At the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, 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, at https://ussenateyouth.org/selection_process_qualify/). 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.
Qualified junior or senior high school students must show demonstrated leadership through public service in elected or appointed positions where they are actively representing a constituency in organizations that relate to government, public affairs, history and / or community service. They must be actively serving in qualified leadership positions, enrolled in high school and living in the state they will represent for the entire 2017 – 2018 academic year.
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. The Hearst Foundations will provide $1,000 to each state-level department of education to assist with the selection expenses 
for the program, and will provide a rigorous public affairs examination that states may use in the selection process.
The DoDEA central administrative office will 
select the DoDEA delegates and alternates residing overseas. Military dependents who 
reside and attend schools in the U.S. shall apply for the program under the RESIDENCY ruling shown below, and represent the state in which they currently reside.
Alternate delegates will be selected as replacements if 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 a primary delegate is unable to attend the program due 
to emergency circumstances.
Selection will be based on the student’s outstanding abilities and demonstrated qualities of leadership in an elected or appointed high school student office for the entire 2017-2018 school year. A student who graduates high school at the close of the fall 2017 semester / quarter is not eligible to apply for the program, and students other than DoDEA delegates must be residing in the U.S. during the 2017- 2018 academic to participate.
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 actively serving in an elected or appointed capacity in any one of the following student government, civic or educational organizations during the entire 2017-2018 school year:
Student Body president, vice president, secretary or treasurer
Class president, vice president, secretary 
or treasurer
Student Council representative
National honor Society officer
Student representative elected or appointed (appointed by a panel, commission or board) 
to a local, district, regional or state-level 
civic, service and/or educational organization approved by the state selection administrator.
Participation or holding an officer position in academic clubs and / or educational competition programs / conferences do not qualify a student for the USSYP, although many students who qualify participate in such.
Read more at https://ussenateyouth.org/selection_process_qualify/