Six high school students will spend one week this summer attending the 46th annual Washington Youth Tour, an all-expense paid leadership experience sponsored by the electric membership corporations (EMCs) in Georgia, including GreyStone Power Corporation.
Maggie Crow and Kailin Melish of Chapel Hill High School, Mercedes Anderson of Westlake High School, Whitney Hobbs of Alexander High School, Chris Kennard of North Paulding High School and Christal McCamy of Harvester Christian Academy will be among 105 participating high school students from across the state who earned the trip to our nation’s capital. Georgia’s students will join more than 1,500 of their peers from 44 states in Washington, D.C.
GreyStone sponsors six high school juniors each year to attend the trip, which also includes stops in Atlanta and Warm Springs, Ga. This year, students from 12 schools in GreyStone’s service area competed to secure a spot on the trip. Candidates are student leaders chosen by counselors and teachers from participating high schools. The winners earned the top scores on an exam that covered cooperatives, the history of rural electrification, electricity and U.S. government.
In addition to a free trip to D.C. this summer, each winner received a GreyStone Power suitcase and $50 from GEMC Federal Credit Union.
As Georgia’s oldest leadership program for teens, the Washington Youth Tour is designed to teach high school students about U.S. history, government and the importance of public service. The tour was inspired by former president Lyndon Johnson who, in 1957, encouraged electric cooperatives “to send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
According to Vicki Harshbarger, department manager of public relations and communications for GreyStone Power, the Youth Tour is an opportunity for exceptional students to personally meet with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation and to visit historical points of interest in Washington.
While in D.C., students will make stops at Ford’s Theater, the Smithsonian Museums, Holocaust Museum, Union Station, Mount Vernon, Supreme Court, Capitol, Washington Monument, and the Jefferson, World War II, Lincoln, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans monuments and memorials. |