Hegseth Welcomes U.S. Senate Youth Delegates, Mentors to Pentagon

View Online Hegseth Welcomes U.S. Senate Youth Delegates, Mentors to Pentagon March 7, 2025 | By Matthew Olay Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today welcomed student delegates and their military officer mentors from the 63rd United States Senate Youth Program to the Pentagon, capping off a weeklong visit to Washington.   Created in 1962 by Senate Resolution 324, the USSYP annually brings 104 high-achieving high school students — two from every state, Washington and the Department of Defense Education Activity — and their 17 U.S. military officer mentors to the nation's capital. The students spend an intensive week learning about the federal government and those who lead it.  Hegseth greeted the students and mentors shortly after they arrived at the Pentagon Library and Conference Center.  "I congratulate you all for being here, and I thank the members of the military who support the program as well, continuing to give back in uniform demonstrating what that kind of leadership looks like so that everybody here sees what that pathway looks like," Hegseth told the room full of student delegates and their mentors.  He added that there are several other paths to service beyond the military, and he believed the many people in the room would one day be leaders at the state, national and international levels.  "That's important, but build the building blocks of who you are, what you believe what's most important to you first, because that core is what will provide the foundation for any other kind of service that you ," Hegseth said.  Alliyah Regala, a senior student council president at EJ King Middle High School on U.S. Fleet Activities, Sasebo, Japan, said that seeing leaders like Hegseth and others in person during the week helped her to more thoroughly humanize those public officials beyond how they are portrayed in the media.  "Seeing in person made me realize that … he's just another American who loves his country and wants to continue to serve his country," Regala said, adding that, despite any differences she might have with Hegseth or other public figures, she appreciates the common ground of service to the American people that they all share.  Emily Wheeler, a junior and music honor society president at Stuttgart High School in Germany, shared a similar sentiment.  She said you can hear "a lot of divisive opinions," and it's likely a really hard job to be secretary of such a diverse department with so many different people.

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