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DeSoto & Madison County Youths Will Represent State, Receive $10,000 Scholarships
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today congratulated Bobby Current of Olive Branch and Alex Stradinger of Ridgeland on their selection to represent Mississippi at the 58th annual United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP).
Current and Stradinger will join Wicker and Hyde-Smith as part of their participation in the 2020 USSYP Washington Week, March 7-14, in Washington, D.C. Each will also receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship from the non-profit Hearst Foundations, which funds the program.
“I commend Bobby and Alex on their selection to the U.S. Senate Youth Program and look forward to welcoming them to Washington,” Wicker said. “This event will feature exceptional high school students from every state, and I am confident they will represent Mississippi well.”
“Bobby and Alex have established themselves as young leaders who are well-suited to represent our state and benefit from the opportunities offered by the Senate Youth Program,” Hyde-Smith said. “I congratulate them and look forward to visiting with them this spring.”
The USSYP Washington Week will include 104 student delegates from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity. USSYP participants will have meetings and briefings with Senators, congressional staff, the President, a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, federal agencies, the diplomatic corps, and the media.
Current, a Lewisburg High School senior, is a Student Council representative, and the president of the Creative Writing Club, Debate Club, and Equality Club. He is an active member of the National Honor Society and the National English Honor Society. Current was also elected governor at the Mississippi American Legion’s Boys State last summer.
Stradinger, a senior at Jackson Preparatory School, serves as Student Council president and as the youth governor for the Mississippi Youth Legislature. A member of the Cum Laude Society, Stradinger is the creator/director of the “Why Mississippi?” research project designed to spread awareness of the state’s culture and notable people.
Mississippi’s alternates to the 2020 program are Shawn Christian Andrew of Southaven and Kenning Elise Bridges of Florence.
The Mississippi Superintendent of Education, Dr. Carey Wright, designated the Mississippi delegates and alternates from students nominated by teachers and principals.
The USSYP was created by Senate Resolution 324 in 1962 and has been sponsored by the Senate and fully funded by The Hearst Foundations since its inception. No government funds are used.
Wicker is currently a member of the Senate Advisory Committee for the USSYP program.
