Applications are open for the 2024 U.S. Senate Youth Program (USSYP), a merit-based program that takes high school students from around the country to Washington, D.C., for a weeklong study of the federal government and the people who lead it. Owensboro High School’s David Daniel was one of the Kentucky delegates for the program in 2023.
Students will attend Washington Week – scheduled for March 2-9, 2024 – and participate in meetings and briefings with high-level officials from each branch of federal government, including senators, a justice of the Supreme Court, leaders of cabinet agencies, other key policymakers and senior members of the media.
Two Kentucky high school students will be selected this fall as delegates and will each receive a $10,000 college scholarship in the name of the U.S. Senate, with encouragement to continue coursework in history, government, and public affairs.
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) oversees the selection process of two students to be part of the national 104-student delegation.
High school teachers and principals are encouraged to nominate qualified high school juniors and seniors to apply. Applications for the 2024 USSYP program are available online and are due Oct. 2.
Daniel, now a senior at OHS, joined and recent Conner High School graduate Heng Yang as Kentucky’s 2023 delegates.
“The memories made here have been countless and will be some of the fondest ever, I’m sure,” Daniel wrote in a reflective column that was published in Kentucky Teacher. “You make friends from so many diverse backgrounds, and I can only hope that this network stays strong throughout my professional life.”
Yang wrote in a recent column on Kentucky Teacher: “Before my week in Washington, I had an outsider’s perspective on how the government is run. I had a pessimistic view of politics as an endless series of deadlocks and polarization. However, the common theme I learned from U.S. Senate Youth is compromise and cooperation.”
The 2024 program brochure with detailed rules and additional program details is available on the USSYP website. For more information, email GlyptusAnn Grider Jones or call her at 502-564-2000, ext. 4616.
