Washington Students Selected for United States Senate Youth Program

Students Headed to Washington, D. C., and Set to Receive $10,000 Scholarship

January 13, 2025, Washington, D.C. —The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) is pleased to announce that high school students Ms. Ashlye Ruth Triebs and Ms. Ellie Xue will join Senator Patty Murray and Senator Maria Cantwell in representing Washington during the 63rd annual USSYP Washington Week, to be held March 1 - 8, 2025. Ashlye Triebs of Vancouver and Ellie Xue of Bellevue were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104 national student delegation that will attend meetings and briefings with senators, the president, a justice of the Supreme Court, leaders of cabinet agencies, and other officials throughout the week. Each delegate will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study.

In Washington state, AWSP administers the program. Through the Association of Washington Student Leaders (AWSL), AWSP sponsors the seven week-long High School Summer Leadership Camps for student body officers, class officers, and other student leaders.

The USSYP was founded in 1962 by the sons of William Randolph Hearst and the senate leadership of the day - Senators Kuchel, Mansfield, Dirksen and Humphrey - in response to the deep divisiveness and national anxiety following the McCarthy era. They outlined a plan to encourage America’s most talented young people to consider public service as an important, life-long, and noble pursuit, sponsoring Senate Resolution 324, which passed unanimously. As stated in founding testimony, the program strives “to increase young Americans’ understanding of the interrelationships of the three branches of government, learn the caliber and responsibilities of federally elected and appointed officials, and emphasize the vital importance of democratic decision making not only for America but for people around the world.”

Each year, this extremely competitive merit-based program provides two outstanding high school students from each state, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity with an intensive week-long study of the federal government and the people who lead it. Each student will also receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship with encouragement to continue coursework in government, history, and public affairs. The Hearst Foundations have fully funded the program since inception; as stipulated, no government funds are utilized (United States Senate Resolution 324).

Ashlye Triebs

Ashlye Triebs, a senior at Columbia River High School, serves as the director of Public Affairs for the Legislative Youth Advisory Council in the Washington state legislature. She is a Running Start student at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, and is involved with Key Club, National Honor Society, Link Crew, Diversity Equity Club, and Columbia River Television. She was a Yale Young Global Scholar and is a campus lead fellow with Fuse Washington. She enjoys reading, listening to music and cooking, and is passionate about youth civic engagement, immigration policy, and dismantling barriers to educational achievement. Ashlye plans to pursue a college degree in political science in to continue her involvement in policy and public service.

Ellie Xue

Ellie Xue, a junior at Interlake High School, serves as the co-president of the Associated Student Body. She serves on the Secretariat of Model United Nations Northwest (MUNNW) conferences, is a member of the Association of Washington Student Leaders, dissects policy problems as an analyst at Youth in Policy, participates in coding Olympiads such USACO, and is a part of school's LINK Crew. As a member of her school's band program, Ellie competes annually in the Washington Music Educators Association Solo and Ensemble competition and has won top honors, and she has conducted research to help younger students learn flute through accessible machine learning techniques. Ellie plans to double major in public policy and engineering in college, with a future goal of spearheading education and technology reform.

Chosen as alternates to the 2025 program were Ms. Varnika Bhargava, a resident of Redmond, who attends Redmond High School and Ms. Avery Roberson, a resident of Liberty Lake, who attends Central Valley High School.

Delegates and alternates are selected by the state departments of education nationwide and the District of Columbia and Department of Defense Education Activity, after nomination by teachers and principals. The chief state school officer for each jurisdiction confirms the final selection. This year’s Washington delegates and alternates were designated by Mr. Chris Reykdal, Superintendent of Public Instruction.

In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, the student delegates rank academically in the top one percent of their states among high school juniors and seniors. Now more than 6,200 strong, alumni of the program continue to excel and develop impressive qualities that are often directed toward public service. Among the many distinguished alumni are: Senator Susan Collins, the first alumnus to be elected U.S. senator; Secretary of Transportation and former Mayor of South Bend Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, the first alumnus to be appointed as a cabinet secretary; Representative Sarah McBride, the second alumnus to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; former Senator Cory Gardner, the second alumnus to be elected U.S. senator and the first to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the first alumnus to be elected governor.

Members of the U. S. Senate Youth Program 2025 annual Senate Advisory Committee are: Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the 2025 USSYP Republican Co-Chair and Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the 2025 USSYP Democratic Co-Chair. The full USSYP Senate Advisory Committee includes the vice president of the United States, the Senate majority and minority leaders, and four senators from each party who lend their names in support. Serving on the 2025 Advisory Committee: Senator Susan M. Collins of Maine, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota and Senator Peter Welch of Vermont.

For more information please visit: www.ussenateyouth.org