U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program

2025 USSYP Arizona Recipients

The Arizona Delegates this year are Cameron Mirmelli and Sophia Lin:

Cameron Mirmelli, a senior at BASIS Scottsdale, has long championed the promotion of civil discourse in her community. She has founded The Purple Lining, an online platform for young advocates to engage collaboratively with the public and is actively working with the Cato Institute to develop high school curricula aimed at fostering productive dialogue. Outside of civil discourse, Cameron serves as a Youth Director of the PACE Foundation (a nonprofit organization focused on Pediatric Autoimmune Neurological Syndrome (PANS) research), as well as works on multiple projects which leverage technology for social change. For instance, she has designed two additional websites: RISE Speakers—a free platform with public speaking resources—and is building a quantitative model to measure classroom polarization. Within her school community, she also occupies a variety of leadership roles, such as the founder of Speakers of Tomorrow (a middle school public speaking club that has served over 100 students), Spanish Honor Society President, and Captain of her high school’s mock trial and basketball teams. In addition to her leadership positions, she has been recognized for a variety of awards such as the 2024 Girls Nation President and a Rising Leader for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Sophia Lin, a senior at BASIS Scottsdale, serves as the vice chair of the Arizona State Board of Education Student Advisory Panel. She is the vice president of the Arizona Governor’s Youth Commission (GYC), and an executive board member and former co-chair of the GYC Education Workgroup. She is also the inaugural president of the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools Student Advisory Council. As a student advisor, Sophia represents 1+ million Arizona students to improve education quality. She oversees GYC’s internal operations and provides mentorship to workgroup leads. Sophia has co-hosted three college preparatory webinars reaching thousands of students in all 15 Arizona counties, with focus on the FAFSA, Financial Aid, and Career and Technical Education. Additionally, Sophia serves as the president of Scottsdale Mayor’s Youth Council and Youth Coordinator for the Arizona Commission on the Arts Youth Arts Council. She is the 2024 National Voice of Democracy audio-essay Champion out of over 25,000 entries, and a National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Semifinalist and Auto-qualifier. As a public speaker, artist, writer, nonprofit founder, and researcher, she aspires to use various art forms and authentic voices to amplify education equality and social justice concerns while finding solutions.