South Kentucky RECC recently took eleven area students to Washington, D. C. for the 42nd annual Washington Rural Electric Youth Tour on June 14-21.

The students attending the tour are shown in the above photo, from left to right: front row: Nicole Ferguson (Clinton County High School), Emily Stephens, Madelaine Blankenship, (middle row) Holly Estes, Cayci Crabtree, Brittany Paige Pittman, Krystal Goode, Amber Holbrook, (back row) David Withers, SKRECC Energy Advisor and chaperone, Devin Morrow, Daniel Bertram, Audrey Lovell, and Alan Coffey, SKRECC Member Services and Marketing Manager and chaperone.

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.

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, Marketing 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.”

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.