Senior selected for Senate Youth Program
Downingtown, Warminster students chosen as alternates
Spring-Ford Area High School senior Aditi Mangal has been selected as one of only two students to represent Pennsylvania as a delegate to the 61st annual United States Senate Youth Program and will join Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman for the 104-student delegation.
Chosen as alternates to the 2023 program were Yaduraj Pradeep Choudhary, a resident of Downingtown, who attends Downingtown STEM Academy and Edan Tae Hee Lee Kauer, a resident of Warminster, who attends Council Rock South High School.
The impetus for the program began in 1962 is “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.”
Each year this extremely competitive 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 weeklong study of the federal government and the people who lead it.
The Hearst Foundations provide each student with a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship with encouragement to continue coursework in government, history and public affairs.
All expenses for Washington week are also provided by The Hearst Foundations, no government funds are utilized.
The overall mission of the program is to help instill within each class of USSYP student delegates more profound knowledge of the American political process and a lifelong commitment to public service.
Mangal is a Rotary District Speech Competition finalist and regional champion, recipient of the Gold Presidential Volunteer award and Pennsylvania state citation. She is also an AP Scholar with Distinction and recipient of the Pennsylvania Merit Award.
She is the managing editor of the Rampage, the school newspaper, debate team officer, serves as a Student Representative on the Spring-Ford School Board, is a violinist in the honors orchestra ensemble and a district ambassador. Mangal serves as a second-degree black belt assistant instructor in martial arts, and tutors students through her own 501(c)3: InstantSmile.
Outside of school, Mangal is on the leadership council of the state chapter of Chief Science Officers, is an intern with Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth, D-44th Dist., a Red Cross disaster responder, and a student ambassador to the task force of U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D4th Dist.
She plans on concentrating on anthropology with a minor in philosophy to support a future career rooted in public service and law.
“I am honored to be one of two delegates selected from the entire state of Pennsylvania to be a part of the USSYP Program. I will be among the 104 youth leaders attending the USSYP’s Washington Week program March 4-11, where I will attend meetings and briefings with President Joe Biden, senators and a Supreme Court justice,” Mangal wrote in a note to MediaNews Group sharing the news.
Delegates and alternates are selected by the state departments of education nationwide and the District of Columbia and Department of Defense Education Activity, after nomination by teachers and principals. The chief state school officer for each jurisdiction confirms the final selection. This year’s Pennsylvania delegates and alternates were designated by Eric Hagarty, Secretary of Education.
In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, the student delegates rank academically in the top one percent of their states among high school juniors and seniors.
Now more than 6,000 strong, alumni of the program continue to excel and develop impressive qualities that are often directed toward public service. Among the many distinguished alumni are: Senator Susan Collins, the first alumnus to be elected U.S. senator; Secretary of Transportation and former Mayor of South Bend Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, the first alumnus to be appointed as a cabinet secretary; former Senator Cory Gardner, the second alumnus to be elected U.S. senator and the first to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the first alumnus to be elected governor; former Chief Judge Robert Henry, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; former Ambassador to West Germany Richard Burt, former presidential advisors Thomas “Mack” McLarty and Karl Rove.