July 27, 2016 - For high school students who grow up in rural Texas, visiting a place like Washington, D.C., might sound like a far-away dream. But every year, more than 100 such students are given the opportunity to travel to the capital for an intensive weeklong tour. June 8th – 17th, Texas students representing their respective electric cooperatives had this opportunity to join more than 1,600 other students from around the nation for the 2016 Electric Cooperative Government-In-Action Youth Tour. Delegates representing Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative were Allison Day of Burkeville High School and Cutter Smith of Timpson High School.
In Washington, tour participants get to see with their own eyes sights they may have only experienced in history books or on television. Tour participants get to meet their members of Congress including local representative Louie Gohmert, hear inspirational speakers and interact with other Youth Tour participants from across the country. Texas' students also have the chance to participate in the wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, Tour Mt. Vernon, visit the Holocaust and Smithsonian Museums, watch a show at the Kennedy Center and much more.
In addition to visiting monuments, museums and historical sites that would be a part of any standard tour of the capital, the students also fulfilled the ambition of then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson, who inspired the Youth Tour with his desire expressed in 1957 for young people to "actually see what the flag stands for and represents," when he addressed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Annual Meeting in Chicago. Consequently, some Texas electric cooperatives sent groups of young people to Washington, D.C., to work during the summer in Sen. Johnson’s office. In 1958, an electric cooperative in Iowa sponsored the first group of 34 young people on a week-long study tour of the nation’s capital. Later that same year, another bus load came from Illinois. The idea grew and other states sent busloads of young people throughout the summer. By 1959, the “Youth Tour” had grown to 130 delegates.
In 1964, 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. The first year of the coordinated tour included approximately 400 young people from 12 states. Word of the program has continued to spread and today, more than 1,500 young people and their chaperones from 45 states participate in the Youth Tour every year.
“The Youth Tour is the highlight of the summer for many students from Texas, and we’re proud to send two of DETEC’s best and brightest to Washington, DC this year to participate,” said Brittney Ford, Communications Specialist at DETEC. “These students gained a first-hand understanding of the legislative process and made connections with others from across the country that will last a lifetime. Our youth are our future, and we can give them the tools to succeed. We look forward to continuing the Youth Tour tradition.”
