HOW TO APPLY

Entering high school juniors and seniors may obtain a USSYP application through their high school principals, guidance counselors and social studies teachers OR they may inquire directly to their state selection contacts using this website (see selection contacts listing on home page). All student delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program are selected by state-level education officials – the United States Senate and The Hearst Foundations do not provide individual states’ applications or choose the delegates and alternates.

USSYP Selection Process – How to Qualify

Two student delegates and a first and second alternate will be selected from each state and the District of Columbia by the Chief State School Officer in each state. The Hearst Foundations will provide $1,000 to each state-level department of education to assist with the selection expenses for the program. In addition, The Hearst Foundations provide a rigorous public affairs examination that states may use as part of the selection process. The office of the Department of Defense Education Activity, Washington, D. C., will be responsible for the selection and confirmation of DoDEA delegates and alternates. Military dependents who reside and attend schools in the United States may apply for the program under the PERMANENT RESIDENT ruling as shown below.

Alternate delegates will be selected as replacements in the event a primary delegate is unable to participate in Washington Week. If the primary delegate is unable to attend Washington Week, The Hearst Foundations must be notified in advance. Appropriate disposition of scholarship funds will be determined by the Program Director.

Selection will be based solely on the students' outstanding abilities and demonstrated qualities of leadership in an elected or appointed high school student office for the 2008-2009 school year. A student who graduates high school at the close of the fall 2008 semester/quarter is not eligible to apply for the program.

  1. Any high school junior or senior student is eligible for the program provided he or she has not previously been a delegate to Washington Week and has not received a USSYP scholarship. The student is required to be currently serving in an elected or appointed capacity in any one of the following student government, civic or educational organizations:
    1. Student Body President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer
    2. Class President, Vice President, Secretary or Treasurer
    3. Student Council Representative
    4. Student representative elected or appointed (appointed by a panel, commission or board) to district, regional or state-level civic or educational organization.
  2. Each student must be a PERMANENT RESIDENT of the United States and currently enrolled in a public or private secondary school located in the state (including for these purposes the District of Columbia) in which either one of his or her parents or guardians legally resides. A student attending a school which is located in a state other than the state of legal residence of either one of such student's parents or guardians is not eligible.

Exceptions to the permanent residency requirement will only be made in the following cases:

  1. Students from Department of Defense Education Activity will represent the state(s) of which the parents/guardians are U.S. legal voting residents.
  2. Interstate Compacts (by Congressional mandate) presently exist between New Hampshire-Maine and New Hampshire-Vermont, authorizing school districts to legally cross state borders. Students in these schools are eligible to make an application for this program only through the states where the schools are located.