Hi @typiCAmom! I definitely was nominated by my Secretary of Education in AZ, and I can kind of walk you through what happens here in AZ. I also vaguely understand some other states like NY as well. In AZ, I was nominated because I have received other accolades from the Department of Education like being a USSYP alternate and that’s why they invited me to apply to be of the 20. In other states, schools are asked to submit one student with a Resume and transcript and decide like that. I assume you’re from CA which is of course super competitive (I know I don’t have to tell you that!) and so I don’t know if it is different there 