Two students win trip to Washington, D. C.
WFEC’s Youth Tour contest participants are, shown front row, from left: Selena Audry Fish, Holmes County High School; Jami Gilley, Alternate, Poplar Springs HS; Marlene Mann, winner, Graceville HS; Heather Marie Harlson, Ponce de Leon HS
Second row, from left: Zachary Lance Kirkpatrick, Altha HS; Nina Denise Green, Cottondale HS; Amanda Willis, Florida Electric Cooperatives Association Youth Tour contestant; Anna Parish, Sneads HS; Jonathan Grant Shores, Marianna HS
Back: Andrew Garske, Bethlehem HS
Not pictured: George Johnson, Winner, Grand Ridge HS
Two local high school juniors will take a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital this summer, courtesy of West Florida Electric Cooperative. Marlene Mann, of Graceville High School, and George Johnson, of Grand Ridge High School, are winners of WFEC’s 2001 Youth Tour competition, held Feb. 22 at Falling Waters Country Club in Chipley. Jami Gilley, of Poplar Springs High School, was named alternate.
Mann and Johnson will join other students representing electric cooperatives from throughout the country in June 16 through 21. The trip will include a breakfast with congressional representatives, a Potomac River cruise, and visits to several historic sites, including the U. S. Capitol Building, the White House, Ford’s Theatre, Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
High school juniors from ten schools throughout WFEC’s service area in Holmes, Washington, Jackson and Calhoun Counties vied for the trip to the U. S. capital. The contestants were chosen by their high school guidance counselors to represent their schools in the competition. The contest is limited each year to eleventh-grade students whose parents or guardians are WFEC consumers, or members. WFEC will treat all the competitors to a two-day trip to Tallahassee March 26 and 27, where they’ll tour the old and new state capitols, meet government officials and observe the legislature in session.
A three-judge panel of experts from other electric co-ops quizzed the students individually about their knowledge of WFEC, the rural electrification program and energy facts, then evaluated the students’ responses, communication skills, poise and personalities. Following the interviews, the participants and their guests enjoyed a banquet, and last year’s winners, Jeremy Branch, of Grand Ridge, and Casey Gurganus, of Graceville, shared some of the insights they’d gained from their Youth Tour experience.
Amanda Willis, of Graceville, also will be eligible for the Tallahassee trip as a contestant is the Florida Electric Cooperative Assocation's Youth Tour essay contest for children and grandchildren of co-op employees and board members. She is the daughter of WFEC Graceville District Supervisor of Operations and Construction Junior Willis.
While representing WFEC in Washington last summer, Branch was appointed to NRECA’s Youth Leadership Board, which includes a member from each state with participants at the Youth Tour. The designation entitled him to compete in a national speech contest, where he took the top honor, becoming NRECA’s spokesperson for the Youth Tour program nationwide. He delivered his winning speech at NRECA’s annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., March 11 – 14 to a crowd of approximately 20,000.
The Youth Tour program’s purpose is to provide public recognition to outstanding young people, and to acquaint high school students with governmental activities on a local, state and federal level.
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