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For over 50 years, electric cooperatives have sponsored high school students from across America to visit the nation’s capitol and meet their members of congress. High school sophomores, juniors and seniors, whose residences are served by Fayette Electric Cooperative, are eligible to enter the 55th Annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour Contest and win an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., June 12 – 21. The Cooperative will sponsor two students on the 2019 trip. Applications must be received in Fayette Electric’s office by Friday, January 18, 2019.

Madeline Benbenek, a La Grange High School student and a 2018 winner said, “I got to experience America’s incredibly rich history come to life as I walked in the founding fathers footsteps.  We traveled all the way from Mount Vernon, where our nation’s first president lived, to the White House where our presidents have lived since then, and every monument and museum in between.” 

 “The Capitol was like a beehive filled with energetic people working for the good of our great nation” said Abigail Roscher, also a 2018 winner. 

The trip provides an opportunity for over 1,800 students from 44 states to learn about the political process and how their federal government works.  It includes a visit to their Congressman’s office, tours of historic monuments, memorials and the Smithsonian Institution.  The tour group travels to Arlington National Cemetery, Washington National Cathedral, the Supreme Court, and to the Library of Congress, as well as other special attractions. 

In addition to taking in the sights and sounds around the nation’s capital, all of the state groups will convene for Rural Electric Youth Day and an evening of dinner and dancing.

 “At Fayette Electric Cooperative, we’re trying to make educational opportunities available for our youths,” said Gary Don Nietsche, general manager. “The Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. is an excellent program that offers an educational opportunity of a lifetime. These youths will actually see government in action while in D.C., as well as many of the historic sites that they have only read about in textbooks for years.”

Applications and complete contest rules are available at Fayette Electric Cooperative’s office located at 357 North Washington St. in La Grange, at all high school counselor’s offices and here on the cooperative’s website. More information about the Youth Tour is available at www.youthtour.coop

Are you ready to be a part of the 2019 Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.? Get your contest application today, and YOU could be headed to Washington, D.C. next summer. Remember, the deadline to submit your application is January 18, 2019!