Pueblo West senior to represent Colorado in U.S. Senate Youth Program in Washington, D.C.

Pueblo West High School senior Riya Singh will be one of two student delegates representing Colorado at the 2024 United States Senate Youth Program conference in Washington, D.C., from March 2 to March 9.

The program is a Senate-sponsored and Hearst Foundation-funded initiative that gives 104 students an all-expenses-paid, week-long trip to attend briefings and meetings with President Joe Biden, U.S. senators and other federal policymakers.

Participants in the United States Senate Youth Program also receive a $10,000 scholarship. Singh was designated, along with Siddharth Nareddy of Peak to Peak Charter School, a Colorado student delegate by state education commissioner Susana Cordova following a merit-based process.

"Especially coming from Pueblo, I think it's really cool being able to represent this part of the state and southern Colorado," Singh told the Chieftain.

Singh is a member of the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment's Youth Action Board and has served on the city of Pueblo's human relations coalition. She also has participated in the statewide Youth in Government education program and co-founded Southern Colorado Youth Go.

At Pueblo West High School, Singh is the Future Business Leaders of America president, captains the speech and debate team, and participates in Knowledge Bowl and mock trial.

Sheila Sloan, a debate coach and social studies teacher at Pueblo West, said Singh is academically among the top students she has taught in over 30 years of teaching. Sloan currently teaches Singh's comparative politics and history class.

"Singh has such a strong grasp of the history of Israel and Gaza, the history of Russia and Ukraine... As we're learning this history and then looking at the political ramifications — she's able to digest these concepts just incredibly," Sloan said.

Singh said she has wanted to apply for the United States Senate Youth Program since she was a middle school student at the Connect Charter School.

While Singh is fascinated by politics and said she may want to be involved in politics later in life, she plans on practicing immigration law after completing undergraduate studies at Brown University and attending law school.

"I'm just excited to learn more about federal government," Singh said. "I think I know quite a bit about how our city government functions and even how the state government functions, but I think it will be a really fun opportunity to just go out and be in D.C."

The United States Senate Youth Program began in 1962. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner are among the program's many notable alumni, according to a news release by the program.

"There's kind of a cliche about changing the world and I think that Riya has the capacity to change the world," Sloan said. "She is such a bright light."

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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at JBartolo@gannett.com. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo student picked for U.S. Senate Youth Program in Washington, D.C.