Local Students Return from Washington Youth Tour

From left, Alvie Coes III, Chad Stubbs and Shannon Williams. These students, representing Middle Georgia EMC, recently returned from Washington, D.C.

Alvie Coes II, Chad Stubbs and Shannon Williams have returned from the 2002 Washington Youth Tour, a one-of-a-kind leadership experience sponsored by the electric membership corporations (EMCs) of Georgia. The students, representing Middle Georgia Electric Membership Corp., joined 81 students from across Georgia on the Youth Tour.

On the Washington Youth Tour, the students from 32 sponsoring EMCs across the state traveled to Atlanta and Washington, D.C. There they learned first-hand about democratic government, cooperatives, leadership skills and personal development.

During the weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip, students met with Gov. Roy Barnes, state officials and members of Georgia’s Congressional Delegation, and appeared on CNN’s “TalkBack Live.”

“We’re delighted to be able to offer this program to high school students in our area,” says A. Paul Wood, president and CEO of Georgia EMC. “The Washington Youth Tour gives the best and brightest young men and women in the community the opportunity to see that they too can one day become leaders.”

After arriving in Washington, D.C., Georgia’s students joined more than 1,300 youths representing cooperatives across the nation. In Washington, they toured national treasures, monuments and historical sites such as the White House; the Washington Monument; the Lincoln, Jefferson, Iwo Jima and Vietnam memorials; National Holocaust Museum; U.S. Capitol; Ford’s Theatre; Mount Vernon; and Smithsonian Institution, to name a few. During their visit to Arlington Cemetery, the Georgia students laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

In addition to taking in the sights and sounds of the nation’s capital, all the state groups convened for Rural Electric Youth Day, during which they heard from a survivor of the Sept. 11 attack on The Pentagon. Lt. Col. Brian Birdwell described his harrowing experience and miraculous survival. Birdwell touched on the importance of selfless service and accepting life’s responsibilities. “Graduation is symbolic of promotion to the greater responsibility as an adult and as a full citizen,” he said.

Therese Lyons, director of public liaison for the President’s USA Freedom Corps, delivered the White House’s call for increased volunteerism. “Service is the debt of gratitude we owe for the freedoms we have in this country,” she said.

The Washington Youth tour was especially designed to educate young citizens about history, government and the cooperative movement, and to encourage them to become active citizens in their communities and consider careers in public service.

The Washington Youth Tour was inspired by former President Lyndon Johnson, who encouraged electric co-ops to “send youngsters to the nation’s capital, where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”

Since 1964, the nation’s electric cooperatives have sponsored approximately 35,000 high school juniors and seniors for the Washington Youth Tour.

Georgia EMC is the statewide trade association representing the state’s 42 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corp. and Georgia Transmission Corp. Through this statewide network, the 42 EMCs provide electricity and related services to 3.7 million people, nearly half of Georgia’s population, across 73 percent of the state’s land area. Georgia’s EMCs now serve more customers than any other state network of EMCs in the nation.

P.O. Box 190, Vienna, GA 31092
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