Jenna Dosch/ViewSenior Kristen Kelley, head of the honors? club Loyola House at Bishop Gorman High School, 5959 S. Hualapai Way, will be going to Washington, D.C., the first week of March to be a Nevada delegate for the United States Senate Youth Program.
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Bishop Gorman High School senior Kristen Kelley was chosen to be a delegate to the 46th annual United States Senate Youth Program to be held March 1-8 in Washington, D.C. She will be part of a group of 104 students attending nationwide.
To be selected, applicants have to pass a history test and be in a leadership position within their school. There also is a required essay, application and letter of nomination from their principal required before students are rated by a panel of judges.
Lori Johnson, the Nevada state selection administrator, said kids who participate in this, historically, have a desire to go into professional politics.
While in the nation's capital, the delegates will study the federal government and the people who make it tick. Kelley will have dinner with Nevada's senators, John Ensign and Harry Reid, where the politicians will present Kelley with a $5,000 scholarship.
The students also will attend meetings with members of the senate, the president, a justice of the Supreme Court and an ambassador to the United States. Kelley said she hopes to gain a deeper respect for the people running this country after her experience, and she is looking forward to meeting with the justice of the Supreme Court.
"I don't know I could possibly take it all in in one week," Kelley said. "I'm really excited."
The Bishop Gorman student heard about the delegate program from Irene Anderson, director of the house system at her school.
"I took the bait," Kelley said.
Anderson was the one who administered Kelley's test for the United States Senate Youth Program, and said that the high school senior just knew things about government that most adults don't.
"It wasn't anything I could study for," Kelley said. "I heard about it and had to take the test the next day."
Although she plans on going to medical school, Kelley wants to take on a second major in college, which she said probably will be political science.
"I've always truly admired people who have strong opinions," Kelley said.
Bishop Gorman is divided into 10 houses, and each house has three captains who oversee their section. Kelley is one of the captains in the school's Loyola House. As captain she helps organize events within Loyola, create agendas for meetings and put together assemblies.
"She is one of the finest students I have ever had the pleasure of teaching," said Jay Bonar, Kristen's Advanced Placement government teacher.
Bonar also has taught Kelley's AP European history and AP American history classes at the Roman Catholic high school.
"She is the whole package, as far as a student," Bonar said. "She absolutely rises to any type of academic demand."
Bonar explained that it's not enough for Kelley just to complete an assignment and get a grade, she wants to understand everything thrown her way.
"Education and learning, that's what's important to Kristen," said Bonar, who has been teaching at the school for more than 18 years. "She's a teacher's dream."
Kelley, who lives in Summerlin, also volunteers her time as a writing mentor every day for an hour before and after school, is a member of Gorman's speech and debate club, and will be valedictorian when she graduates this spring.
The high school student also volunteers at University Medical Center in the patient transport department, and is the recipient of a Harvard Book Club award.
"She will definitely make her mark on this world," Bonar said.
The United States Senate Youth program is sponsored by the Senate and is fully funded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
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