Contact: NOVEC Public Relations, 1-888-335-0500, customerservice@novec.com
NORTHERN VIRGINIA – The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative took five students selected from area high schools to Washington, D.C., June 11-16, to see government in action. NOVEC’s students joined 1,500 students from across the nation in the 2011 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Youth Tour.
Madison Ebel from Osbourn Park High School in Prince William County; James Wesley Fisher from Kettle Run High School in Fauquier County; Gabriela Ibanez-Alers from Freedom High School in Loudoun County; Karen Neal from Liberty High School in Fauquier County; and Wilke Nelson from Westfield High School in Fairfax County participated in the all-expenses-paid tour. NOVEC selected the students based on their grades, a written essay, and interests in government. Home-schooled, private school, and public school students were eligible to participate. Families of the selected students receive electricity from NOVEC.
The students toured Capitol Hill and met with legislative aides to U.S. Representatives Gerald Connolly and Frank Wolf. The tour also included visits to Washington, D.C., museums, monuments, and historical sites. To top off the tour, students enjoyed a twilight dance cruise on the Potomac River.
All the state groups convened for National Youth Day, sponsored by NRECA. Speakers included Mike Schlappi, a four-time Paralympics medalist and two-time world Champion Wheelchair Basketball champion. Schlappi told the teens, “Just because you can’t stand up doesn’t mean you can’t stand out.”
Wilke Nelson said, “The NOVEC Legislative Youth Tour was one of the best experiences of my life….I would do it again if I had the chance.”
J. Wesley Fisher concurred about the trip’s value: “I was able to meet literally hundreds of interesting people from all over the country on top of visiting some places that I had never been before, like the Capitol Building and the Library of Congress. In addition, I received a first-hand look into the complexities of law-making in Washington by getting to meet with congressional aides and sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives.”
President Lyndon Baines Johnson inspired the Youth Tour. He encouraged electric cooperatives to send students to “the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents." Johnson’s idea grew into the NRECA Youth Tour in 1964. Since then, more than 40,000 students — including 220 from NOVEC — have participated in Youth Tour.
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NRECA, represents more than 900 consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives in the United States. For more information about the NRECA Youth Tour Program, visit www.youthtour.coop.
For more information about NOVEC’s Youth Tour program, contact Donna Snellings, government and public relations liaison, at dsnellings@novec.com, 703-392-1511, or 1-888-392-1511.
