May 2018 | Vol. 4 Iss. 05
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MEET KATE DE GROOTE: AWARDED $10,000 SCHOLARSHIP AT NATION’S SENATE PROGRAM By Travis Barton | travis@mycityjournals.com
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arbara De Groote remembers what her daughter Kate De Groote said after returning from the weeklong United States Senate Youth Program in Washington, D.C.: “That was the greatest week of my life.” West Valley resident Barbara then recalled telling Kate, “‘Do you know how many times you have told me that with the experiences you’ve had? That’s a pretty good young life to have already told me that many times.’ She’s just had these experiences that have been fantastic in many different areas.” That’s because Kate is no ordinary teenager. A cursory Google search of the Skyline High junior reveals various news reports about her academic exploits: She was awarded the 2017 Billy Michal Student Leadership Award in New Orleans in June 2017; she collected and delivered 3,500 books to the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona; she won the state’s National History Day competition for individual performance while at Churchill Jr. High before going on to nationals (also in Washington, D.C.); and is the vice mayor of the West Valley City Youth Council. Washington, D.C. Kate, and James Madsen of Bountiful, represented Utah at the 56th annual United States Senate Youth Program in Washington, D.C. in March. The two were chosen as top student leaders joining the other 102 student delegates from around the nation. They also received $10,000 scholarships. The weeklong program falls under Kate’s burgeoning category of life’s “greatest weeks.” “It’s almost impossible to put the experience and what I learned into words,” she said in an interview a few weeks after returning. She will have to. Each delegate is required to write an essay about the experience.
Kate De Groote and James Madsen take a photo with Utah Senator Mike Lee during the United States Senate Youth Program in March. (Photo by Jakob Mosur)
Days were “jam packed” for the delegates, Kate said. In no small order, the week included hearing from various senators such as Tim Scott (South Carolina) and Angus King (Maine), a national archivist, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Canadian Ambassador to the United States David MacNaughton and a 30-minute conversation with Utah’s Senator Mike Lee. She also visited The Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery, the Newseum, the Capitol and the White House where she
met President Donald Trump. “It was just an amazing experience because we were able to go behind the scenes at so many places and really get to have a firsthand experience as to how government works and hear from these leaders that a lot of us look up to,” Kate said. One of Kate’s more surreal moments was seeing top Somalian officials while staying at the Mayflower Hotel. They were there at the same time as the Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed. ...Continued on page 6