Students leaders in high school are often leaders in their career fields and communities as adults. Because of this, many educators say they find great significance in teaching because they are training tomorrow’s leaders. Seeing teenagers already working to better their world only furthers that sentiment.
Katherine Sanders is a junior at Batesville High School. She has already proven her leadership qualities to her school and community, and next month she will join 103 other students in the United States Senate Youth Program to learn from high-ranking members of each branch of government.
“We are almost definitely going to see at least one Supreme Court justice, talk to some of the senators from our state — there’s a ball where senators from different states attend — and hopefully, if it works in the schedule, we’ll get to meet the president,” Sanders said.
The United States Senate Youth Program started in 1962 and is fully funded by The Hearst Foundations as part of their efforts to prepare young people for leadership.
Each year, two students from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity are chosen to participate in the program. These high school juniors and seniors will spend a week in Washington, D.C.
Sanders was chosen to participate as one of the two delegates from Arkansas this year, and her resume gives a glimpse into why she was picked. She is the vice president of Batesville High School’s Student Council, the Key Club and the Science Club, and she is involved in the Christian Club at school. She also volunteers outside of school and participates in extracurricular activities ilike sports and music.
Principals throughout the state submitted a nomination from their schools; then the Arkansas Department of Education decided on eight semifinalists.
“Those semifinalists had to take a test, write an essay and go to an interview,” Sanders said. “The interview is kind of suspenseful, but after a couple weeks, they announce the two who are going to Washington and two alternates.”
Sanders said she has already started learning from the other 103 delegates through online discussions. One benefit to the program, she said, is that she is getting a chance to learn what kinds of things are important to students in different parts of the country.
“It’s a way for us to meet other people who don’t necessarily match our background,” she said. “That way, we can learn about transportation and education concerns, for example, from our peers, as well as national leaders. On our Facebook page, people were talking about transportation policy, what people thought about the State of the Union address, how we think standardized testing is in America. I think we’ll be able to learn just as much from each other as we learn from the people who make all of this stuff work.”
Former program participants who have continued in public service include U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the first program delegate elected to the Senate; New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie; U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado; former Chief Judge Robert Henry of the U.S. Court of Appeals; former Ambassador to West Germany Richard Burt; and former presidential advisers Thomas “Mack” McLarty and Karl Rove.
Sanders said she may not go into politics, but she is focused on making a positive impact on her city and state throughout her life.
“I want to be an active member of my community,” she said. “When I grow up — right now, at least — I would like to go into medicine or research, and I would like to be able to push legislation for those fields if needed.”
Throughout the week, the student delegates will be mentored by military personnel who will offer insight and guidance as the students go from meeting to meeting.
“They are officers who are in medicine, chemists,” she said. “There are pilots and people from every branch of the military. From what I’ve heard, they help support us and help us learn how to make an impact on the world through serving our country.”
Sanders will be in Washington, D.C., on March 7-14 to take part in the United States Senate Youth Program Washington Week.
Staff writer Angela Spencer can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or aspencer@arkansasonline.com.