PCEMC, NRG select 2016 Youth Tour delegates
Winners of the annual Washington Youth Tour Essay Contest sponsored by PCEMC and Louisiana Generating, LLC a subsidiary of NRG Energy, Inc., were announced recently.
Representing PCEMC and winning the all expense-paid trip to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Youth Tour Conference in Washington are: Kori Clopton, Port Allen High School, West Baton Rouge Parish; Sarah Potts, Catholic High of Point Coupee, Pointe Coupee Parish; Ariel Baise, Iberville Math, Science and Arts Academy West, Iberville Parish.
Louisiana Generating President Jennifer Vosburg announced three delegates to represent NRG/Louisiana Generating on the Youth Tour. Those recipients are: Maranda Patin, Port Allen High School; Olivia Ledet, St. John High School; and Monica Rivet, St. John High School.
Those students selected as alternates are: Madison Picard, False River Academy, Pointe Coupee Parish; Joshua Haggan, Livonia High School, Pointe Coupee Parish; Antarius Jackson, Port Allen High School, West Baton Rouge Parish.
The contest finalists were selected from approximately 150 high school juniors from the tri-parish area served by Pointe Coupee Electric who were eligible to participate in a writing contest.
The students submitted essays in the form of 500-word letters to any elected official on a topic of their own choosing.
The students were judged on their written essays by an independent panel of judges.
To prepare for their summer trip, the students participated in a youth leadership summit on March 18 in Alexandria.
The summit brought together the six local Youth Tour delegates and winners of similar essay contests representing other electric cooperatives from throughout the state. Together the group of 25 students will travel together to Washington for the Youth Tour program June 10-17.
During the summit, the PCEMC and NRG representatives had the opportunity to meet their touring companions and also participate in leadership training exercises and ice-breaking activities.
Youth Tour administrator Joni Kitchen and chaperone Billy Gibson from the Association of Louisiana Electric Cooperatives in Baton Rouge were on hand to review the agenda for the trip.
The tour calls for visits to the Dulles Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Museums, Arlington National Cemetery, the U.S. Capitol, the National Archives and the Supreme Court building.
The students will also see the World War II, Korean War, Pentagon 911, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Martin Luther King and Jefferson Memorials as well as join a river boat cruise on the Potomac with students from several other states.
While in Washington, D.C., the Louisiana representatives will join hundreds of other students from across the country to learn more about electric cooperatives, attend social functions and receive leadership training.
The Washington Youth Tour was inspired in 1957 by Senator and future President Lyndon B. Johnson. During his address to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) that year he urged attendees to send young people to the nation’s capital so they could see first-hand how the government works.
The following summer, electric cooperatives did just that and what was first known as the Rural Electric Youth Tour was born.
In 1959, 130 youths attended the tour. NRECA began to coordinate joint activities among the states in 1964. Today, more than 1,400 youths attend the conference each year and more than 45,000 students have participated in the tour.
“This is an outstanding program and an excellent opportunity for the students to have a wonderful experience they’ll remember forever,” said PCEMC General Manager J.H. “Jodie” Cotten.
Vosburg added: “We’re delighted to be able to participate in this very worthwhile program. It’s a real honor to be a contributing part of our community. Supporting local education through student programs like this is just one way that we continue to make our parish a better place to live.”
Pointe Coupee Electric is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
