By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
A total of 21 Bellmont High School students comprise Decatur Mayor Dan Rickord’s youth council for the 2025-26 school year.
This is the fourth edition of the program conceived by the mayor and launched for the 2022-23 school year. At that time he said, “We’re trying to listen to our young people. We want to keep them here. If they don’t find it here, they will go someplace else.”
The council is open to all Bellmont students, with the members chosen after applications are received.
The youth council works directly with the mayor and city leaders, in addition to helping plan and be a part of community activities.
The new group held its first meeting in early October. Meetings are held up to twice a month.
“These future leaders are diving into city government, committees, service projects, and more,” said Community Coordinator Jamie Gephart, who works closely with the council.
Part of the duties of the council are attending meetings of city council, the park board and the economic development commission.
“We are tweaking a few things in hope we can be more involved in the community this year,” Gephart noted.
A total of 12 students comprised the initial youth council. The numbers grew to 19 for the past school year.
“We have been fortunate to have great students apply, which makes it very hard to make tough decisions and not be able to accept everyone,” Gephart has said.
Members of the 2025-26 mayor’s youth council are:
Ashlyn Bauman, Carissa Mickley, Hudson Krull, Kinleigh Coffee, Lillian Garner, Lilly Alberding, Averie Coats, Quinn Buchan.
Also, Oliver Goble, Olivia Bessessen, Maya Schlemmer, Evalina Hernandez, Michael Scheumann.
Also, Alexis Converset, Audrey Grimm, Bridget Juengel, Gabryella Liming, Isabelle Mickley, Katelyn Borne, Hayden Whittenbarger and Everett Colclasure.
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