Dublin Students Help Organize 'Youth & Society Bootcamp'

DUBLIN, CA — A Dublin High School senior helped organize the first Youth & Society Bootcamp, a program that taught the fundamentals of local government, civic engagement, and public policy to over 35 students.

Adi Jain, a DHS senior, and Trishala Jain, a recent UC Berkeley graduate, were inspired by their own experiences in youth government, which included the Dublin Youth Advisory Council, the student representative for the Dublin Parks and Community Services Commission, and the DUSD Homework and Grading Committee.

Adi and Trishala proposed a pilot program to the city of Dublin to help their peers gain a similar level of civic awareness. From July 28 to Aug. 1, the students received an inside look at how their community was run, and got to try their hand at making impactful civic decisions. The program included:

• Talks from city leaders like Vice Mayor Kashef Qaadri, Councilmember Jean Josey, and Councilmember John Morada
• Talks from department heads and staff experts on topics like economic development, communications, AI ethics, and public sector careers
• Simulations where students balanced a city budget and designed a new park
• A Dublin-themed scavenger hunt
• A city trivia Kahoot game

Students also worked in teams to identify a local community problem, brainstorm solutions, and develop a policy proposal. At the end of the week, steams pitched their policy ideas to a panel of city staff and community leaders.

“Before this boot camp, the local government seemed complicated and something that adults handled. This bootcamp demystified it. Learning directly from city leaders and seeing how student-led ideas can become real policies made me realize that our voices actually matter,” a participant said of their experience.

The bootcamp was organized by Trishala and Adi Jain, Avika Vyawahare, Sriram Kannan, Nithya Jain, and Svara Wani. The organizing team helped secure funding, sourced gift cards from local businesses for raffles, and arranged for the Lazy Dog Restaurant to provide snacks and lunch for two days of the camp.

“What impressed me the most was how much of it was student led and student organized. They had great questions and their organization skills were very impressive,” said Vice Mayor Kashef Qaadri.

“It was a pleasure to see a lot of students making time to participate in the week-long bootcamp. It was a great success!” said Dublin Mayor Sherry Hu.

The city is aiming to co-host a larger and more formally integrated boot camp in the summer of 2026.