Emily Faulk (Imbler), Elina Jenks (Hines), Heather Keniry (La Grande), and Nick Springer (Prairie City) packed their bags and set off for the 2016 Washington D.C. Electric Cooperative Youth Tour on Friday, June 10.
All four student leaders prepared to meet with approximately 1,700 of their fellow colleagues in Washington D.C. as part of Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative’s (OTEC) annual educational youth conference.
Each student was competitively selected and will represent Oregon and the Northwest as they join their colleagues from across the United States for a one-week trip to our nation’s capital. Over the course of the week, OTEC’s student delegates will visit famous historical sites, engage in leadership training, meet with their elected congressional officials, and bond with students from co-op communities all across the country. They will also learn about electric cooperatives and current issues in energy and climate change legislation that face our communities and our nation.
“This tour was initiated after Senator Lyndon B. Johnson suggested that co-op leaders send young, promising student leaders to the nation’s capital where they could have the opportunity to see, first-hand, what the American flag stands for and represents,” said OTEC Manager of Communications and Governments Affairs Lara Petitclerc-Stokes. “OTEC’s student delegates will have a week packed full visiting historical war memorials, national archives, the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian to name a few.”
“It is part of our Seven Cooperative Principles to dedicate education and training to the advancement of youth within the communities we serve,” said Petitclerc-Stokes. “This is an invaluable opportunity for these young leaders to travel and experience our nation’s capital. It is, for many, a once-in-a-life-time event.”
Previous Youth Tour participants have become university presidents, CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, and members of Congress. In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook credited the Youth Tour with his first trip to Washington in his commencement speech to graduates of George Washington University. Over the past 51 years, nearly 50,000 students have visited Washington through the Youth Tour.
If you are a high school sophomore heading into your junior year and would like more details on the Washington D.C. Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, please visit: www.youthtour.coop
Applications for the 2017 tour will be available beginning November 2016. Mark your calendar and visit http://www.otecc.com under the “Community” tab.
OTEC is a non-profit electric cooperative serving 23,000 members in Baker, Grant, Harney and Union counties. Youth Tour funds come from unclaimed capital credits and their earnings. They do not affect electric rates.
OTEC is also a member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) which represents the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, and provides service to 42 million people in 47 states.