Two Arkansas high-school students heading to D.C. for US Senate Youth program

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Two Arkansas students will increase their understanding of national government after being named to a select U.S. Senate program.

The United States Senate Youth Program will place students Joshua Ofodile of Fayetteville and Brannon Sansom Price of Ashdown alongside Arkansas Senators Tom Cotton and John Boozman in Washington, D.C., for the first full week of March. The pair, selected from top Natural State student leaders, will be part of a 104-member national student delegation.

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Ofodile is a senior at Haas Hall Academy, serving as the student council vice president. He was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist, a United States Presidential Scholar candidate and an AP Scholar with Distinction.

Price is a senior at Ashdown High School and is also serving as the Student Council’s vice president and president of the National Honor Society. He was named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist and AP Scholar.

Ofodile and Price each hold leadership positions within school organizations and have academic marks in the top 1% of students in the state. They both intend to study political science in college.

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Claire Elizabeth Hudnell, a Hot Springs student who attends Lakeside High School, and Nora Sirila Shitandi of Springdale, who attends Har-Ber High School, were chosen as alternates.

Students are nominated to the program by teachers and principals, with final selection of the Arkansas students by Education Secretary Jacob Oliva.

The program, now in its 62nd year, gives students a focused week of studying the U.S. government process and its leaders. The intent is to give the student a deeper understanding of the American political process and a lifelong commitment to public service by attending meetings and briefings with senators, the president, a Supreme Court justice and leaders of cabinet agencies.

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The program is funded by the Hearst Foundation, which will also provide a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate studies to each delegation member. The foundation also funds expenses during the week for students. No government funds are used in the program.

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