BY SHELLY YORK
In the weeks leading up to Youth Tour, there is always a flurry of activity. Our heads are spinning as we are busy nailing down all the last-minute details, including making sure we have the right supplies, communicating with students and parents, and confirming (and reconfirming!) the many tour stops and meals.
Now that the annual trip is behind us, and there is time to reflect on Youth Tour 2024, I am simply grateful. For what, you might ask? I’m grateful for so many things, including:
- The electric cooperatives that sponsor these young leaders on this trip of a lifetime. It’s an investment in rural Iowa that will pay dividends well into the future.
- The students who take a leap of faith to apply for and go on Youth Tour. When the students show up for orientation, there is a lot of nervous energy, but that soon dissipates, and we become a family of sorts that can easily navigate a large city and airports with ease.
- The small army of people at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association who work behind the scenes to make Youth Tour something these young delegates will never forget.
- Parents that trust us with their kids for the week. We don’t take your faith in us lightly!
- The cooperative business model that we were able to put into action during Youth Tour by running our very own Snack Cooperative. Our co-op sold reasonably priced snacks to its members (the Iowa students on Youth Tour). The members elected a board of directors, and the directors hired a co-op CEO/manager. The board and CEO met every morning over breakfast to discuss and plan activities related to the co-op.
- Our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. Where else can we see the Changing of the Guard, our first President’s home, the location where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, meet with our elected officials, visit more than a dozen monuments, memorials and museums, and then go paddle boating in the Tidal Basin, surrounded by the Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Jr. memorials?
- Our chaperones who are truly top-notch! They leave their work and families behind for a week and focus on giving our Youth Tour delegates the best experience possible.
As we look forward to 2025, we are excited to meet the next class of Youth Tour delegates. If you know any high school students who are passionate about government and public service, please encourage them to apply! Until then, search for Iowa Youth Tour on Facebook or Instagram to see the group’s adventures from 2024 or visit www.iowayouthtour.com.
Shelly York is the Youth Tour director for the Iowa Association of Electric Cooperatives.
