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Youth Tour, a program for high school juniors, has been in existence at cooperatives across the country since the late 1950s, and CHELCO has participated in the program since 1983.
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| Youth Tour 2011:
In front of the White House, Washington, D.C.
(L-R) Austin Walthall, Kenna Rogers, David Hodges and Sara
Schulmeister. |
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Area
students win CHELCO Youth Tour competition
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Four high school students are on their way to the nation’s capital when school is out. The four are winners in CHELCO’s annual Youth Tour competition, which took place March 1.
The winners include Kenna Rogers and Austin Walthall, both of Crestview High School; Sara Schulmeister, Laurel Hill High School; and David Hodges, Paxton High School. Rebecca Davis and Nathaniel Holley, both of Baker High School, were chosen as alternates.
When in Washington, CHELCO’s four winners will travel with approximately 25 other students, representing co-ops throughout Florida. Florida’s group will be part of a delegation that numbers about 1,500 high school juniors, representing 46 states.
In CHELCO’s competition, winners were chosen from a field of 16 representatives from 10 schools. A panel of three judges quizzed the students on CHELCO facts and the history of rural electrification. The judges selected the winners based on knowledge of subject, poise and appearance, speaking ability and personality.
Prior to the competition, the students traveled to Tallahassee Feb. 9-10 as part of Florida’s Youth Tour in the capital. While in Tallahassee, the Youth Tour participants took part in a mock session in the Senate and viewed a court case in the Florida Supreme Court. They also visited the Challenger Learning Center to participate in a demonstration on electricity and the IMAX theater to see a movie on the Hubble telescope.
In Washington, the students will visit all the capital’s historic monuments, as well as the Smithsonian Institution and Mount Vernon. They will also visit legislators on Capitol Hill and cruise on the Potomac.
Through 28 years of CHELCO’s Youth Tour, about 600 students have visited Tallahassee and 86 have made the trip to Washington during Youth Tour week.
Youth Tour gives public recognition to deserving young people who live within the cooperative’s service territory. Through the program, high school juniors become acquainted with the cooperative way of business and learn about their government.
Additional students participating in the 2011 Youth Tour competition and their schools included: Kaydee Willcox, Walton High School; Madison Spence and Hunter Bailey, Freeport High School; Jacob Leuze and Allison Stroop, South Walton High School; Jacob Wolak and Katherine Sims, The Collegiate High School; John Stevenson, Rocky Bayou Christian School; Rebekah Pruett and Nathan Ritterband, Niceville High School.
In addition to the students who represented area schools, three students participated in Youth Tour through a separate competition hosted by the Florida Electric Cooperatives Association. This competition is for students who are the children or grandchildren of cooperative employees, retirees or board members.
The three participants were Alex Brack, Walton High School, grandson of CHELCO retiree Evelyn Jones; Brandon Head, Freeport High School, son of Customer Care Representative Mary Head; and Emily McKinion, Crestview High School, daughter of Executive Assistant Denise
McKinion.
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2010
Youth Tour kit strikes gold in competitions
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The 2010 Youth Tour kit, which was designed with input from Youth Tour students, won gold in the Emerald Coast Advertising Federation (ECAF) Advertising Award (Addy) competition in February. The kit moves to District competition now.
The kit, titled Road to Success, consisted of a duffel bag with a Youth Tour T-shirt, a chocolate bar with a specially designed Youth Tour label and the Youth Tour study guide.
The 2009 kit won a gold Addy, as well, and then went on to win a silver Addy in the 4th District Addy competition.
In addition, the 2010 kit won two awards in the Spotlight on Excellence competition sponsored by the Council of Rural Electric Communicators through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The kit won an Award of Excellence, and the Youth Tour Guide Book won an Award of Excellence, as well.
The Youth Tour themes, colors, T-shirt style and bag style are determined by a Youth Tour Focus Group held every two years since the kit’s inception in 2004.
2010 Youth Tour representatives will be invited to take part in a Focus Group meeting in July to determine the kit’s design for the next couple of years.
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CHELCO Youth
Tour Brochure
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Contact
Information
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For more information on Youth Tour, contact CHELCO's Director of Communications, Kathy Morrow, at 850.892.5069 ext. 105 or 800.342.0990 or by e-mail at
kmorrow@chelco.com
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