Staff
Media Director – Aliyah Thompson is the 2024-25 Media Director for Wisconsin Youth in Government. She is a junior at Fond du Lac High School and serves as the President of the Fond du Lac Delegation. This is her third year in YIG, participating in the media branch every year. She loves the sense of community in YIG, and how welcoming and kind everyone is. She also appreciates how YIG has not only improved her media skills but empowered her to be a better leader. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, listening to music, participating and leading many extracurricular activities, and taking photos. Aliyah is so excited for the 2025 Model Government session and looks forward to working with everyone!
Print Manager – Ayden Ruppel is a freshman at Appleton North High School and is the 2024-25 Print Manager for Wisconsin Youth in Government. He has participated in YIG for three years within the Fox Cities Delegation. Originally he entered YIG because of his desire for debate, though ultimately deciding on media because of his passion for writing. When absent from YIG’s workload he often participates in traversal sports like snowboarding and skateboarding, in addition he enjoys music and spending quality time with his friends and family.
Digital Media Manager – Takoda Fry is a senior at Fond du Lac High School and the 2024-2025 Digital Media Manager for Wisconsin Youth in Government. He is a part of the Fond du Lac Delegation and has been in YIG for the past two years. He enjoys YIG because it allows him to connect with other young people who share his interest in politics. Journalism is important to him because it gives him the opportunity to create something that many people will read and enjoy. In his free time, he loves to hunt and spend time with friends.
Video Manager – Mario Ventura (he/they) is the 2024-25 Video Manager and Green Bay Delegation Media Director. He attends Green Bay Southwest High School and is in 9th grade. This is his second year in Media and Wisconsin Youth in Government. Mario enjoys spending time with his friends and family and doom-scrolling on his phone. He’s enjoyed media creation since he was little, and he enjoys being a part of media. He can’t wait to see what people can do this year in media.
Lux Ballard, Fond du Lac – Luckson is an 11th grader from Fond du Lac High School and in the Fond Du Lac Delegation. This is his third year in Youth in Government and the media branch. Luckson prefers to be called Lux. Lux is big into everything soccer. He decided to join YIG because he likes to look into documents and learn about the world around him. He loves meeting new people who have a similar passion for YIG.
Bella Bauman, Fox Cities – Bella is a sophomore at Appleton north high school and has participated in YIG for two years. Her first year was in Legislative Assembly while the second was in the Media Branch. Some of her favorite things about YIG is being able to practice public speaking, learning how to produce different forms of media and writing, meeting new people who share similar interests. In her free time, Bella loves reading, playing sports, and hanging out with her friends. Bella can’t wait for YIG model government 2025!
Madelyn Beyer, Fox Cities – Madelyn is a sixteen year old sophomore at Xavier in Appleton. This is her first year in Youth in Government and she is in Media. In YIG she enjoys meeting new people and learning about what’s going on around the city. She enjoys writing of all kinds, especially poetry. She is excited to meet other people with similar interests!
Adam Ciske, Fond du Lac – Adam is an 11th grader at the Fond du Lac High School and will be in his 2nd year doing YIG and 2nd year doing media. Adam wants to go to college at UW-Lacrosse and play football and baseball. Adam is really big in sports and wants to open his own sports business when he’s older. He enjoys meeting new people and working with them.
Kaylie Ebert, Fond du Lac – Kaylie is a sophomore at fond du lac high school and is in the fond du lac delegation and this is her 2nd year in YIG she enjoys YIG because of the creative freedom it gives her. she loves to read and hangout with friends in her freetime. what kaylie enjoys about writing is being able to write about things that she is passionate about and share it with others.
Rachel Foley King, Green Bay – Rachel is a 10th-grade student at Notre Dame Academy and a dedicated member of the Media delegation in Youth in Government. Although this is her first year participating in the program, Rachel is eager to make a meaningful impact through her work. She has a passion for storytelling and loves producing engaging articles and videos that inform and inspire others. Rachel is excited to develop her skills in journalism and contribute to the dynamic world of media with creativity and enthusiasm.
Taylor Forster, Fond du Lac – Taylor is in 10th grade and goes to the Fond du Lac high school, she is in the Fond Du Lac delegation and it’s her first year in Youth in government. Taylor enjoys being able to express herself and spend time with her friends in youth in government, Taylor enjoys drawing, painting, going by her tortoise, and spending time with family/friends. Taylor likes writing about things that are going on around her and let people know if they dont already.
Hayden Galbreth, Fox Cities – Hayden is a homeschooled teenager in 8th grade, she enjoys going to the media branch of Y.I.G even though she is new to the whole program, her favorite thing about Y.I.G is the people mostly because its a safe space with no bullying and the poeple there are just kind in general, in her free time she likes to draw, write and hang out outside with her friends. But her favorite thing to do is acting she has been in multiple plays when she was little so she really enjoys the acting and the fun you can have in plays.
Cassi Garrison, Green Bay – Cassi is a senior entering her fourth year of Youth in Government and second year of media, after two years in the legislative branch. She goes to school at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay. She loves journalism and wrote for her school newspaper, the Tritonian, for three years. Additionally, she recently started an internship with Green Bay’s Press Times newspaper. She is very excited to return to media this year.
Tatiana Gutierrez, Fond du Lac – Tatiana is a 10th grader, she attends Fond du Lac High school and is in the Fond Du Lac delegation. This is Tatiana’s first year in Youth in Government, and she enjoys seeing her friends at the meetings. In Tatiana’s free time she enjoys spending time with friends especially going shopping with them. She also loves being with her family and playing with her dogs. Tatiana likes journalism because you can read or write about issues and events going on in the world and get diverse stories of experiences from people about that issue or event.
Lila Hahn, Fox Cities – Lila is an eighth grader who goes to Classical Charter School. She is in the Fox Cities delegation and has been doing the program for one year. Lila enjoys Youth in Government because of the friendships and experience. She loves volleyball, lacrosse, and reading. When she is older Lila wants to be a political analyst.
Abigail Hanke, Fond du Lac – Abigail is in 9th grade and goes to Fond du lac High school and is in Fond du lac delegation. This is Abigail’s 2nd year in YIG and has only done media, she is hoping to explore outside of media next year. Some things Abigail enjoys about YIG is all the amazing people in it and all the fun things she gets to do. Some things Abigail likes to do in her free time is draw,sing, hangout with friends and family. Something Abigail likes about writing is how much you learn about new topics and she also likes the creative part about it.
Itzelle Haro, Green Bay – Itzelle is an 7th grader at St Thomas more school.She is in her first year of Youth and Government. During her free time Itzelle enjoys hanging out with her friends,listening to music and being with her family. Itzelle has always loved making videos and that is what led her to be interested in media. She is super excited for the model gov conference in March to the Capitol.While she is worried about not succeeding she is sure it will be awesome.
Carson Huenerberg, Fond du Lac – Carson is a 10th grader from Fond Du Lac High School. This is his second year in Youth in Government and the media branch. He has a fond love for anything cars and games, and enjoys playing Warhammer 40k. He also loves doing photography which is why he joined the media branch.
Emma Kottke, Fond du Lac – Emma, 11th year at Fond Du Lac Highschool, member of the Fond Du Lac YIG Delegation, 2nd Year Delegate. Emma joined Youth In Government to expand on her writing interest to apply to other fields such as journalism alongside essays and the novel she writes in her freetime, as well as improve her communication skills. She enjoys writing, reading, drawing, and playing three instruments in her free time, and is excited to go into this year of YIG with a fresh start and a new perspective from all of the knowledge she gained from participating last year!
Braedon McCormack, Fond du Lac – Braedon is 10th grade at Fond Du lac High School. This is Braedon’s first year in Youth in Government in Fond Du Lac delegation in media. Braedon enjoy hanging out with people and playing games. Braedon enjoys writing because he enjoys sharing storys with others .
Ella Nervi, Fond du Lac – Isabella is a freshman at Fond du Lac High school. It’s her first year in YIG and her first year in Media. Isabella enjoys the social interactions and communication that comes with being a part of YIG. In Isabella’s free time she likes to draw and paint, and she also likes to play videogames with her family. Isabella likes the argumentative side about journalism and writing, she finds it very enjoyable.
Mia Pellegrini, Fox Cities – Mia is a 8th grader who attends Classical Charter School and joined the Fox Cities Delegation this year. In her free time, she likes to listen to music, play hockey and lacrosse, and play piano. Mia likes journalism and writing because she can express herself! A fun fact about Mia is that she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up.
Ariel Plummer, Fond du Lac – Ariel is in 8th grade at Fond Du Lac High School, she is from Fond Du Lac and this is her first year in Youth in Government. What she enjoys about youth in Government is the fun and creativity in it. She likes to shop and hangout with her friends in her free time. She likes the creativity in writing.
Jaz Ramos Cruz, Green Bay – Jazalynn, also known as Jaz. Is a Green Bay delegate on her way to her 3rd year in youth in government. Ramos likes to say she’s an expert in media but in reality has been in media for two years. She has grown up around editing and working on videos on her free time. She’s also into photography and loves taking pictures of anything that seems “photogenic”. Other than media, she’s into learning new languages and creating art. She’s currently ready to explore more things and learn more about YIG as an entirety.
Yazminn Ramos Cruz, Green Bay – Yazminn from the Green Bay Delegates, is a sophomore of Notre Dame Academy is partaking in Media for Youth And Government. This is her second year taking Media in YIG. She hopes after high school to go to college for engineering; if not, she’s also hoping to join the Marines for a second choice. She really has eyes on joining the United States Marines corps. She has multiple family members who have been in the army and is trying to follow her family’s steps in serving her family and country.
Luis Raya Torres, Green Bay – Luis is a 9th grader at Southwest High School. He is a part of the Green Bay Delegation. This is his first year in Media and Youth in Government. He enjoys meeting other people in the Youth in Government program. He also enjoys playing the violin and baking! He is very excited to meet other people and express his ideas!
Sydney Reynolds, Fox Cities – Sydney is a first time media delegate, but has participated in legislation for the prior two years she’s been a part of the Youth in Government program. She is a sophomore at Appleton North High School and is a part of the Fox Cities Delegation. She loves the community and friends YIG provides, exploring the capital, and all the opportunities the program offers. In her free time, she likes to spend time with her friends and watch movies. She enjoys writing and expressing her opinions and her creativity.
Elle Running, Fox Cities – Elle is a media delegate from the Fox Cities. She is a sophomore at Appleton North High School. This is her third year in YIG, participating in assembly her first two years, this is her first year in media. She loves YIG because of how accepting everyone is. Elle also appreciates hanging out with her friends and playing soccer in her free time. She enjoys expressing her thoughts and connecting with people through journaling. Elle’s excited to participate in media this year!
Nat Salm, Fox Cities – Nat is an 8th grader at Einstein Middle school, from the fox cities delegation, and this is her first year in YIG. She enjoys the environment and the people she has gotten to meet so far in YIG. In her free time she enjoys playing guitar, riding her bike, and making podcasts with her friends. She enjoys writing about topics that interest her and she finds herself writing after she goes for a hike or an eventful day at school..
Abby Sippel, Fox Cities – Abby is a media delegate from the Fox Cities Delegation. She is a sophomore at Appleton North High School. This is her third year in YIG, her second year in media, and her first was spent in assembly. She enjoys the creative freedom and being able to create her own unique pieces. In addition to the freedom, she loves being able to see what other delegates create through the year in YIG. She is inspired by her years in YIG and believes they have made her a better writer and leader. Abby is ecstatic to return to YIG for 2025 Model Gov!
Willa Snyder, Door County – Willa is a freshman at Sevastopol High School, from the Door County Delegation. This is Willa’s first year in Youth In Government, along with first year in media. She enjoys getting to debate bills and getting to understand how a part of the government works. In Willa’s free time she likes to do many athletic activities such as swimming, volleyball, track and field, and working out. She also loves to do nails and hair, and is looking to be a cosmetologist when she is older. Willa likes to journal and write because it allows her to open up her feelings and write down her thoughts. She is so excited to see how media works and the fun activities that go along with it in the 2025 model government session.
Hunter Spindler, Reedsville – Hunter is a senior at Reedsville High School and is a part of Reedsville’s delegation. This is his first year. Hunter enjoys being involved with something that isn’t just school or work. He codes and creates video games in his free time.
Lily Suttner, Fox Cities – Lily is a media delegate from the fox cities Delegation. She is a sophomore at Appleton North High School. This is her third year in YIG, her second year in media, and her first year was spent in the assembly. She enjoys spending time with her friends, reading books, and going shopping. She loves being able to spend time with everyone during the time we spend in Madison. Her years in YIG have made her more confident and an overall better writer.
Jerson Torres, Green Bay – Jerson is an outgoing 10th grade student that attends Notre Dame Academy and is from the Green Bay delegation. This is his 3rd year attending the YIG program. He spent his first in assembly and the second in media, this year he is doing media as well. He enjoys the freedom that comes with attending the program and enjoys creating new friendships and experiences along the way. Torres likes to draw things he finds intriguing and plays video games in a lot of his free time. He has a turtle and a cat which he enjoys having as pets.
Vincent Xiong, Fond du Lac – Vincent is currently in 10th grader at Fond du Lac High School. His delegation currently is Media and it is his first year in it. He enjoys being able to write articles and share them with others. In his free time he likes to read novels and tends to go on walks. Vincent likes writing because it allows him to inform others and also express his own opinion on certain topics.
Ellie Younger, Green Bay – Ellenore is entering her first year at youth in government and her first year in the media branch. She is in 7th grade at John Dewey Academy of Learning. She found youth in government through many Y employees. She enjoys learning about history, reading books, and playing with her two dogs. Ellenore also enjoys going to the Y, hanging out with her friends and family, and being in Girl Scouts.