Youth Tour

 

Youth Tour is back!  Get ready for an experience of a lifetime!  June 18-23, 2023!

 

 

 

Youth Tour is an all-inclusive trip to Washington DC.  It is a chance for young adults to learn more about what a cooperative is, bond with fellow students, meet elected officials and experience the sites of our nation’s capital.  Every year New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative along with electric cooperatives across the country sponsors high school juniors to attend the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.

While in Washington, students will visit Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima Sunset Parade, the National Zoo, the Holocaust Museum and enjoy a ride down the Potomac.  Youth Tour is so much more than a sightseeing trip. Students have repeatedly shared that this experience has helped them grow into successful professionals. It has also benefited our local communities. Youth Tour participants return home with a deeper understanding and skillset of what it takes to be leader, and as a result, they put these skills to use right here in our community.  Without a doubt, Youth Tour has grown into an invaluable program that gives young Americans an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Interested…..Each student whose parents or guardians are members of New Enterprise REC, will complete an application found on our website, with your school guidance counselor or at the co-op office.  A short video needs to be produced or a short essay wrote on the topic: “What are the benefits of an experience such as Youth Tour for a High School Junior?”  Lastly, each student will participate in an interview at the cooperative office usually hold in May.

THE ORIGIN OF THE YOUTH TOUR

Senator Lyndon Johnson inspired the Youth Tour when he addressed the NRECA Annual Meeting in Chicago in 1957. The Senator declared, "If one thing goes out of this meeting, it will be sending youngsters to the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents."