Five Frederick County students will serve as pages, and one as alternate, for the 2024 Maryland General Assembly legislative session.
All are high school seniors: Priyanka Gupta, Tuscarora High School; Emily Price, Urbana High School; Pragna Yalamanchili, Oakdale High School; Michael Olson, Middletown High School; and Anousha Khan, Governor Thomas Johnson High School. The alternate is Sofia Driver, Frederick High School. Serving as a legislative page is a unique opportunity for students to learn firsthand about the workings of the legislative process in Maryland. Apportionment of pages, by county, is based on the census taken at the beginning of each decade.
Priyanka Gupta is an intern with the MIT Center for Constructive Communication as well as a double major early college student at FCC with a prospective associate of science degree in computer science and math, in addition to being a student at THS. She was one of 12 students selected internationally for the Bezos Scholars Program. Gupta is president of the Computer Science National Honor Society and the THS Hack Club, which she founded, the captain of the tennis team and co-founder of the podcast 20 Seconds of Courage, which encourages young people to take action in their communities.
Emily Price is an international baccalaureate diploma candidate, takes a number of courses at FCC as well as the Introduction to Global Studies course at Hood College. She has accepted early admission to the University of Chicago, as a prospective economics and political science major. She was recognized in a number of competitions including the National Merit Scholarship Program and the Maryland Economics Challenge. Price is the Model UN president and president of the National English Honor Society. She is also the president and founder of the Jam Session club at UHS. She is an accomplished violinist and has completed Mandarin 1 & 2 through Johns Hopkins University.
Pragna Yalamanchili is president of the OHS Interact and Environmental clubs, first chair for the prosecution in Mock Trial and is on the varsity tennis team. She has interned at Lunch Out of Landfills where she assisted with implementing cafeteria composting programs and was a research assistant at the University of Maryland’s Department of Agricultural and Resources Economics. Her accomplishments include the Wertheimer Award for Excellence in Volunteerism, the Frederick County Government Student Sustainability Award, and the Carson Scholarship for students who excel academically and are dedicated to serving their community.
Michael Olson participated in the Maryland Association of Student Councils as communications director, special issues deputy director, and evaluation coordinator. Additionally, he has served as the vice president and is currently president of the Frederick County Association of Student Councils. At MHS he served as secretary, vice president and president of Student Government. His participation in government has extended to the Frederick community as a midterm election judge. Olson is a member of the MHS National Honor Society, Rotary Club and Science National Honor Society.
Anousha Khan has served on the Maryland Association of Student Councils as Division 6 liaison, operations director and vice president. She was a student representative of the FCPS Racial Equity Committee and the Maryland State Department of Education Asian American and Pacific Islander Workgroup. In addition to AP coursework at GTJHS, Kahn is in the dual enrollment program at FCC with coursework in criminal justice, legal studies and communications. She was the founding president of the Muslim Student Association at GTJHS and was the recipient of the George Eastman Young Leaders Award.
Sofia Driver is the legislative affairs co-coordinator for the Frederick County Association of Student Councils. She has also served as the Frederick representative to the Student Member Advisory Council and is the president of the National Technical Honor Society at FHS. She planned school-wide CTC events for Skills USA for history, and represented FCPS at SkillsUSA state and national events. Driver is currently in the CTC Teacher Academy of Maryland program and is interning at an FCPS elementary school. She is also a member of the National Honors Society and National English Honors Society and was the recipient of the CTC MLK Award.