OV ‘a really great place to grow up’
Published on October 29, 2024
By Dave Perry
For the Town of Oro Valley
Oro Valley kids, these days.
They are .... Eloquent. Enthusiastic. Informed. Inquisitive. Insightful. Smart! Genuinely excited to weigh in on Oro Valley’s General Plan! Savvy about social media, and how to use a cell phone.
A cell phone appeared just once over the course of a 2-hour conversation with three members of the Oro Valley Youth Advisory Council (YAC). Allison Kuester used it to meet a scholarship application deadline.
First, she excused herself from the table.
Kuester and Tanish Doshi are both seniors at BASIS Oro Valley. Doshi is the YAC president. Nihar Goulapally, 16, is a BASIS junior and YAC historian.
They all believe, in Goulapally’s words, that Oro Valley is “a really great place to grow up.”
“Oro Valley has been my childhood,” he said. “I have a lot of great memories here. People say we’re in the Oro Valley bubble. It feels very good to be in the Oro Valley bubble.”
“I truly am so grateful to have grown up here,” Kuester said. “I will always look back at this place with a golden light around it.” Golden, as in “Oro.”
Breaking the stereotype
Many people perceive Oro Valley to be exclusively a community of older white residents.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, 16,609 of Oro Valley’s 47,070 residents are 65 years of age and older. Another 8,820 are 19 and under. More than 37,000 identify as white. Doshi and Goulapally are of Indian descent. Kuester’s mom is Vietnamese.
No matter the age, nor the roots, “our core ideals are the same,” Doshi believes.
“We have a deep regard and appreciation for our nature,” he said. Shared outdoor spaces – parks, trails, and paths – and the stewardship of those resources “binds everybody in the town together,” Doshi said. “It’s the first piece that makes Oro Valley feel like Oro Valley.”
To illustrate, he points out, Oro Valley people almost always gather outside. Fourth of July. Holiday tree lightings and arts festivals. The backyard. Kuester’s 11th birthday party was at Riverfront Park. Nature, she said, is “half the reason you live in Oro Valley,” and young people appreciate it.
“We hope to retain that huge pillar of nature in Oro Valley and hopefully grow that,” Kuester said. “We want to introduce young people to those kinds of opportunities.”
People of every age value Oro Valley’s sense of community, and its small-town vibe, Doshi said. Through YAC, “I’m feeling like I’m giving back to the community,” a place he says has given him so much. “It makes me more appreciative of what we have.”
YAC has helped them blossom
YAC has united these three with other young people. This year, YAC’s 20 members come from Ironwood Ridge, Canyon del Oro, BASIS, and Salpointe Catholic high schools.
“I know a lot more people at CDO and Ironwood (Ridge) than I ever knew before,” Goulapally said. “They’re my friends.” They all share a thirst for civic engagement, connection, and community building.
YAC quickly mobilizes young people through social media to attend events like the summer “dive-in” swimming and movies. Hundreds show up. “People have told me they made new friends,” Goulapally said.
“The best part” of YAC “by far is the community, both inside and outside,” Kuester said.
Among its outreach, YAC members help young children decorate holiday cookies, and give them Halloween candy. They teach their peers about finances. They sell popcorn at town events to raise money so they can buy holiday gifts for elderly people. They teach seniors how to use technology, and play pickleball with them in Sun City Oro Valley.
“Even if you don’t hear it very often, young people are incredibly appreciative of the perspectives you bring to the table,” Kuester said of those residents. “There are people here with so much lived perspective.” And they are “extremely generous” with their time. “We are more thankful than you know.”
Doshi, who moved with his family from Illinois in 2017, wondered how to fit in. YAC “sounded cool,” he said. Doshi interviewed virtually during Covid, when “the feeling of social isolation was very real.” Post-Covid, he found himself in a group of 20 young people from different ethnicities, faiths, schools, and experiences.
“I had to quickly figure out how to interact with all these people,” Doshi said. He learned how to listen, and to compromise.
“I’m more mindful of the different perspectives,” Doshi said. “There isn’t any one way to define what someone who lives in Oro Valley looks like. It’s that mix of different people and perspectives that make Oro Valley.”
Gaining civic agency
“Oro Valley’s citizens are remarkably engaged in the workings of town government,” Doshi said. Through YAC, young people gain “a sense of agency when it comes to civics.”
“I’m much more aware of what local politics and policy mean, and how it impacts us,” Kuester said. “People are so excited about young people getting involved.” She said “Mayor Joe” Winfield, town council members, and staff are “all great, and want to hear our ideas.”
Kuester and Doshi are eager to share those thoughts.
“I’m so much more comfortable with public speaking,” Doshi said. “I’ve learned to advocate for myself. YAC is really good at giving kids professional development opportunities on a personal level.”
“I was very shy, not a huge public speaker,” Kuester said. “YAC has definitely helped me grow that. It taught me to fight for my ideas.”
“Nothing is like YAC,” said Goulapally, who also enjoys Scouting, robotics, and graphic design. “It’s a good way to sharpen my skills, and an avenue to use your skills. You’re getting a result out of it. You’re seeing it help people. You’re able to change somebody’s life, somehow.
“It’s made me feel a lot more like a part of my community.”
Places to go, things to do
These three all love, love, love the newly expanded Naranja Park, calling it a “third place” for young people beyond home and school. “I feel more connected to the town than I did before,” Doshi said, “more connected to my sense of place.” He sees a need for more third places.
“There are days we’re bored,” Kuester allows. “Stacks (Book Club) is cool. Every time I walk into Stacks to study, someone I know is there.” Target is a big hit among the youth. “Third spaces that are also bringing in revenue are really important,” she said.
Growth, and the small-town feel, “don’t have to be at odds,” Goulapally said. “Sometimes they go hand in hand.”
Look at BASIS Oro Valley, he suggested, which opened just over a decade ago. Today, it is the 17th-highest ranked high school in America, according to U.S. News & World Report.
“It brought a lot more people” to town, Goulapally said. “Now, it is a core part of the community. New things, new stores, more people, they can be good things for Oro Valley. We don’t have to lose the spirit of Oro Valley. We can preserve those small-town values.”
“As the town grows, as development grows, we can’t lose sight of that small-town feel that keeps us together,” Doshi said. Still, he doesn’t want Oro Valley to be exclusively a bedroom community, where people sleep before spending their days in Tucson.
Likewise, Kuester adds, “it’s important to acknowledge the fears of people” regarding growth.
Soon, they will fly
Kuester intends to study journalism on the East Coast. “We’ll see where life takes me,” she said.
Doshi thinks about studying political science and economics at an East Coast university. “Maybe law school,” Doshi adds.
Goulapally wants to be an engineer. “I’m interested in politics, too,” he said. He feels the pull of California’s beaches.
Will they come back?
“There’s a beauty in bringing up my kids in a place like this, or to retire in a place like this,” Kuester said.
“I want to come back,” Doshi said. “I don’t know when.”
“It will be cool if we ever come back to see how Oro Valley has changed,” Goulapally said.
Before all that, it’s time for dinner. Chipotle, most likely. “I think I have enough gas” in my car to get there, Doshi said.
Allison Kuester is the daughter of Jenny Nguyen and Robert Kuester. Tanish Doshi is the son of Urvashi and Nirav Doshi. Nihar Goulapally is the son of Kalpana Siddapuram and Laxmi Goulapally.
OV’s youth council unique in breadth, depth of activity
Oro Valley created its Youth Advisory Council in 2012.
Jessica Hynd, the town’s constituent services coordinator and management assistant, added YAC leadership to her duties in 2017. She works with a $6,000 annual budget.
There are other youth councils in Arizona cities and towns. But, argues longtime YAC member and current president Tanish Doshi, the Oro Valley YAC “is really unique in the scope of work we do.” It does not focus solely on one area; Oro Valley YAC has a deep, broad involvement in public policy, volunteering, events, and community support.
Becoming a YAC member is not easy. Recruitment starts each February, followed by interviews. Anywhere from 40 to 60 young people apply. “It’s so hard” to narrow the field, Hynd said. Last year, there were but four openings. This year, the majority of YAC members are high school seniors.
“Controlling 20 teenagers is a difficult job,” Hynd deadpanned. Quickly, she adds, “I love it. I genuinely enjoy the kids.”
Kids enjoy it, too.
“I would have quit by now if I wasn’t having fun,” Doshi said.