South Kentucky RECC recently took twelve area students to Washington, D. C. for the 44th annual Washington Rural Electric Youth Tour on June 12-19.

The students participating in the tour pictured above, are, from left to right, front row: Cassidy Dalton, Lyndsey Pennington, Alison Mason (Clinton County), Brooke Albertson (Clinton County), Katie Bradshaw; second row, left to right: Austin Tarter, Stephanie Blackwood, Rachel Bertram, Cherokee Earles; back row, left to right, SKRECC Member Services and Marketing Manager Alan Coffey, Tanner McDowell, Logan Muse, and Jonathan Criswell.

The Kentucky Rural Electric Washington Youth Tour is an annual, week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D. C., which is open to select high school juniors going into their senior year whose homes are served by electric cooperatives.

Most of Kentucky’s electric cooperatives, including South Kentucky RECC, participate in this tour each year. Nationwide, electric co-ops from 41 states send students, with nearly 1,500 young men and women from across the nation gathering in Washington, D. C. each year.

South Kentucky RECC’s mission statement says that the co-op will work to “improve the quality of life in its communities.” An important way that the co-op feels it can improve the quality of life is through its youth, and one way is by participating in the Washington Youth Tour each year.

Ruby Patterson, SKRECC Vice-President of Member Services and Public Relations, says programs like the Washington Youth Tour are important for our youth.

“We feel that the Washington Rural Electric Youth Tour is a wonderful opportunity to send our youth to our nation’s capital allowing them to get exposure to our government and how government works. They also learn about co-ops and the Cooperative Principles. Many of these young people are going to be our future co-op members, and it is our goal that, through this experience, they will not only become better citizens but also learn and understand what electric co-ops are all about.”

Since 1972, Kentucky’s electric cooperatives have sent more than 2,500 high school students to Washington, DC, for visits with their U.S. senators and representatives, energy and grassroots government education sessions, and sightseeing.

The group, while in Washington, D. C., visited many of our nation’s memorials, the U. S. Capitol, Arlington National Cemetery, and met with Kentucky’s congressmen and senators.