Fifty Wyoming high school students will have the chance - for free - to spend a week in Washington, D.C., in a leadership program that teaches "democracy in action."

State Sen. John Barrasso, R-Casper, announced the scholarships Monday in the library at Kelly Walsh High School.

The program, Presidential Classroom, aims to take bright students with an interest in government and turn them into active citizens who participate in democracy and help shape the future of their own communities.

Students can apply for a variety of week-long programs focused on law, journalism, science, business and national security. The 50 winners will tour political and cultural institutions and spend time researching, debating and writing about the issues.

Speakers have included Dick Cheney, Antonin Scalia, Ralph Nader, Helen Thomas and Buzz Aldrin.

"It is your government just as much as it is mine," Sen. Craig Thomas told the Kelly Walsh students. "This is the citizens' government, and to make it that, we have to know something about it and be a part of it."

Barrasso had the opportunity to attend Presidential Classroom as a student decades ago, then volunteered with the organization while he was in school at Georgetown University. Today he is the chairman of the program's board of directors.

Barrasso said his son, now a college freshman, attended the Presidential Classroom and his daughter will attend this year. To help others attend, every year Barrasso gives a Presidential Classroom scholarship to one Wyoming Girls State representative.

This year, he wanted to make it available to more students, so he wrote a grant proposal to the Howard Charitable Foundation. The foundation gave $100,000 to pay the way for 50 Wyoming students. Barrasso said he will continue to look to charitable groups to sponsor scholarships in the future.

Some Kelly Walsh students said the program probably isn't for them, but others sounded excited.

"I think it's a good experience, and since there's a scholarship, it's a good incentive," said Michael Loveland, 18.

Jaryd Unangst said the scholarship was a good idea because it levels the field.

"That way it's all on merit," he said. He said he might apply. "It doesn't hurt to try."

Sen. Mike Enzi encouraged students to take the time to apply. He and Thomas said Wyoming students who are part of leadership programs frequently visit them at their Washington offices.

"When young people come to Washington their leadership talent is already showing," Enzi said. The programs only help that leadership grow, he said. "It's the greatest time you could possibly have in Washington, educationally as well as socially."

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.