This past June we celebrated with three Youth Board members – Aaryan Doshi, Samil Lindskog, and Senna Rogowski – as they graduated from Monta Vista High School and Cupertino High School and left for college. We wish them much happiness and success in their college years.
After a comprehensive interview process, we are thrilled to welcome two new Youth Board members – Arnav Gokhale and Beck Poltronetti. We can’t wait to see how they work with the Cupertino community to make our city safer and more enjoyable for youth who walk and bike.
Community advocacy is incredibly rewarding. It can have a huge impact on the safety and quality of live of residents, though it is often invisible. Hundreds of residents enjoy the Regnart Creek trail every single day, without knowing anything about the seven years of community effort by a small dedicated group of Walk Bike Cupertino board members it took to make it happen.
For teens, community advocacy offers valuable life lessons in empathy, leadership, confidence, and resilience — speaking to council members, persisting through setbacks, understanding differing viewpoints, learning to disagree respectfully, identifying compromises, and delivering on commitments made. It also provides valuable understanding of how governments work, how policies are shaped, and how to be an active participant in civic life. Finally, it offers meaning and purpose and the opportunity to shape a legacy that benefits the community for decades to come.
Arnav and Beck, welcome to community advocacy and welcome to Walk Bike Cupertino!
Arnav Gokhale, Cupertino High School
Arnav is a sophomore at Cupertino High School. He was born and grew up right here in Cupertino.
He loves biking—to school, to see friends, and around town—and believes everyone should be able to ride safely. He first got involved in walking and biking safety at the age of eight, when he spoke to the City Council in support of the Regnart Creek Trail. Since then, he has continued to advocate for safer biking projects, including the Lawson Middle School Bikeway, where he was once a student.
As a Youth Board member of Walk Bike Cupertino, Arnav is excited to work with others to improve biking safety and learn how community action can create lasting change. He looks forward to contributing to projects and events that make Cupertino’s streets safer and more welcoming for everyone.
In his free time, Arnav enjoys music and likes playing the trumpet and piano.
Beck Poltronetti, Monta Vista High School
Beck is a junior at Monta Vista High School who has lived in Cupertino nearly his whole life. He is an avid cyclist, who rides his bike to school every day and enjoys recreational mountain biking with the regional team Black Mountain Composite. He is incredibly passionate about the health, societal, and environmental benefits of walking and cycling instead of driving.
As part of his commitment to furthering the safety and accessibility of active transportation, Beck is a member of Monta Vista Safe Routes 2 School, Walk Bike Roll California, and now Walk Bike Cupertino. Beck has volunteered for trail building, Cupertino Bike Fest, and regularly attends regional and city council meetings to advocate for walking and biking.
Beck hopes that as a youth board representative of Walk Bike Cupertino, he can get more young people involved in advocating for causes they believe in.
