DeKalb Schools Student Selected For The U.S. Senate Youth Program

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — The Georgia Department of Education chose a DeKalb County Schools student as one of two delegates for the first-ever virtual 2021 United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP).

Zae Brewer, a senior at Lithonia High School, was selected as a delegate for the USSYP alongside Faith Kristen Townsend, a senior at Johnson High School in Hall County Schools, according to a GADOE news release Monday. The USSYP was created by Senate Resolution 324 in 1962, and has been sponsored by the Senate and fully funded by The Hearts Foundation since its inception.

Avery Fulmer of Hebron Christian Academy and Tiffany Pham of Elite Scholars Academy School were chosen as alternates.

“It is so important for our students to engage in activities that expand their civic knowledge and skills – after all, being a citizen is the one responsibility we all share,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said in the release. “I am extremely proud of these students who have been selected to represent Georgia through the United States Senate Youth Program, and know they will be outstanding ambassadors for our state.”

Each year, the USSYP brings two high-school students from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity to Washington, D.C. for an intensive, weeklong study of the federal government and the people who lead it. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 program will be virtual, the release said.

Brewer and Townsend will join a 104-student delegation and will each receive a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate study. In addition to leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, all USSYP student delegates rank academically in the top 1 percent of their state's high-school juniors and seniors, the release said.

Brewer serves as president of the student body at Lithonia High School. Throughout his years, he served as class president, class vice president and student representative.

Additionally, he has helped register his peers to vote, volunteered at phone banks for political candidates, held food and donation drives for underserved people and volunteered to help social causes, according to the news release.

After majoring in political science and possibly serving in the Armed Forces, Brewer hopes to become a federal government worker, small business owner and local political official, the release said. Brewer said he believes this opportunity will lead him to his dream and lifetime goal of becoming a U.S. senator from Georgia.