Four area high school students will get the chance to see democracy in action this June at the 2020 National Electric Cooperative Government-in-Action Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. The all-expense paid trip is sponsored by Bandera Electric Cooperative.
Skyler Blalock, La Pryor High School senior, Sierra Chanack, Utopia ISD sophomore, Cherish Dunlap, Utopia ISD sophomore, and Delaney Morrison, James Madison High School sophomore, were chosen based on their essays describing the most important rights guaranteed by the first ten amendments to the Unites States Constitution.
The students will join other youth from Texas electric cooperatives, as well as other co-ops from across the country. While in Washington, D.C., students will participate in guided tours of historic sites, museums and congressional offices where they will meet their members of Congress. The students also fulfill the ambition of then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who inspired the Youth Tour with his desire expressed in 1957 for young people to, “actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
Youth Tour 2020 highlights include:
• Capitol Hill to visit with members of Congress
• The Capitol Building
• Library of Congress
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Smithsonian Institution
• Jefferson, Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorials
• Vietnam War, World War II and Korean War memorials
• Washington Monument
Every year BEC provides this opportunity to students whose parents or legal guardians are members of BEC or receive BEC service at their residence.