Adelaide Poulson. (Sentinel Photo)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Sitka High School senior Adelaide Poulson has been selected for the U.S. Senate Youth Program, a national accolade that is accompanied by a collegiate scholarship.
Poulson is one of two Alaska students named to the program in which they will interface with Alaska’s senators and other influential figures, including President Biden, at an event in March.
Poulson said she’s eager for the chance to meet political figures from around the country.
“We’ll get to meet our senators, but we’re not really working for them or anything,” she explained. “Meeting the president is going to be super amazing, and every year they have different people come and present. And so we’re actually not sure who it’s going to be this year, but they generally choose one Supreme Court justice, a couple senators or important chairs in House committees.”
Formed in 1962, the Senate Youth Program selects two students from every state and Washington, D.C. for the honor.
The program website https://ussenateyouth.org/ gives this overview of the program:
“Student delegates will hear major policy addresses by senators, cabinet members, officials from the Departments of State and Defense and directors of other federal agencies, and they will hear from the president of the United States and a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition, each delegate will also be awarded a $10,000 college scholarship for undergraduate studies, with encouragement to pursue coursework in history and political science.”
Poulson plans to concentrate on human biology and a pre-medicine track at Brown University in Rhode Island this fall.
She first heard of the program shortly before the application window closed in late November.
“I’m the president of the National Honor Society so one of the things I usually do is find scholarship opportunities to share with the seniors,” Poulson said. “So I actually learned about it when I was looking for scholarships to share, and that very day my dad texted me and said ‘Hey Addie, here’s this program that I did something similar to when I was in high school, and I think you should apply.’”
She did, and on Jan. 13 her selection was announced.
Born and raised in Sitka, Poulson said she plans to ask Alaska’s U.S. senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan about environmental policy in Southeast Alaska.
“I would ask them about why they would like to repeal the Roadless Rule - they both were in support of getting rid of the Roadless Rule. And being interested in the environment, that’s something that I really care about and I think the Roadless Rule is really important,” Poulson said.
The 2001 Roadless Rule is a U.S. Department of Agriculture policy that prohibits most road building in designated roadless areas. The Trump administration exempted the Tongass National Forest from the rule in 2020, but the Biden Administration has announced plans to reinstate it.
While the program usually brings the high school delegates to Washington, because of the pandemic this year’s events are to be held virtually March 6-9.
“I definitely wish that I was going to D.C., but I understand that right now is probably not the best time for that, especially with Omicron. And so I totally understand their decision but I do think it would have been awesome to meet all these people in person,” she said.
“I first got interested in politics from my interest in the environment,” she said. “As a sophomore I joined a club called Youth for Sustainable Futures, which is completely student-run and actually not affiliated with the school, it’s all just high schoolers who are interested in working for the environment.”
During the 2020 election, she canvassed for Al Gross’ senate campaign.
“As a junior I worked for the Dr. Al Gross for U.S. Senate campaign and that also got me really interested, because my career goal is more in the medical field,” she said. “And that’s what Dr. Al Gross did and then he moved into politics and really advocated for affordable healthcare. That was a path that was really inspiring to me.”
Poulson knows Alaska’s other delegate for the program, Braxton Zink, of Ketchikan.
“I’m excited to work with my fellow delegate. Both of us are from Southeast… We’re both in Drama, Debate and Forensics together,” Poulson said. “I actually know him and one of the steps in the process is making the introductory video. They call it the roll call of states where you introduce your state and yourself. In the upcoming DDF meet… he’s going to be here and we’re going to make our introductory video together.”
