Washington D.C. Youth Tour

High School juniors who are the children of Co-op members or attend a school served by the Co-op are eligible to win a free five-day trip (June 13-19) to Washington D.C. as part of the 2008 National Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.

To enter, students must complete an assignment that reflects the belief of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."

Students will write a formal letter, approximately 400 to 500 words, to an elected official. Students, this is the perfect opportunity to voice your personal opinion to your elected officials on any issue, problem or success. In the letter, the topic of concern should be stated and thoroughly discussed. If appropriate, students should also suggest a course of action they wish the elected official to take. The letter should be addressed to the respective local, state or federal official in formal letter format.

Letters will be judged on their originality, persuasiveness, neatness, spelling, grammar and punctuation. Students should send their letters to their intended recipients and send a copy to the Co-op for entry in the Youth Tour contest. All entries should include student's name and school. Finalists will be selected based on the letters, and personal interviews will be conducted to select the winners. The deadline for submitting contest entries is Friday, February 29, 2008.

Send contest entries to:
Audrey Simpson, Youth Tour Director
579 Tenney Mountain Highway
Plymouth, NH 03264

Entries can also be e-mailed to simpsona@nhec.com

Teachers — the Youth Tour essay contest makes a great class project!

The New Hampshire Electric Co-op is the state sponsor for the Youth Tour program. Each year since the early 1960's, about 1,300 high school students from 48 states have visited Washington, D.C. to learn more about government, U.S. history and rural electrification. The trip includes sightseeing, visits with New Hampshire Congressional representatives, a dinner cruise on the Potomac River and an interactive Town Hall meeting that features nationally known speakers. One of the winners will represent New Hampshire at the 2008 Youth Leadership Conference, and the 2009 NRECA Annual Meeting.