June 13 - 18, 2010

Become a part of the exciting action packed adventure of Youth Tour! What’s Youth Tour? It’s an adventure of a lifetime!

History of the Rural Electric Youth Program

   Youth Tour was born from the impromptu comments made by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson as he addressed the 1957 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Annual Meeting in Chicago. Beginning that year and for several more, a few Texas Electric Cooperatives sent groups of young people to Washington, DC to work during the summer in Senator Johnson’s office.

   As a direct result of the Senator’s personal suggestions at the Chicago meeting, in 1958 rural electric people in Iowa sponsored the first group of 34 young people on a week-long study tour of the Nation’s Capital. Later that year, another bus load came to our Nation's Capitol from Illinois. Other states picked up the idea in increasing numbers each succeeding year, sending bus loads of young people through the summer. In 1959, the number had grown to 130 youths as the importance of the idea began to be better recognized.

   In 1964, NRECA began to coordinate the program suggesting that the groups arrange their schedules to be in the city the same week. The first year of the coordinated tour there were about 400 young people from 12 states. Since that time, Youth Tour has continued to grow and for the next 25 years almost 1,000 young people and chaperones participated in the tour each year. On the 25th anniversary of the Youth Tour, the number of participants exceeded 1,200.

Objectives & Purposes of Youth Tour

   1. To educate youth on all aspects of rural electrification in order to promote a better understanding of the value of rural electric cooperatives;

   2. To provide an opportunity for youth to visit monuments, government buildings and cooperative-related organizations in order to become familiar with the historical and political environment of the nation’s capital;

   3. To provide an opportunity for youth to meet elected officials in order to better understand how their federal government operates.

The Youth Leadership Council (YLC)

  Originally established in 1976 as the Youth Consulting Board (YCB), this select group of students officially became the YLC in 1998. Believe it or not, this program's origins was a beauty contest for Miss Rural Electrification.

   From the 1,400+ Youth Tour participants, one representative is chosen from each state to make up the YLC. The YLC students participate in a Youth Leadership Conference which is held in Washington, DC in mid-July. Additionally, these students travel to NRECA's Annual Meeting the following year. The students help with committee meetings, trade show booths and a variety of other endeavors at this meeting. All of the students expenses are taken care of by NRECA and Sussex Rural Electric Co-op.

Sussex REC’s Role

   For more than two decades, Sussex REC has   sponsored three area high school juniors to participate in the Youth Tour Program. We feel that this program is an important part of educating our membership about the benefits of rural electric cooperative philosophy. It continues to be an integral part of our overall community relations program.

   Although the previous description of the program sounds very dull and boring, this is most definitely not the case. Students comment every year quite to the contrary. Youth Tour is a week-long class in participation. From the moment that we leave Sussex REC to beyond the time we return home, students are asked to experience their state and federal governments in action, to actively question and learn about rural electrification and to share in the history and beauty of our nation’s capital.

   This program is not for everyone. The schedule is consuming, but the rewards are many. New friendships are formed with other students from across the United States, a competitive spirit between states develops, and a once in a lifetime event occurs.

Available exclusively for Youth Tour Participants...

The Jody Loudenslager Memorial Scholarship

   The Jody Loudenslager Memorial Scholarship is available to any college-bound student who participated in Youth Tour through the New Jersey & Pennsylvania co-ops.

   There will be two (2) $1,000 scholarships awarded to outstanding Youth Tour participants during the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association's Summer Meeting.

   Jody Loudenslager, a 1995 Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association Youth Tour student from Trout Run, Pa., was among the 230 passengers killed July 17, 1996, when TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff from New York.