Four local students joined nearly 140 young leaders for a tour of our nation's capital. These 140 students, representing electric service areas across Tennessee, boarded buses in June to travel to Washington, DC, for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.

Coy Gill, Landon Jeans, Devin Williams, and Keisha Wilbourn won spots on the weeklong tour of Washington for writing winning short stories titled "Electric Cooperatives: iPower the Future," describing how locally owned, locally operated electric companies provide valuable community-building support in addition to reliable and affordable electric service.

The Youth Tour is a joint effort of local electric systems such as Fayetteville Public Utilities, the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Each school year, FPU sponsors a short story contest for high school juniors. Winners are awarded trips to our nation's capital the following June as part of the Washington Youth Tour. This year's trip ran June 10-16 and included meetings with elected officials, visits to Washington's popular tourist stops and time to meet winners representing other co-ops across the state.

"We're delighted to have sent another deserving group of our leaders of tomorrow to our nation's capital as part of the Washington Youth Tour," said Gina Warren, FPU's public information specialist who served as a chaperone. "These students represent the best from our service area, and we're thrilled we were able to provide them this once-in-a-lifetime trip to see D.C. and learn more about Fayetteville Public Utilities."

On the tour, students saw famous sites they'd learned about in school, including the White House and memorials to past presidents Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as monuments honoring the sacrifices of veterans of World War II and the Vietnam and Korean conflicts. Strolls through the varied museums of the Smithsonian Institution afforded the students opportunities to learn more about science, history and art.

Other fun stops included homes of former presidents - George Washington's Mount Vernon and Jefferson's Monticello - a performance of "Shear Madness" at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and tours of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and National Museum of Crime and Punishment.

The Youth Tour also included a solemn and sobering visit to Arlington National Cemetery, where the group laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. And the Tennessee group marveled at the precision and skill of the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon at the Sunset Parade, performed in front of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial's iconic statue re-creating the flag-raising over Iwo Jima.

"This trip was by far the best trip to DC I have ever been on," says Devin Williams who has visited the area when she was younger. "I got to see so many places I had never seen before."

No trip to Washington, D.C., would be complete without a lesson or two in government and civics. The group was treated to a special after-hours, VIP guided tour of the historic U.S. Capitol and met Reps. Diane Black, Scott DesJarlais and Phil Roe as well as Tennessee's senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker. Rep. DesJarlais also spent some time with Lincoln County's constituents outside the Capitol and posed for photos.

An annual treat, Tennessee's Youth Tour delegation joined other trip winners from across the country for Youth Day on Monday, June 13. More than 1,500 students came together to swap stories of their Washington experiences. They listened to presentations by former Nebraska State Sen. David Landis, who told, in character, the story of the late U.S. Sen. George W. Norris of Neb., explaining the formation of and the politics surrounding the creation of electric cooperatives and the Rural Electrification Act, and Mike Schlappi, a four-time Paralympic medalist and two-time wheelchair basketball champion, who urged the young attendees, "Just because you can't stand up doesn't mean you can't stand out."

"This is another beneficial program FPU sponsors to educate our youth about the history of rural electrification," said Britt Dye, FPU's CEO and General Manager. "Through this and similar educational opportunities made possible by FPU and our statewide and national organizations, our future community leaders experience first-hand how we energize their communities with special community-building programs as well as affordable electricity."

"I am really glad that I was able to go on this wonderful trip," says Landon Jeans.

"This trip helped me understand our country so much more than what I knew before. Every place and every exhibit we visited in DC was a new and amazing adventure," says Keisha Wilbourn.

"Visiting the nation's capitol and getting to view all of the attractions and monuments I've always heard of and have seen in pictures is very exciting," says Coy Gill. "This trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

In the photo, Don Counts of Fayetteville Public Utilities, Landon Jeans, Devin Williams, Keisha Wilbourn, Coy Gill, and Gina Warren of Fayetteville Public Utilities, visited the U.S. Capitol and many other national attractions during the week-long Youth Tour.