DES MOINES – Two Iowa students have been selected to participate in the 56th annual United States Senate Youth Program to be held March 3-10 in Washington, D.C. Robert Nishimwe of Des Moines and Sibani Sri Ram of Dubuque were selected to be members of the 104-student delegation participating in Washington Week. The delegates were selected by a committee at the Iowa Department of Education. Robert attends North High School in Des Moines and is president of the National Honor Society. He is involved in numerous school and community leadership positions. He currently serves as the student member of the State Board of Education. He is the founding member of a group called Community of Racial Equity (CORE) at his high school. He also participates in Science Bound, Model UN, and several volunteer positions within his community.

Sibani attends Dubuque Senior High School and is chair of the State of Iowa Youth Advisory Council Education Committee. Sibani is involved in numerous school and community leadership positions. This includes Model United Nations and several community fundraising efforts such as Music and Memory, where she helped raise over $12,000. In addition, Sibani has won several awards for her writing, including the Iowa Juneteenth essay contest, being published in the Chicago Tribune as a young book critic, and winning the Iowa Reading Council State Poetry contest.

In addition to the all-expenses-paid program week, each delegate receives a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship with encouragement to continue coursework in government, history and public affairs.Each year, the program brings more than 100 of the most outstanding high school students – two from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity – to Washington, D.C. The goals of the program include deepening the understanding of America’s political process and strengthening the students’ resolve to pursue careers in public service.  In addition to outstanding leadership abilities and a strong commitment to volunteer work, the student delegates rank academically in the top 1 percent of their states among high school juniors and seniors.