Grant County Press
GRANT COUNTY, W.Va. — The 62nd annual United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) is a nationwide effort that, following a rigorous selection process, chooses two high school students from every state to spend a week in Washington D.C., experiencing first-hand their national government in action.
According to the USSYP website, while at the capital, student delegates will hear major policy addresses by senators, cabinet members, officials from the Departments of State and Defense and directors of other federal agencies, as well as potentially participate in meetings with the president and a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
And this year, one of West Virginia’s representatives will be coming right here from Grant County.
Petersburg High School senior Bryson Riggleman was one of only two West Virginia students selected to participate in the program – an honor that also comes with a $10,000 scholarship provided by the The Hearst Foundations.. The selection process for USSYP is a lengthy one, with judges basing their selections on demonstrated leadership skills through roles in student government, education, public affairs or community service.
Riggleman first heard about the program through a friend and while he was immediately interested, he knew the program was highly competitive.
“Before I was even able to apply I had to fill out a pre-qualifying questionnaire to see if I even qualified to submit a full application,” Riggleman explained. “There was that moment in time when I didn’t even know if I would qualify, so during that time I was a little in the dark about if I would be able to move forward. But then Ms. Grago [the PHS counselor] came to me and asked if I would be interested and she helped narrow down what we had to get started for me to apply.”
From there, Riggleman completed and submitted his qualifying paperwork and was quickly invited to submit a full application to the program.
“I just kept moving forward,” Riggleman said. “I would complete one step at a time. I kept getting more involved and kept researching to make sure that I had the application as sound as it could be.”
Read more: https://www.grantcountypress.com/
