High School Democrats is a state-wide organization that serves to engage youth in the political process through organizing for, advocating for, and supporting the Democratic Party. In the past, we’ve hosted phone banking sessions, met with local and national leaders, canvassed for political candidates, and much more.

During the 2019 election, NJHSD members knocked on nearly 26,195 doors and made close to 14,250 calls in support of Democrats at the local level. During the critical 2020 Election cycle, NJHSD put in countless hours phone-banking, canvassing, and mobilizing voters to elect now-President Joe Biden and take back the Senate.

We want to ensure that our work represents all of the voices of our organization, through both grassroots activism and elections. As an entirely student-run organization, NJHSD elevates the voice of Democratic teens in all regions of the state. We can’t wait for you to join!

View the NJHSD By-Laws

The 2021-2022 Executive Board:

Rachel Gurevich (she/her) - Chair

Rachel is a senior at East Brunswick High School. She first became involved in politics after the Parkland school shooting when she was in eighth grade. In response, she helped organize a town-wide vigil, which was attended by hundreds of members of her community, and started a Students Demand Action chapter in her town. During the 2019-2020 school year, Rachel served as both the Central Region Coordinator and the Membership Director for NJHSD. Having organized phone-banking, canvassing, and advocacy events for her local chapter and the state, she is so excited to serve as your chair this year. Rachel is also currently the National Vice-Chair for the HSDA Jewish Caucus. Please contact her with any questions you may have.

Penelope Jennings (she/her) - Membership Director

Penelope is from Madison and is a senior at Newark Academy. She first became involved in politics after the 2016 election and she then went to the 2017 Women's March in Washington DC. Since then she has been to many marches for women's rights, gun control, and other issues. She became more involved in social justice after the Parkland shooting when she organized her school's walkout and gave a speech at Madison city hall before the Morristown March for Our Lives. This past year she founded the Madison community chapter of HSDA and she phone-banked and canvassed for local candidates. She is very passionate about women's rights and is the policy director for NJ Generation Ratify.

Marisa Singh (she/her) - Vice Chair

Marisa is a senior at the Union County Academy for Allied Health Sciences. She first became involved with NJHSD in 2019 for the opportunity to advocate for change on the state level. Currently on her third campaign cycle, Marisa has interned for Democratic candidates on the local, state, and national level. Alongside serving as your Vice Chair for the 2021-22 term, she will be serving as the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School Young Democrats President and Union County High School Democrats Chair. Outside of NJHSD, Marisa is heavily involved in her New Jersey Youth and Government program and serves in the YMCA Model United Nations Officer Corps. Marisa is so excited to serve as Vice Chair and cannot wait to see new faces in NJHSD this year!

Marc Werner (he/him) - Comms Director

Marc is a junior at Millburn High School. Like many other young people, he really started to get involved in politics after the 2016 Election. Soon, he began closely following major politicians and exploring their extensive platforms, and was truly invested in the 2018 Midterms. Once in high school, Marc joined the Millburn High School Democrats Club, where he met passionate, like-minded students and now serves as the Co-President of his chapter. In the 2020 Election, Marc was an intern for Congressman Tom Malinowski’s re-election campaign, where he distributed campaign materials and contacted voters throughout his district. Outside of politics, he is passionate about community service, business, languages, graphic design, soccer, cooking, and the environment. Marc is excited to be serving as Communications Director this year!

The 2021-2022 State Staff:

Aadit Vinayak (he/him) - East Region Coordinator

Aadit is currently a sophomore at Millburn High School. He has always been interested in politics, and as a freshman, learned about HSDA. He joined the Millburn High School chapter, with the goal to act on his beliefs. Aadit played an active role in his local township elections as media and events coordinator. He was also an intern on the Malinowski for Congress campaign, Murphy for Governor primaries campaign, and a volunteer with the Murphy for Governor Campaign. As a member of Congressman Tom Malinowski’s Youth Advisory Council, legislation and the law is of great interest to Aadit, as well. He is extremely excited to help NJHSD in the upcoming year, as he believes students are the minds of the future and deserve a say in what happens.

Ronak Shetty (he/him) - North Region Coordinator

Ronak is interested in business marketing/strategy, politics, public service, and foreign languages.
Interested in traveling the world and learning more about different cultures and societies, Ronak enjoys learning foreign languages. He uses his knowledge of foreign languages for the better of his community. This is why Ronak became the co-founder of Aprendalo.org, an online ESL tutoring service that caters to those who want to learn English but simply lack the means to pay for ESL lessons. As the leader of Spanish Club and Democratic Society, Ronak enjoys being a student leader and organizer who comes up with fresh, new, innovative ways to tackle everyday problems. His podcasts and newspaper articles reflect his interest in politics, world cultures, and optimism for structural change.

Jon Cote (he/him) - West Region Coordinator

Jon is a junior at Hunterdon Central Regional High School! For Jon, it is a distinct honor to have been selected as a regional coordinator for the west—a region crucial to NJHSD’s goals of inclusivity and progress. Being a chapter leader from the west, Jon understands a lot of the challenges the region faces—challenges he looks forward to helping solve in the near future.

Roshni Aneja (she/her) - South Region Coordinator

Roshni Aneja is currently a junior at John F. Kennedy Memorial High School. She first got into politics through protesting for the Black Lives Matter movement. She learned the importance of young people’s voices in politics and decided to found her local HSDA chapter in Woodbridge Township. She is currently a summer fellow of the New Jersey Leadership Program, leading to her internship with U.S. Representative Frank Pallone. She is a strong advocate for issues such as women’s rights, a clean environment, and mental health awareness. She is elated to be the East Regional Coordinator and help the chapters in her region thrive!

Julien Catalon (he/him) - Finance Director

Julien is a sophomore at Woodbridge High School. His interest in politics started during the 2016 presidential election but he started to contribute his campaign efforts in the 2020 presidential election. He joined the Woodbridge chapter of HSDA and served as Student Liaison Chair of Congressman Frank Pallone Jr.’s Youth Advisory Council. Currently, he is a fellow with the Phil Murphy for governor campaign and is working to get a chapter of the Junior State of America founded at his school. Julien is eager to bring new fundraising initiatives to NJHSD as Finance Director!

Josh Virany (he/him) - Legislative Director

Josh is from Livingston and a senior at Newark Academy. He has been interested and passionate about politics and democratic causes from an early age as his parents would always have MSNBC and CNN on the television. Josh's passion truly peaked in 2016; after Donald Trump was elected he felt the need and responsibility to be an engaged citizen. He attended many rallies surrounding gun control such as the March for Our Lives rally in Washington DC and last summer he participated in many peaceful protests in support of BLM. During the 2020 election cycle, Josh was fortunate to intern for Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill and saw the power and impact that the youth can have in the democratic process of elections. He also attended the HSDA summit this past summer and met many peers who had the same democratcic passions as he does which inspired him to work to make his Young Dems club at Newark Academy an official NJHSD chapter. Now, he is a co-leader of this club. Josh is extremely excited to be your Legislative Director this upcoming year and is ready to work with members to draft legislation on issues of concern.

Parth Joshi (he/him) - Legislative Director

Parth is a junior at South Brunswick High School. He became interested in politics after the 2016 Presidential Election because of the impact that Donald Trump being elected as President had on him and his community. He decided to really start getting involved this year because he wants to start working towards real change and a brighter tomorrow for all. In freshman year he joined his school's Law Club to pursue his interest in politics and he will be the Vice President of it in the coming school year. He also found out about Generation Ratify and decided to start a community chapter of the organization to assist in their goal to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified.

Siddharth Satish (they/them) - Programs Director

Siddharth is a rising senior at West Windsor Plainsboro High School North who is engaged in interdisciplinary study and advocacy: focusing on the confluence of politics/international relations, economics, and health inequity. Siddharth is the co-founder president of their local hsdems chapter as well as the state programs director. In addition to this role, Siddharth is the president of NJ HOSA, state captain of NJ's world schools debate team, and the founder and VP of their local NAACP youth council. They also are a youth delegate to the UN from Ariel Foundation International (with ECOSOC special consultative status), the only under 18 member of the World Humanitarian Forum youth council, and the chair of the International Association of Political Science Students for USA and Canada. Siddharth also has founded two successful non-profits: Rememoirs and PEP magazine, and has been featured in 165+ news outlets including Fox, CNBC, MarketWatch, and ABC for their work with these entities. Siddharth served as the NJ delegate to the United States Senate Youth program, and has been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize as well as Forbes 30 under 30 in social entrepreneurship.

Denia Smith (she/her) - Political Director

Denia Smith is a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. She first became involved in politics amidst the resurgence of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in 2020. In response, Denia organized a #BLM protest—garnering 1,000 attendees—and co-founded her community’s NAACP Youth Council. During the Georgia Midterms, Denia served as a voter protection fellow with the Democratic Party of Georgia, wherein she assisted 200 voters in curing their rejected ballots. She currently serves as an organizer with Blue Future + the Youth Progressive Action Catalyst, a policy intern at New Voters, and a Group Leader of Mercer County Students Demand Action. Denia’s further a member of HSDA’s Black Caucus and serves as a Teen Advisor with the United Nations Girl Up Campaign.

Partner Organizations:

New Jersey College Democrats

New Jersey Young Democrats

New Jersey High School Democrats