Kaitlyn Dippel and Randall Nelson were selected as representatives from Victoria Electric Cooperative’s youth to participate in the 2014 Government-in-Action Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. on June 12-20. Congratulations to Kaitlyn and Randall on this exciting opportunity.

Kaitlyn and Randall of Victoria were selected to participate in the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour program in Washington, D.C. sponsored by Victoria Electric Cooperative. They will spend a week in Washington, D.C., with a number of their peers from all over the state of Texas.

Each year in June, an action-filled week provides high school students opportunities to learn first-hand what it is like to be involved in politics, community service and today’s pressing issues in the energy industry. Students will meet their elected representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, see historic sites, and meet nearly 1,500 students from across the country who participated in their state’s Youth Tour program.

The Electric Cooperative Youth Tour has been a joint effort of local electric co-ops, such as Victoria Electric Cooperative, their statewide Texas Electric Cooperative (TEC) association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), based in Arlington, Va., for more than 45 years.

In addition to taking in the sights of the nation’s capital, all the state groups will convene for National inspirational speakers. Students will also visit the Supreme Court and Library of Congress, Washington National Cathedral, Arlington National Cemetery, George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon, Smithsonian Institution and Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorials, Vietnam, World War II and Korean memorials, Washington Monument, Performance of the “Lion King” at Kennedy Center, Potomac River Dinner Boat Cruise and much more.

Since 1964, the nation’s cooperative electric utilities have sponsored more than 40,000 high school juniors and seniors for visits to their U.S. congressional delegations, energy and grassroots government education sessions, and sightseeing in Washington. NRECA is the national service organization representing the nation’s more than 900 consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives, which provide electric service to 42 million people in 47 states.

For more information about the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour Program, please visit http://www.youthtour.coop.