Stratford sophomore named to national youth council

A Stratford Academy sophomore will be rubbing elbows with city leaders from across the nation. Rushabh “Rush” Patel, a Macon-Bibb County Youth Commissioner, has been named to the National League of Cities Council on Youth, Education and Families.

He’s one of five youths chosen for the 30-member council, which is also made up of local elected officials from cities across the United States and representative from national family organizations. Patel will attend quarterly in-person meetings and periodic virtual meetings for the council.

National League of Cities serves as a voice for more than 19,000 cities, towns and villages and helps them work toward community improvement. It is a strong believer in youth participation in civic affairs.

Patel was selected through an interview and application process. He represented Bibb County as a youth delegate during the National League of Cities 2016 Summit in November in Pittsburgh and the Georgia Municipal Association 2017 Mayors’ Day Conference on Jan. 20-23 in Atlanta.

Patel, son of Dipesh and Alpa Patel, is the captain of the debate team at Stratford and a member of the Model United Nations team.

This story was originally published February 3, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Stratford sophomore named to national youth council."