A State College Area High School junior will travel to Washington, D.C. in March as one of two Pennsylvania delegates to the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP).
Claire Chi will be among the 104 youth leaders attending the USSYP’s Washington Week program March 4-11, where they will attend meetings and briefings with President Joe Biden, senators and a Supreme Court justice. Created in 1962, the USSYP annually selects two of the most outstanding students from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense education system for an intensive weeklong study of the federal government and the people who lead it. Students are chosen through a competitive selection process held by state departments of education.
The mission of the program “is to help instill within each class of USSYP student delegates more profound knowledge of the American political process and a lifelong commitment to public service,” according to the USSYP.
Each participating student receives a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship funded by the Hearst Foundations, which also provides for all Washington Week expenses.
“As a Pennsylvania delegate, I am very excited to meet with President Biden at the White House, tour the U.S. Supreme Court with a Supreme Court justice, and talk with Senator [Bob] Casey about public service and leadership,” Chi said in a statement. “I also look forward to meeting the other state delegates, who are the nation’s best student leaders and serve as an inspiration for young changemakers everywhere.”
Chi will be joined by Aditi Mangal, a senior at Spring-Ford Area High School in Montgomery County, as Pennsylvania’s delegates.
The USSYP provides opportunities for the nation’s highest achieving students, and Chi certainly fits that bill.
She was selected last July as high school representative to the Pennsylvania State Board of Education, where she plays an active role helping address education issues and develop policies and best practices. She is also the co-director of the Students for Education in Pennsylvania organization, which connects student representatives from more than 50 school districts to education policymakers.
Chi founded her own nonprofit organization, Dancing Against Hunger, to promote accessibility to the performing arts and alleviate food insecurity in schools.
She is a member of the State High Leadership Council, captain of the Public Forum Debate Team, was named a top 10 speaker in the 2021 National Symposium for Debate Tournament, interned for the Smithsonian Institute, was awarded two scholarships from the American Association of University Women, received the Junior Anthropologist Award of the American Anthropological Association and is a TedxPSU 2023 speaker.
She intends to study anthropology and public policy specializing in education and nonprofit leadership.
‘In my continued work with Claire, I have found her to be an open-minded, responsible, and intelligent student who enjoys challenges and advocating for the rights of all students. She exemplifies everything positive at our school,” State High Principal Laura Tobias said in a statement. “As a public speaker and advocate, Claire has learned to listen to more broadly represented populations as a prerequisite to resolution.
“Her role at the most recent July State Board Meeting has urged her to consider changes to the current academic standards of health education, where important topics, including the opioid crisis, teenage vaping, and critical decision-making, are not reflected in the status quo. Claire Chi must be at the forefront of public policy and education reform, which will positively impact our real world.”
