OEC’s 2024 Youth Tour wrapped June 21 and set an all-time record for the number of cooperatives participating in the program. 50 student delegates from 20 Ë¿¹Ï¶ÌÊÓƵ cooperatives and 1 West Virginia co-op (Harrison REA), descended on the nation’s capital for a week-long, all expenses paid, educational trip to Washington D.C.Ìý
New this year, all Youth Tour delegates from across the country, approximately 2,200, stayed under one roof at The Gaylord at National Harbor.ÌýOEC's Youth Tour Director Missy Kidwell, along with other volunteer chaperones, hosted the delegates for an itinerary packed full of iconic Washington D.C. sites.
•ÌýÌý ÌýFlight 93 Memorial, Pennsylvania
•ÌýÌý ÌýGettysburg Battlefield, Maryland
•ÌýÌý ÌýPotomac River Boat Dinner Cruise
•ÌýÌý ÌýU.S. Capitol Building
•ÌýÌý ÌýLegislator Visits
•ÌýÌý ÌýSteven F. Udvar Hazy Air & Space Center
•ÌýÌý ÌýWorld War II Memorial
•ÌýÌý ÌýKorean War Memorial
•ÌýÌý ÌýVietnam War Memorial
•ÌýÌý ÌýIwo Jima Sunset Parade
•ÌýÌý ÌýLibrary of Congress
•ÌýÌý ÌýThe U.S. Supreme Court
•ÌýÌý ÌýThe White House
•ÌýÌý ÌýNational 9/11-Pentagon Memorial
•ÌýÌý ÌýUnited States Holocaust Memorial MuseumÌý
•ÌýÌý ÌýArlington National Cemetery
•ÌýÌý ÌýNatural History & American History Museums
•ÌýÌý ÌýNational Archives
•ÌýÌý ÌýWashington Monument
•ÌýÌý ÌýJefferson Memorial
•ÌýÌý ÌýMartin Luther King Jr. MemorialÌý
•ÌýÌý ÌýFranklin D. Roosevelt MemorialÌý
Youth Tour and Youth Leadership Council participants are high school sophomores and juniors living on cooperative lines.Ìý
For more than 50 years, high school students from across the nation have gathered in Washington, D.C., for the trip of a lifetime, courtesy of their local sponsoring electric cooperatives, their state association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association. Youth Tour gives students the opportunity to explore our nation’s capital, meet with elected officials who represent their hometowns, get to know other cooperative students from across the country, and learn about the electric co-op network.
Each Youth Tour participant has the opportunity to be selected as the one person to represent their state on NRECA’s Youth Leadership Council (YLC). If elected by their fellow Youth Tour delegates, a state YLC representative will deliver a speech for their sponsoring co-op’s board of directors, work with their co-op on October Co-op Month projects, speak at their co-op’s annual meeting, and much more.Ìý
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