For more than 25 years Blue Ridge Mountain EMC (BRMEMC) has been privileged to sponsor local area students on a weeklong, all-expenses-paid trip known as the Washington Youth Tour (WYT). The trip is much more than just a tour; it is the oldest youth leadership program in Georgia.
     Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson inspired the Youth Tour when he addressed the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Annual Meeting in Chicago in 1957. The Senator and future president 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 1964, the nation’s EMC’s have sponsored almost 40,000 high school students on the tour.

     This year, 103 high school students from across the state represented electric cooperatives on the unique youth tour experience. Delegates learn about the electric cooperative movement, American history and how government works. They meet with their representatives in the House and Senate, participate in National Youth Day and enjoy the sights of D.C.

     They visit national monuments such as the Jefferson, Lincoln and FDR memorials, where they can consider the words of leaders who helped define and uphold our nation’s guiding principles. At the Smithsonian Institution, they discover and explore art, science, nature and America’s culture and history. And at the World War II, Korean War Veterans and Vietnam Veterans memorials, as well as Arlington National Cemetery, they learn the true price of freedom.

Three outstanding students, Blake Cox, Sierra Harrison, and Tommy Black represented BRMEMC, their communities, and their schools in a first class manner on the tour.

The hope of the tour is to make a difference in a young person's life, instilling in them a desire to make a difference in their community and country.

     Each year we enlist the help of high school counselors with the delegate selection process. They are responsible for selecting a qualified student to participate on the tour. One high school junior is selected from Union County, Towns County and Hayesville High School to go on the trip.

     We are proud to be associated with a trip of this caliber. With great anticipation we look forward each year to providing deserving local students this chance of a lifetime to be a delegate on the Washington Youth Tour.     

Do you still have questions about the Washington Youth Tour?
Please contact Byron McCombs for further information.

(706) 379-3121 ext 305