RONAN – As Aiden Reichman learned the other day, not every trip to the principal’s office ends badly.

Reichman, a senior at Ronan High School, was recently summoned to the administrator’s quarters and, after a tense moment of apprehension, was informed that he had been chosen as one of two delegates from Montana for the 2013 U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program. Winners of the distinction receive both a $5,000 college scholarship and an all-expenses-paid, weeklong trip to Washington, D.C. in March.

Reichman says he responded to the news by doing “a cute little dance.”

According to Carol Gneckow, program specialist at the Montana U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program, the trip to our nation’s capital is intended to serve as “an intensive on-site study of federal government” and features visits to the Senate, House of Representatives, Supreme Court, and several Smithsonian museums. Reichman and his colleagues will also be addressed by senators, cabinet members, and officials from the Department of State, among other speakers.

Always having fostered an interest in politics, Reichman says he is eager to see the East Coast for the first time and to see if he can envision himself working in elected office someday.

“This recent election and campaign in general, I was seeing so many negative ads, I thought, ‘I could do this… I could help people and get away from this bureaucratic monotony that has really become politics,’” said Reichman.

Two high school juniors or seniors from each state receive the honor. Over 192 students from across Montana vied for this year’s award.

Reichman, who says he’s leaning towards enrolling at the University of Montana next year, is hopeful that winning the scholarship could be a sign of bigger things to come.

“I really didn’t think that I would win it. The fact that I was able to do it and succeed has been really amazing and it makes me feel like I can do so much more.”