(FRANKFORT, KY) – Ashley Nicole Billiter, a senior at duPont Manual High School (Jefferson County), and Peter Monroe Jefferson, a senior at Henry Clay High School (Fayette County), will join Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul in representing Kentucky during the 63rd annual U.S. Senate Youth Program (USSYP) Washington Week, to be held March 1-8.
Billiter and Jefferson were selected from among the state’s top student leaders to be part of the 104-student delegation that will attend meetings and briefings with senators, the president, a justice of the Supreme Court, leaders of cabinet agencies and other officials throughout the week. Each delegate will also receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study.
The USSYP program, created by Senate Resolution 324 in 1962, is sponsored by the Senate and fully funded by The Hearst Foundations. The program brings the most outstanding high school students from around the nation to Washington, D.C., for an intensive weeklong study of the federal government and the people who lead it.
Each year, this extremely competitive merit-based program provides two outstanding high school students 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. The Hearst Foundations have fully funded the program since inception; as stipulated, no government funds are utilized.
Billiter serves as the president of her school’s chapter of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. A Kentucky Youth Assembly presiding officer and Student Y Council service vice chair, she plans and leads service programs for her school and state. For the past two years, she completed 100 hours of qualifying service for Y-Corps and traveled across the state with other students completing service projects, and this year, she is planning and leading the trip as a Y-Corps captain.
Billiter worked at a local elementary school for the past two summers to revitalize the student garden and taught experiential horticultural lessons. She is a member of the Executive Council and was elected leader in mock government programming within Kentucky Youth YMCA programs.
She is a National Merit semifinalist, obtained a perfect score on the ACT, is a Governor’s Scholar, a YMCA Youth Character Award recipient, and a member of Women in Science and Engineering and the National Honor Society. She is a camp counselor at Frazier History Museum, assistant children’s church librarian, captain of the varsity swim and dive teams, and a mentor and instructor on the community swim team.
Billiter plans to study engineering and public policy and attend law school.
Jefferson serves as the chair and appointed student representative of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Commissioner’s Student Advisory Council. He engages with global policy as secretary-general of the Model UN club, where he leads meetings, mentors members and organizes logistics for international conferences. As the Kentucky Student Voice Team’s voucher campaign coordinator, he collaborates with more than 100 students for education reform and advocacy, amplifying the voices of students across the Commonwealth.
Jefferson volunteers weekly at Kenwick Neighborhood Community Garden, providing free, fresh produce to his home community in Lexington. He serves as a leader in his high school’s Equity in Advanced Placement Mentoring program and works to advance equity for minorities in city-county government with the Urban League of Lexington. He is the president of his school’s National Honor Society, where he organizes local and city-wide community service projects. He was the 2024 Lexington Youth Leader of the Year and earned honorable delegate awards at the Yale and Washington area Model UN conferences.
Jefferson plans to pursue a degree in international affairs and global health.
Chosen as alternates to the 2025 program were OlaOluwakiitan “Kiitan” Mojolaoluwa Adedeji, who attends Lafayette High School (Fayette County), and Luisa Fernanda Sanchez-Almenarez, who attends Boyle County High School.
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.
For questions about your state’s delegates, alternates or state election process, contact Rosalind Turner. For general information about the U.S. Senate Youth Program, email Program Director Rayne Guilford or call (800) 425-3632.
Leave A Comment