Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas today announced that the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) has initiated its annual statewide selection process. As part of the program, two Arizona high school students will join 102 other delegates March 4-11, 2017 for the program’s 55th annual Washington Week.

Since its inception in 1962, more than 5,500 students have participated in this unique leadership program, which every year brings two students from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity to Washington. While there, students experience an intensive weeklong educational program that highlights the workings of the U.S. Senate and the federal government as a whole.

USSYP is sponsored by the Senate and fully funded by the Hearst Foundations – no government funds are utilized. Each of the 104 student delegates will receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship in addition to the all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital.

In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, the student delegates generally rank academically in the top one percent of their states among high school juniors and seniors.

Potential delegates must be juniors or seniors and elected student officers for the 2016-2017 academic year, and they must reside and attend school in Arizona. Eligibility considerations may also be made for student representatives elected or selected (by a panel, commission or board) to district, regional or state-level civic or educational organizations where the delegate is serving a constituency in a high-level leadership position for the entire 2016-2017 academic year.

Names of students selected will be formally announced mid-December. Interested Arizona students should visit azed.gov/oci/ussyp/ or contact the Arizona selection administrator, Alexis Burkhart at 602-542-3309 or via email at alexis.burkhart@azed.gov.

The 2017 program brochure, which includes detailed rules, information about the selection process and the annual yearbook, may be accessed on the USSYP website at ussenateyouth.org.