Anna Grace Dean of Centerton and Jax Grayson Nalley of Springdale are among 104 high school students nationally selected to participate in the 59th annual U.S. Senate Youth Program.
Dean and Nalley, who will each receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study, will join Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton in representing Arkansas in the program's virtual, interactive Washington Week event to be held March 14-17.
The U.S. Senate Youth Program was established to honor top student leaders from each state. It was created in 1962 and has been sponsored by the Senate and fully funded by The Hearst Foundations since inception.
Dean, a senior at Bentonville West High School, serves as the president of the Student Council. She is an Advanced Placement Scholar, debate team captain, Model United Nation's chapter president, National Honor Society vice president, and founder/former president of her school's National Teenage Republicans. She is chair of both Boozman's Senate Youth Cabinet and the Bentonville Mayor's Youth Council.
Her volunteer activities include founding the nonprofit, LOUDwomen, INC., which offers debate initiatives and education equity programs. She is also the founder and director of a youth debate forum to expand debate education to students in grades five through eight. She plans to attend law school in advance of a career in politics.
Nalley is a senior at Har-Ber High School. He serves as vice president of the National Honor Society and the Senior Class. He is also the Arkansas DECA vice president of Career Development, an organization focused on business and entrepreneurship. He is the founding executive director of the Springdale Student Forum, which provides students a way to share concerns with district leadership.
He has received the Arkansas Seal of Biliteracy, with certification in Spanish, French and German. He is an AP Scholar and a National Merit Scholar semifinalist. He is a bilingual legal volunteer for Arkansas United, helping families apply for citizenship, DACA, and translating legal documents for applications, and plans to pursue a degree in public policy with the goal of working in the field of educational policy.
Chosen as alternates to the 2021 program were Ian Thompson, a resident of Clinton, who attends Clinton High School, and Emma Robbins, a resident of Rogers, who attends Rogers Heritage High School.