You know how some people describe their vacations as "the trip of a lifetime?" Here at Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, we don't take that phrase lightly. What goes into making a trip that special? The trip of a lifetime must be truly unique, something eye opening and expansive. It must be something beyond a normal vacation: not just a break from the normal but an experience that will leave an impact on you for the rest of your life. Youth Tour is that trip.
Youth Tour is the opportunity to see history come alive. It's the chance to see and experience our nation's capital. Youth Tour is a blend of education, professional development, and fun. It's the opportunity to forge new friendships with students from your school and from schools across the United States. It's the opportunity to open yourself up to the wider world. Youth Tour truly is the trip of a lifetime and if you're a high school junior whose home is powered by Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, you can embark on this journey for free - so don't miss your chance to apply.
Youth Tour is an all-expense paid, week-long trip to Washington, D.C. available to local high school juniors who live in homes that receive electric power from Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative.
More than 1,700 students from all across America take part in this unforgettable experience each year, and so can you! You'll travel to Washington, D.C. alongside your fellow New Jersey students as well as those selected by Pennsylvania's Cooperatives.
Alongside these other students, you'll have the opportunity to explore the capital's museums, memorials, and monuments. You'll have the unique chance to not only meet your state's Representatives and Senators, but sit down with them for a group discussion on Capitol Hill.
You will participate in Youth Day, where you will meet student leaders from nearly every state and hear dynamic industry leaders speak about their careers. You'll become part of a group that has more than 50,000 alumni in every walk of life, including U.S. Senators and CEOs.
You'll experience all of this, in addition to other activities such as a Dave & Busters trip, a dinner cruise, and a trip to the Washington National Zoo. Throughout the week packed with activities like these, you and your fellow Youth Tour students will have the opportunity to form new, long-lasting friendships.
Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative has sponsored juniors from area high schools to embark on this journey since 1986. As an organization dedicated to strengthening our community, we are proud to have shared the opportunity for a unique, life-changing experience to our local youth for so long. New Jersey students' trips are completely paid for by Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative.
Click here for more information from the national site. For details on the history of Youth Tour and specific activities that are part of the trip, check out our Youth Tour brochure.
Students can find information on eligibility and application requirements below. Friends and family members can feel free to recommend this trip to eligible students in their lives.
To be eligible to participate in Youth Tour, a student must:
- Be a current high school junior
- Reside in a home powered by Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative
- Attend school at one of the following eligible high schools, or be home schooled:
- High Point Regional High School
- Sussex County Technical School
- Wallkill Valley Regional High School
- Vernon Township High School
- Pope John XXIII High School
- Veritas Christian Academy
Along with your application (found below), students must submit an essay, based on the following prompt.
Co-ops work for their members, much like our representatives in Washington, D.C. (WDC). If you are chosen to represent New Jersey during Youth Tour 2020, you will meet with members of our government. If we happened to run into a key government figure and they asked what you were doing in WDC and why your trip is important, what would you tell that government official, as our representative in WDC? You will be answering not only for yourself, your family, nor the 12,000 members of Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, but for all rural electric cooperatives in 43 states across the country. You would be speaking for your fellow 1,700 Youth Tour students. You have five minutes to tell them of the importance of your trip to WDC and what it means to you. Tell us what you would say to them in at least 500 words.
Please submit your 500-word-minimum essay answering the question above, along with your completed application, to craffay@sussexrec.com by January 15, 2020. Following this, the next step in the selection process will involve interviews with student applicants. Essays and interviews are a major part of the Youth Tour selection process and help us determine our selection of 2020's Youth Leadership Council (YLC) student representative. You can find more info on this below.
Interviews will be scheduled following the application deadline. To be eligible to participate in Youth Tour, students MUST be able to schedule an interview with us between the hours of 8 am and 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday. Please be advised that your picture will also be taken while you are here for your interview.
As outlined above, we will be using essays and interviews in the Youth Tour selection process. These will also be used to aid in determining the Youth Leadership Council (YLC) student representative for 2020. The YLC is a joint effort of local electric co-ops and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) that was created to provide an extension of youth activities available to states participating in the Youth Tour program. Each state is entitled to have one representative on the Youth Leadership Council. The representatives are selected by statewide Youth Tour directors through a variety of methods. The new Youth Leadership Council members are announced each year during the Youth Day program in Washington, D.C.
The YLC is designed to develop the participants' leadership and presentation skills and provide a broader understanding of electric cooperatives. All YLC members get to attend the NRECA Youth Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. and the NRECA Annual Meeting. The 2020 NRECA Annual Meeting will be held in New Orleans. In addition, YLC members are selected from NRECA Regional Meeting host states to speak before the membership about their Youth Tour experiences.
The NRECA Youth Leadership Conference is held each summer following Youth Tour. The conference provides hands-on activities that promote individual leadership development. During the conference, participants select a spokesperson to address the membership of the NRECA Annual Meeting and the Youth Tour delegates the following sum
Applications for Youth Tour 2020 are due by January 15, 2020. Trip takes place from June 21 to June 26.
The application can be found here. Please deliver completed application form and the essay to Claudia Raffay at craffay@sussexrec.com or at our office at 64 County Route 639, Sussex, NJ 07461.
