Two Mississippi students – William Crosby Parker II, a senior at Gulfport High School, and Nial Chen, a senior at Ocean Springs High School, – have been selected for the United States Senate Youth Program (USSYP) and will join Sen. Roger Wicker and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in representing the state during the 64th annual USSYP Washington Week from March 7-14.
Crosby and Nial were selected from among the state’s top student leaders. They will join 104 outstanding high school students – two from each state, the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity – for an intensive week-long study of the federal government, meeting with Senators, the President, a Supreme Court Justice and other high-level officials. Each student will receive a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship and be encouraged to continue coursework in government, history and public affairs.
About the USSYP Delegates:
William Crosby Parker II, senior at Gulfport High School (Photo courtesy of Gulfport High School)
Crosby Parker serves as the senior student representative to the Mississippi State Board of Education. He founded the Gulfport IMPACT Mentorship Program where he organizes high school student leaders and pairs them with at-risk youth from local elementary schools to decrease youth violence. This idea stemmed from another program he founded: the Boys and Girls Club Summer Robotics Program. Through this program, Crosby has utilized his love of robotics in service to nonprofits. The program started in 2022 and has grown from having a couple of students in a small room to services in three separate locations. Crosby is captain of the school’s golf and cross country teams. He plans to conduct artificial intelligence (AI) research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he hopes to facilitate ethical use of AI in our nation. He received an Air Force ROTC scholarship and plans to join the military to develop a career of service.
Nial Chen, Ocean Springs High School senior, pictured with Principal Jacob Dykes (left) and Career Center Counselor Dorothy Cannon (right). (Photo courtesy of Ocean Springs School District)
Nial Chen is the senior class president at Ocean Springs High School. He is passionate about law and public policy, having recently interned for the law offices of Alwyn H. Luckey, where he conducted historical research on school integration efforts in Ocean Springs. He is a former intern at Jason Graeber Law, where he supported staff with legal research related to bankruptcy and consumer warranty and drafted letters of complaint for clients involved in lemon law disputes. He serves as the Communications Director for the city’s Mayor’s Youth Council and is a member of the Secretary of State Ambassadors. He is involved in the high school tennis team, the Superintendent Advisory Council and National Honor Society. His academic honors include AP Scholar with Distinction, National Top School Recognition, National First-General Recognition, National Rural and Small Town Recognition and is a contender for the National Merit Scholarship. Beyond school, Nial leads an initiative providing free lessons in vocabulary, grammar, and American culture to first-generation Chinese students and is a former Boys State attendee. He plans to pursue a double major in public policy and Chinese and later attend law school.
Chosen as alternates to the 2026 program were Jasmaan S. Banipal of Madison, who attends the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science, and Price Jude Denham of Hattiesburg, who attends Oak Grove High School.
About the United States Senate Youth Program
The USSYP is a competitive, merit-based program created by Senate Resolution 324 in 1962 by the sons of William Randolph Hearst and the Senate leadership of the day – Senators Kuchel, Mansfield, Dirksen, and Humphrey. The USSYP is designed to encourage America’s most-talented young people to consider public service as an important, lifelong, and noble pursuit. The Hearst Foundations have fully funded the program since inception and no government funds are utilized.
For more information, visit ussenateyouth.org.
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