Exceptional youth provide help and service

The City Council has unanimously voted to appoint eight young people in Thousand Oaks to the city's Youth Commission.

There are 15 commissioners. Thirteen of them are between ages 13 and 19, with two adult representatives from Conejo Recreation and Park District and the Conejo Youth Employment Service.

The group was formed as an advisory body to the City Council on all matters dealing with youth, according to the city website.

The commission hosts events, including the Youth Recognition Awards, which honor young volunteers. The Youth Commission also organizes the Therapeutic Dance, in which teens with disabilities go to the teen center for a special night created just for them. It includes dancing, refreshments and socializing. Another commission activity is a rock concert that features local bands, known as "Rock the Oaks."

Councilmembers Jacqui Irwin and Tom Glancy interviewed 39 candidates who applied several weeks ago. Irwin and Glancy announced their selections at last week's City Council meeting.

"It was amazing, the quality of these people, and it really makes you feel good about the future," Glancy said.

The group was selected not only because of their accomplishments but because of the greater balance they represent. The new commissioners are from different parts of Thousand Oaks and from various high schools.

"We were extremely impressed with the group of candidates and would have liked to have approved them all," Irwin said.

Chosen were Jared Hatland, Ben Liu, Marissa Morrison, Ali Athar, Alexandra Wall, Rebecca Sadwick, Sean Saute and Joshua Rose.

Information about each of them was provided on their applications.

Hatland, a Thousand Oaks High School sophomore, has a brown belt in karate and is an AYSO referee. "I want to make sure the voice of the youth of the city is heard," he wrote on his application.

Liu, a Westlake High School senior this fall, participates in the chemistry and math Olympiad, is the captain on the basketball team and was voted MVP last season. He also plays several musical instruments, including violin and piano.

Morrison, a Thousand Oaks High School sophomore, was class president as a freshman and sophomore. She's on the basketball and track teams.

Water polo and swim team participation keeps Athar, a Thousand Oaks High School senior, busy along with the academic decathalon and cofounding the Future Business Leaders Club.

Wall, a junior at La Reina High School, volunteers with the Thousand Oaks Teen Advisory League and is involved with Amnesty International and the Spanish Club.

"I am a hardworking, reliable person who believes that nothing is impossible," wrote Sadwick, a Westlake High School sophomore. She's in the student senate, is a dancer and is active in her temple.

Newbury High School freshman Saute has worked with People to People Leadership Camp.

Rose, a Los Cerritos Middle School eighth-grader, has been involved in feeding the homeless, chorus and his school's peer service and support team.

"When we hear all the terrible stories about the youth in our communities and the drug use, people being unengaged, and then you get to meet a group like this, it gives you a lot of hope for the future," Irwin said.

For more information about the Youth Commission, call Francine Sprigel at (805) 4492743 or make contact via e-mail at YouthCommission@toaks.org.