“We’ve been reading the Constitution, reading things that are important for a U.S. citizen to know—things that we shouldn’t be taking for granted,” a young man named Carson said about his family when I interviewed him at NRA Headquarters as one of 32 participants in the NRA Youth Education Summit (YES), held from July 22-27 of this year.
The excellent group of teens that came to visit our nation’s capital that week were impressive, and we thought you might like to meet some of them in these pages. It was a pleasure to interact with them, and I repeatedly heard similar accounts to the one above.
But I also couldn’t help but note the contrast from what is often heard in today’s political rhetoric. Outside of big election years, we may start to forget that those who wish to tear down the unique freedoms we’ve inherited are playing the long game—and they aren’t taking breaks. They look for ways to attack from every angle, but perhaps the most troubling of their tactics is in the targeting of youth. From popular culture to school policies to regional laws, anti-gun groups and politicians try to convince young people that their Second Amendment-protected rights are unimportant—or even embarrassing.
The NRA works to promote the importance of our freedoms in many ways, but the YES program stands out for its lasting impact. Held each summer, the program brings together high-achieving high school students from across the country for a week of immersive learning focused on the U.S. Constitution and our federal government. While visiting D.C., including places like the National Archives and Arlington National Cemetery, and even getting to meet some of their representatives, these students are given real civics lessons and historical context of their constitutional freedoms.
Students also visit the NRA Headquarters, where they get to debate current affairs, learn about gun safety and try out a variety of firearms at the NRA Range. They also tour the National Firearms Museum, meet key leaders and learn about all the NRA’s programs.
Since its inception in 1996, more than 900 students have graduated from YES with more than $700,000 in college scholarships awarded. For this year’s event alone, $20,000 in scholarships were awarded in various amounts to 10 of the 32 participants. But that’s not all the kids could qualify for—they still have 11 months to work toward a Grand Scholarship. For that, they’ll develop a portfolio of NRA programs they’ve implemented in their own communities and show how those programs have impacted others. Maybe they take Eddie Eagle’s safety message to younger children, for example, or perhaps they promote a Women on Target or Friends of NRA event. They follow their own passions, and whether that’s promoting firearm safety, hunting, shooting sports, 4H or JROTC, their Second Amendment advocacy is inherently built in because each one of these young people is involved in protecting and promoting their rights.
It’s tough to spend time with such motivated, knowledgeable kids like these and see anything but good.
“We are the NRA—and you are the future,” Doug Hamlin, NRA executive vice president and CEO, told the YES students. “There’s a lot of pressure because we have to uphold the Constitution—and without the Second Amendment, there is no First, Third, Fourth ... . We’re fighting to maintain what we have so that we can hand it to you. And then it’s going to be incumbent upon you to ensure that these freedoms that your parents and my parents and our grandparents fought for continue for your kids. Because you’re the future, and ultimately, they’re the future.”
If you know an exceptional young person who could benefit from the YES program, please have them visit yes.nra.org. The deadline for applications is January 18, 2026, and the event will be held July 21-26, 2026.
Meet some of the students:
Campbell, 16, Texas, $2,000 Scholarship Winner
Intro to Shooting: I have been involved in the shooting sports since the third grade. I specialize in the Western Heritage programs—that’s Speed Western shooting, so I’m shooting revolvers, lever-actions and pump-action shotguns as fast as possible. I found out about this program through a Friends of NRA event. I thought I’d apply, as it’s a really cool opportunity.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: I’m meeting a ton of people who are from places I would never have expected—that’s super cool. I’m going to places and learning things I didn’t know. I didn’t know about all of the national levels of the NRA. I knew our state level and how our state works and how my local community level of the NRA worked, but I didn’t know how intricate the national level is.
Community Plans: One thing that I want to promote is the connectivity in our 4-H clubs to the NRA. With my club, it’s heavily encouraged that we go and participate at our Friends of NRA events and make relationships with our local NRA people, but I think we’re the only club in my county that encourages that. It’s helped us a lot—we get grants from the NRA, we use NRA resources for teaching, for our processes. I would really love to work with the other clubs. I just want to give everyone that opportunity.
Other Plans: I really want to go to Texas A&M University and major in policy, and then to go to the Texas A&M Bush school, graduate and become a lobbyist.
Carson, 16, North Carolina, “Quiet but Confident” Award Winner
Intro to Shooting: My dad is an immigrant from Ireland; he moved here in 1972. From the get-go, he taught my brother and I that you’re a citizen, and you need to appreciate the things that have been given to you because I had to work for them. So, we’ve been reading the Constitution, reading things that are important for a U.S. citizen to know—things that we shouldn’t be taking for granted. Then, during COVID, we were looking for things to get me outside. It was lonely, and there weren’t a whole lot of things that you could do, and we live out in the middle of nowhere. Pretty much my dad was like, ‘I’m going to buy you a Browning Silver Field, and we’re going to go shooting,’ and so that’s what happened. Now I shoot with the Boy Scouts and 4-H, and I shoot competitively as well. We also hunt, usually rabbits, dove and waterfowl, and we usually eat what we get.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: You get to meet with like-minded individuals, people who share your opinions on things, people who are very outspoken and outgoing and are willing to engage in uncomfortable conversations. And I think that’s just really important for everyone to have that skill, as this fosters the next generation of leaders.
Community Plans: I’d like to try to implement Eddie Eagle in every elementary school in my county. I believe we have around six or seven elementary schools in the county, so I’m going to try and come to each one, play the video that the NRA has made and talk a little bit about it, just promoting general gun safety.
Other Plans: Right now I’m looking at either N.C. State or Duke University, probably majoring in engineering and, hopefully, I can join a shooting team and be involved in clubs around the Second Amendment—because, as you can see from my participation here, I’m quite passionate about it.
Elie, 17, Virginia, $4,000 Scholarship Winner
Intro to Shooting: I was probably 8 or 10 or so when I was introduced to firearms—what they are, how to be safe around them and their potential as a tool or potential for damage. A little after that, I started shooting through the Izaak Walton range near me—they have a very nice range there. At first, I was introduced to air rifle, but I couldn’t stand the suits you have to wear, so I started doing pistol and fell in love with it. You get so many benefits, like you learn focus and mental relaxation. So, eventually I became a director on the junior board, then secretary of it and now president, plus captain on the pistol team as well.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: It was the highlight of my summer and I’m really appreciative. I live close to D.C. and I love American history, so going to all the museums was amazing but probably interacting with and socializing with other people who care about the same things I do was the best part—the relationships I was able to make, the like-minded people.
Community Plans: I’ve been volunteering for the Women on Target events, and I want to do something like that for juniors. I’m about to age out of the junior chapter, but I’m making a plan for them for next year for an NRA Day. Air-rifle shooters often haven’t tried shotgun, pistol or bow. It’s a great thing that they’re already in the shooting community, but they could take it to the next level. On top of that, I’ve been doing some work at the range helping with the VFW Post and my Boy Scout troops, so I’m giving presentations on the shooting sports to the Scouts and the VFW Post members, showing the benefits.
Other Plans: The Olympics are coming up, so that’s something I’m really going toward. As for universities, there aren’t that many really serious pistol teams. I’m trying to figure out how to compete in college, but it’s tough.
Jenna, 17, Texas, “Lady Liberty” Award Winner
Intro to Shooting: I’ve been shooting since I was around 11 or 12, and I started off with rifles—that’s when I started hunting for the first time. Now I typically hunt whitetail deer. And my aunt owns the gun range I work at.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: Either the talk that we did last night or the shooting range today. There were five different topics, and then they introduced a sixth one we didn’t know prior to getting here. One was on GMO technologies and then concealed carry, and then the Second Amendment, as well as the AI technology and how they’re going about that, and then they also introduced the wars and whether we should be involved in helping. And on the shooting range, there were varieties of guns on eight different lanes, and I was able to shoot a couple that I
haven’t shot before.
Community Plans: I’m wanting to go through some more research on that part.
Other Plans: I would love to go to trade school to get my welding certification and go into a field involving that, as well as possibly getting an engineering degree.
Justice, 17, Oregon, $1,000 Scholarship Winner
Intro to Shooting: My family is a very, very American family. My grandfather served. My dad served. It’s part of my family to serve. And the NRA—they’re pretty into that, too.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: The range. A while ago, I shot with my dad, so this was a good reminder. My favorite was the lever-action.
Community Plans: Not yet; I’m looking into that part.
Other Plans: I want to be a big-animal vet.
Katie, 16, Florida, “Bold and Brilliant” Award Winner
Intro to Shooting: My Nana was a shooter when she was younger, and she was on this rifle team back when a lot of women weren’t allowed in those spaces. She became the captain of the team, and she was the best shooter in their city and in the surrounding counties. And then they [her family] gave her a choice. They said you can either have a prom dress or a rifle. She chose the rifle and she made her prom dress!
So, she passed down that love of shooting to me. I started shooting when I was about 10, maybe 12. I shoot pistol, do GSSF [Glock Sport Shooting Foundation] and USPSA [United States Practical Shooting Association]. I heard about this program because I went to the NRA Whittington Center and I experienced the NRA Adventure Camp and I wanted something similar, but more on the political side of defending these freedoms, not just exercising them. Our forefathers fought and died for the freedoms we now enjoy today, and I think the Second Amendment is what helps protect us from government overreach and keeps us America. It is our responsibility as American citizens to defend the right.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: “I’ve met so many nice people, and I really liked going to the shooting range—that was so fun and the instructors are so passionate for it, and it just it makes you get excited.”
Community: I’m in Scouts. I’m an Eagle Scout in a small, all-girls troop, and we have a lot of younger Scouts, so I want to take what I learned here and teach them how to safely handle firearms. So, if they’re ever put in that situation where they see a firearm, they think first. I want people to feel comfortable and confident.
Plans: I want to go to the University of Wyoming to study international relations with a minor in outdoor leadership, and then I’m going to get my master’s, hopefully on a rotary scholarship to the Geneva peace convention. I want to be a wartime negotiator for peace.
Olga, 15, Hawaii, “Made the Most of the Experience” Award Winner
Intro to Shooting: My dad is an immigrant, and so when he came to America, he was fully just wanting to have that American pride and American spirit, and so he is an NRA Life Member. He actually found this opportunity for me, and then my mom helped me get in, and I had a bunch of support from my community.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: We just came from the shooting range, so that’s definitely been my favorite part. That’s what I was looking forward to the most.
Community: I’ve been thinking about it … there are a lot of people even in Hawaii that enjoy hunting. So, I think I’ll definitely try to appeal more to that area of interest.
Plans: I want to go to one of the U.S. service academies, and then, after, to study forensic psychology. And then I was kind of hoping to work in the CIA or something like that.
Sam, 17, Maine, $4,000 Scholarship Winner
Intro to Shooting: My parents wanted me to take a safety course at 8 years old. But there were a couple of times we shot in that course, and one of the coaches mentioned they had a junior league, so, basically, I’ve been doing it ever since. I heard a lot about the Second Amendment through my education—I went to a private Catholic school—as part of the Constitution and the founding documents, but of course shooting influenced this more.
Favorite Part of YES so Far: I absolutely loved it; it was life-changing. I did things I never thought I could get to do, like laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery. I’ve also met these lifetime friends and I’m so grateful. Shooting at the NRA Range was also one of my favorite parts.
Community: I’m planning on bringing in the Eddie Eagle program. I’m an Eagle Scout and do a lot within that program, but I’m still trying to get that set up.
Plans: I plan to go to college, and I would like to shoot in college on a team. My overall hope currently is to go to medical school.
