Students should apply for 2024 youth tour

submitted by Southeast Electric Cooperative

Attention High School Sophomores and Juniors! Do you want a FREE trip to Washington D.C.? In June 2024 high schoolers from Montana will be boarding airplanes and buses and heading for Washington, D.C. Join them and learn about the political process, meet elected officials and gain an up-close understanding of U.S. history and the cooperative model. And most importantly meet new friends from areas across the United States!

It’s all part of the FREE NRECA Youth Tour. In 1957 while addressing the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson inspired the Youth Tour. The Senator and future president declared, “If one thing comes 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.”

In the next few years Texas, Illinois and Iowa loaded up young people for a weeklong study tour of our nation’s capital. The idea grew and by 1959 the “Youth Tour” had grown to 130 young people.

NRECA began to coordinate joint activities among the state delegations and suggested that co-op representatives from each state arrange to be in Washington, D.C., during Youth Tour week. Youth Tour directors from each state association arrange their delegation’s visits to their U.S. representatives’ and senators’ offices, and educational and sightseeing activities. That first year there were approximately 400 young people from 12 states. Word of the program has continued to spread and today, more than 1,500 students and over 250 chaperones participate in the Youth Tour every year.

Southeast Electric Cooperative, along with Montana Electrical Cooperative Association, pays fees, travel, and lodging costs. If you want to be part of this FREE fun week in Washington and your parents are members of Southeast Electric Cooperative, contact us today. You can check out our web page https://www.seecoop.com/youth-tour for more details and the application and essay topic. You can also call Vicki at 406-775-8762 or email vfix@seecoop.com for more information.

This really is a trip-of-a-lifetime. Encourage your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews to write the essay and apply today!