The United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) recently announced Ira Sharma, senior at White Station High School in Memphis, as a recipient for the USSYP, among another Tennessee high school student, Carlton Smith Madison III, of Nashville. Ira and Carlton will join Senator Marsha Blackburn and Senator Bill Hagerty in representing Tennessee during the 62nd annual USSYP Washington Week, held March 2 - 9, 2024.
Each year, the merit-based program provides the most outstanding high school students — two from each state, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Education Activity — with an intensive week-long study of the federal government and the people who lead it. USSYP’s mission is to help instill within each class of its student delegates more profound knowledge of the American political process and lifelong commitment to public service. During the program week, student delegates will attend meetings and briefings with senators, the president, a justice of the Supreme Court, and leaders of cabinet agencies, among others.
I'm thrilled and honored to represent my hometown and my state at Washington Week,” says Ira Sharma. “I'm especially excited to meet talented student leaders from across the country and begin to shape my future career in public service.”
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. The impetus for the program as stated in Senate testimony includes: to increase young Americans’ understanding of the interrelationships of the three branches of government, learn the caliber and responsibilities of federally elected and appointed officials, and emphasize the vital importance of democratic decision making not only for America but for people around the world.
Ira serves as the communications co-chair of the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), and is the youngest elected executive team member in MICAH organizational history, and a student organizer passionate about systemic change through collective action. Through the MICAH Youth Council (MYC), she has led a youth campaign for gun violence legislation at Tennessee's Special Legislative Session in August 2023, garnering the petition support of over 500 Tennesseans and State Representative Justin Pearson. As a co-founder of the Memphis-based youth nonprofit, Young Women Against Injustice, she organized a voter registration drive and a menstrual products donation drive for a local juvenile detention center. She explores her passion for public policy and law through student essay contests and leading her school's debate team. She is an Americans United Student essay contest awardee for her writing on Kennedy v. Bremerton, and she represented Memphis in the National Association of Urban Debate Leagues Tournament in 2022. Ira serves as the co-president of her school’s cultural inclusion club and as a 2023 United States youth ambassador to Ecuador.
I am so very proud of Ira and her selection to the USSYP,” says Carrye Holland, principal at White Station High School. “Ira is a shining example of what we want all of our students to be. As a principal, it is so powerful to see a student such as Ira doing the work and then to see that same student be recognized at the highest level for what she has done. The best part is that in addition to being a scholar who does so much to impact her community in a positive way, Ira is an outstanding human being. Her selection to the program only emphasizes what we already know: that she is ready to take on the world and truly be the change she wishes to see.”
In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, student delegates rank academically in the top one percent of their states among high school juniors and seniors. Delegates are selected by the state departments of education nationwide and the District of Columbia and Department of Defense Education Activity, following nomination by teachers and principals. The chief state school officer for each jurisdiction confirms the final selection. This year’s Tennessee delegates and alternates were designated by Commissioner of Education Lizzette Reynolds.
To learn more about the United States Senate Youth Program, visit ussenateyouth.org.