South River EMC Is Sending Students To Youth Tour in 2023
See A Sample of Washington, D.C.'s Sights On Us
South River EMC understands the importance of taking care of our future generations. We strive to offer benefits to the youth of our community in order to secure a brighter tomorrow, one of those is the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.
Congratulations To Youth Tourists Previously Selected
In 2020, we selected three students to take part in the adventures the Youth Tour offers. Those students were Anna Cater Meyer, from Faison; Jeremiah Faircloth, from Roseboro; and Carter Godwin, from Dunn. All were ready and eager to attend, but sadly, the COVID-19 outbreak cancelled the trip.
South River EMC elected to send the same students to the Youth Tour in 2021, as none would have graduated between 2020 and 2021. However, to remain cautious, the Youth Tour for 2021 was again cancelled. Due to these circumstances, students will not attend the Youth Tour, but they are able to receive the Youth Tour scholarship. We want to congratulate and applaud these students for their patience and understanding.
The last trip to occur was June 15-21, 2019 when three rising seniors took part in some great adventures, on behalf of South River EMC. These students joined a delegation of North Carolina students in Washington, D.C. as part of the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. The Youth Tour involves more than 1,500 students representing electric cooperatives from across the nation. Each year, South River EMC offers this opportunity to local students to be a part of the unforgettable Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C.
While in Washington, D.C., the North Carolina contingent joined other electric cooperative representatives from throughout the United States for a week of fun and learning. Here is a glance of what experiences students can have during the Youth Tour:
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Participate in Youth Day, where students learn more about America's electric cooperatives;
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Visit Capitol Hill and meet with our North Carolina Senators and Congressmen;
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Visit the sights of Washington, D.C. including the monuments;
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Visit the Smithsonian museums;
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Take a boat trip down the Potomac River;
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See a show at the Kennedy Center
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Visit the Newseum and
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Attend an All States Dance.
These events are subject to change as availability for different sites change as we near the event, i.e. there could be additional sites not included on the list.
North Carolina's students establish a Soda Pop Co-op to provide a supply of affordable drinks while in Washington, D.C. Each student pays $1 to become a member of the cooperative. A board of directors is appointed and they hire a manager and assistant manager. At the end of the trip, the cooperative is dissolved and each student is refunded their membership fee and capital credits.
In 2019, South River EMC was represented by Jordan Burns, Lizzie Phipps, and Jordan Wallum. Each year, the students return with many interesting stories and memories to last a lifetime, as well as friends from across the state and even across the country. For more information about the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, call Julie McLeod at 910-892-8071, ext. 2151 or e-mail, connections@sremc.com.
Can we interest you in the sights of Washington, D.C. for summer 2023?
Applications are due by 5 p.m. January 17, 2023
Youth Tour Application (.doc)
For more information on the Rural Electric Youth Tour visit the official National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Tour site.
Scholarship Opportunity Available For Attendees
South River EMC offers a $1,000 scholarship to each student who attends the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour as a representative of the Cooperative. As the tour is open to both rising juniors and seniors, we will award scholarships during the students' senior year, once he or she has been accepted and committed to a college. That means rising seniors will be contacted in the year following their youth tour trip, and rising juniors will be contacted two years after their trip, to provide necessary information. We will keep the contact information provided by each student attending, if any information changes, please be sure to let us know so that we may update records.