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Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation sent a dozen rising high school seniors to the nation’s capital in June as a reward for short stories they wrote titled, “Electric Cooperatives:iPower the Future.” Click HERE for pictures and videos! They joined hundreds of their peers from across America on what has become an annual pilgrimage for co-op kids since the late 1950s. Last year, more than 180 Tennessee students and chaperones representing 22 electric cooperatives and one municipal system took part in the Youth Tour. In addition to a free learning vacation, each student is competing for college scholarships valued at $1,000 to $3,000 as judged by the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association. The top three essays written by Tennessee students will be awarded the scholarships. Last year, one of CEMC’s students captured the top scholarship prize! The trip started Friday, June 10, as multiple buses traverse the state en route to an overnight stop in Staunton, Va. For the next five days it will be a whirlwind of visits to the numerous tourist destinations of Washington, D.C., including monuments, memorials, museums and even the halls of Congress and meetings with elected officials. The group will flew into Nashville on Thursday, June 16.If past history is any indicator, Youth Tour participants returned home with a greater understanding not only of the value of their electric cooperative but of what it means to be an American. Armed with new friendships, indelible memories and a souvenir or two, these Youth Tour veterans may walk a little taller, speak a little more intelligently and exhibit a greater sense of citizenship than before they took the trip of a lifetime. |
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