At the Sept. 2 Northampton Borough Council meeting, Mayor Thomas Reenock administered the oath of office to council’s junior council member, Ryleigh Tillotson, a junior at Northampton Area High School. Ryleigh is an advanced placement and honors student, is a member of the varsity cheerleading squad at NAHS, is on a competitive cheerleading team and coaches the Northampton Athletic Association junior cheerleading squad.

Currently, Ryleigh is an officer with DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America), a business and marketing nonprofit organization for young people considering a business or marketing career. She entered a project, titled “Integrating marketing product campaign,” at a DECA conference and won an award.

A goal for Ryleigh as a junior council member is to relay issues she hears in the community to council to help get the issues resolved.

“I love Northampton and want to do things to make things better for people my age - teenagers - and get more kids involved in the town,” she said.

She noted although she has an interest in politics, her interest is more with governmental policy initiatives than elected politics. Her long-term goal, at this point, is to double major in finance and marketing.

Ryleigh resides with her family in the third ward of Northampton.