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Selection Process
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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 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, The Hearst Foundations must be notified in advance. Attendance during the Washington Week program is required to receive the financial scholarship; appropriate disposition of scholarship funds will be determined by the program director in the event of health or other emergency in the immediate family precluding attendance at program. 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 2012-2013 school year. A student who graduates high school at the close of the fall 2012 semester/quarter is not eligible to apply for the program.
Exceptions to the permanent residency requirement will only be made in the following cases:
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