A student from Alta High School was selected to attend the 2009 Congressional Academy.

Of the more than 570 applicants who applied, Alyssa Rosenthal was one of two high school juniors from each state selected to participate in the academy.

The Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio, coordinated the event with the help of funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

Students who participated spent two weeks in Washington, D.C., and visited historic sites in Philadelphia and at Gettysburg. The academy guided high school juniors through three main turning points in American history memorialized by the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and the "I Have a Dream" speech. Students learned how the American Revolution, Civil War and Civil Rights movement continue to shape the nation's identity and its public institutions.

— Cimaron Neugebauer