Youth Tour
The experience of a lifetime!
How will the cooperative power your future?
Each year WRVEC awards three high school juniors a Youth Tour experience – plus a $1,500 scholarship!
What’s the experience? Missouri’s electric cooperatives will participate in the annual Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. June 15 – June 21. The annual campaign includes an all-expense paid trip to our nation’s capital in the month of June. Highlights from past years include meeting with state representatives, visiting famous monuments and museums, and a sightseeing dinner cruise.
To be eligible, you must (1) be a high school junior and attend a high school in WRVEC’s five-county service territory or (2) be home-schooled within WRVEC’s five-county service territory, between 16-17 years of age, and at a junior level equivalent. Your family does not need to be a member of the Cooperative.
Participants can choose to either write an essay or make a short film on/or about the topic, “How will the Cooperative power your future?” Essays must be between 500-1,000 words and videos must be between 3-5 minutes. Entries will be judged on the basis of knowledge, independent thought, composition, grammar and professionalism. Judges will score all projects and award the Youth Tour experience to the three students with the highest scores. Videos must be both PC and MAC compatible and between 3-5 minutes in length. The video should be made with anonymity and not reveal the student’s name or school which they attend.
Projects will be judged, and finalists from each school will present their essays or videos during a dinner banquet at College of the Ozarks on March 28. Three winners will be announced that evening.
Applications for 2025 are closed. Applications for 2026 will be accepted January 1 through February 15.
HOW IT STARTED
The Youth Tour program is deeply rooted in history, starting in 1957 when Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson addressed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) at Annual Meeting in Chicago. The Senator declared, “If one thing goes out of this meeting, it will be sending youngsters to the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
Since then, the Annual Youth tour program has grown into a hallmark event for the communities co-ops serve across the country.
2025 Youth Tour Winners
Congratulations to the chosen 2025 representatives:
- Ella Green, Hollister
- Tyler Stankewitz, Nixa
- Gabrielle Thompson, Forsyth
