Two local students will go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. this June, courtesy of San Patricio Electric Cooperative. Stephanie Munson, a junior at Skidmore-Tynan High School and Jarel McFadden, a senior at A.C. Jones High School, entered and won the co-op’s essay contest for a chance to attend the Government-in-Action Youth Tour.
More than 1,600 students from cooperatives across the country will attend the Youth Tour this year, which runs from June 7-16. Munson and McFadden will be among more than 140 students in the Texas delegation.
This year, the Texas delegation will kick off the Youth Tour in Austin. Students will get to tour the Texas State Capital and Bullock Texas State Museum before heading to Washington, D.C.
While in D.C., the students will experience a whirlwind tour of the nation’s capital, visiting the Washington National Cathedral, Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Smithsonian Institution, memorials and more. Activities include learning about rural electrification, seeing a performance at the Kennedy Center, going on a boat cruise with dinner and dancing, and meeting elected officials.
SPEC sponsors two students each year, covering the cost of airfare, accommodations, meals and entrance fees to all attractions. The winning students are only responsible for incidental expenses and any souvenirs they’d like to bring home.
SPEC’s Youth Tour contest was open to high school juniors and seniors in the co-op’s nine-county service area, whose parents are members of SPEC. Applicants were required to have a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. To enter, students had to fill out a short application and answer the essay prompt, “Imagine you were elected President; What three things would you plan to accomplish during your term in office?”
About the Youth Tour
The Government-in-Action Youth Tour is a national cooperative initiative to send student’s to the nation’s capital. The program grew from the ideas of President Lyndon B. Johnson, an advocate of rural electrification and youth supporter. In 1957, when LBJ was still a Senator, he spoke at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Annual Meeting. In his speech he declared that young people should be sent to the national capital “where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
Cooperatives across the nation soon got behind the idea and in 1964 created the first organized effort to send students to Washington D.C. for what is now known as the Government-in-Action Youth Tour. After more than 50 years, the Youth Tour has been able to send nearly 50,000 students from rural America to the nations’ capital.