Aiken High Senior Selected for South Carolina Spot in U.S. Senate Youth Program

Aiken High's senior Carson Colmer will travel to Washington, D.C., as one of two of South Carolina's representatives for the U.S. Senate Youth Program. The honor comes with a $10,000 undergraduate college scholarship and an invitation to the State of the Union Address.

“I was jumping up and down,” Colmer told the Augusta Standard about his receiving the news. “It was cool.”

Beginning March 1, 2025, Colmer will join 104 student leaders for a week of activities. They'll meet with the president, talk with senators, and spend time with a Supreme Court justice.

Students went through intense competition over several rounds. They wrote essays, created presentations, and submitted video entries. After cutting down the pool, officials interviewed 10 finalists with backgrounds in education and government.

Even with Hurricane Helene making it hard to reach study locations and testing sites, this committed student persevered. Between serving as senior class president and leading two sports teams, the work was completed.

Colmer is dual enrolled at USC Aiken and Aiken Technical College, taking calculus, engineering, and coding classes. Flight lessons fill the time between Beta Club meetings and National Honor Society duties. The military holds strong appeal — he's applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.