The Kentucky Rural Electric Washington Youth Tour is an annual, weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, DC, that is open to select high school students whose homes are served by electric cooperatives.

Twenty-two of Kentucky’s 24 electric cooperatives participate in the Washington Youth Tour. Nationwide, electric co-ops from 46 states participate. In all, more than 1, 500 young people from across the nation gather in Washington, DC, each year for this event.

Kentucky’s electric co-ops send students to Washington, DC, for a number of reasons including:

• rewarding students for academic achievement and community leadership;

• educating students about the role of electric co-ops in the national economy;

• fostering students’ appreciation for the democratic form of government;

• exposing students to the sights and sounds of our nation’s heritage; and

• building students’ leadership skills so that they may make a difference in their communities.

The Washington Youth Tour is sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives (KAEC), and 22 of Kentucky’s 24 electric distribution cooperatives.

Click here to read a story from the September 2002 edition of Kentucky Living magazine about the Washington Youth Tour.