YOUTH PROGRAM canceled.

2 from state among 104 who were to meet with leaders

WASHINGTON — This year’s U.S. Senate Youth Program’s Washington Week has been canceled, laid low by the new and deadly coronavirus.

As a result, 104 students are missing their chance to meet with leaders of the nation’s executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Two student delegates from Arkansas were scheduled to participate in this week’s 58th annual gathering.

But organizers shut the event down late last week, citing the “rapidly evolving” public health crisis.

Muskaan Arshad, a junior at Bentonville West High School in Centerton and one of Arkansas’ two representatives, said the cancellation was unfortunate but understandable.

“It was going to be such an amazing trip,” she said.

Instead of visiting Capitol Hill, meeting a Supreme Court justice, hearing from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and possibly meeting President Donald Trump, Muskaan, 17, returned to class in Bentonville this week.

In an interview Wednesday, she credited organizers with making the right call.

“[The coronavirus] has progressed so quickly and I think this was needed,” she said. “Obviously I’m sad and disappointed, but if it saves people’s lives, then that’s what they had to do.”

Since it was launched by the U.S. Senate in 1962, the program’s Washington Week has only been canceled one other time, according to Rayne Guilford, the program’s director.

Desert Storm, the first Iraq war, derailed the gathering in 1991.

In an interview, Guilford portrayed this year’s cancellation as difficult but necessary.

The risks posed by the virus and by potential travel disruptions couldn’t be overlooked, she said.

“It’s just a shame,” she said. “You never want to disappoint a kid like this. The students worked so hard for this.”

The process is highly competitive. Only two students from each state are selected for the program, she noted, along with representatives of the District of Columbia and Department of Defense-related educational programs.

(Hue Anh Cao, a senior at Bentonville High School, would have been the other delegate from the Natural State. She did not respond to a request for comment.)

The screening process in Arkansas is lengthy.

Applicants filled out an application, wrote essays, turned in transcripts and submitted their college entrance exam scores, Muskaan said. The top contenders are interviewed in Little Rock and must complete a lengthy examination.

There’s plenty to study and memorize, she said.

“You have to know political leaders from across the world, you need to know state politics, you have to know all the amendments in the Constitution, major Supreme Court cases,” she said.

Winners are awarded the trip to Washington as well as a $10,000 scholarship.

It won’t be possible to reschedule this year’s program, Guilford said. But participants will still receive their scholarships, she noted.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, who has welcomed past participants to Washington, said the cancellation was regrettable.

“I’m sad for the students,” the Republican from Rogers said. “These are young people that have worked hard [and] achieved a lot. Hopefully, some way we can make that up to them.”

Muskaan, the daughter of Arshad Arshad and Renu Arshad of Bentonville, is pleased to have the scholarship.

The top schools on her list are Harvard, Yale and Princeton, she said.

Muskaan, who immigrated to the United States when she was 5 years old, plans to become a U.S. citizen later this year.

Eventually, she said, she’d like to pursue a career in politics or journalism.