GCEC Students Enjoy Trip of a Lifetime

Local Teens Join National Youth Tour in Washington, D.C.

2 Panhandle students saw monuments, museums, and more on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure to the nation’s capital.

In June, rising seniors Kelsey Fields, of Bay High School, and Izzie Shealy, of Wewahitchka High School, traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. The 2 won Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative’s annual Youth Tour contest.

The cooperative sponsors the contest for 11th-grade students whose parents or guardians are Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative (GCEC) members. A panel of 3 judges from the electric cooperative industry interviews contestants. Judges choose 2 winners for the all-expenses-paid trip, joining more than 2,000 youth delegates, chaperones, and staff representing 44 states.

The action-packed week included visits to iconic sites such as the Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., World War II, Korean War, Lincoln, and Vietnam War memorials. Students enjoyed a professional baseball game, a boat cruise on the Potomac River, and tours of the 9/11 Memorial, National Cathedral, Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, the National Archives, the Udvar Hazy Air & Space Museum, the Museum of African American History, the Museum of American History, the Holocaust Museum, the Natural History Museum, The People’s House and the Library of Congress.

Delegates participated in a co-op 101 and advocacy workshop to learn about the electric cooperative model and how co-ops serve their communities.

On June 19, Youth Day featured remarks from several speakers, including National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Jim Matheson and NRECA President Mike Partin. Delegates heard from motivational speaker and Paralympian Mike Schlappi, along with Youth Leadership Council spokesperson Maggie Martin.

A career panel featured several Youth Tour alumni who found success in media and politics. Panelists included Anneliese Taggart, a Vatican correspondent; Sara Schafer, editor of Rural Missouri magazine; and Pennsylvania state Rep. Jeremy Shaffer. Each shared how their Youth Tour experiences helped shape their career paths.

On June 20, Co-op Connections Night introduced students to potential career opportunities within the electric cooperative world. Representatives from NRECA, Touchstone Energy Cooperative, and regional co-ops engaged with students and answered questions.

“We were proud to have Kelsey and Izzie representing Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative in Washington,” says Kristin Douglas, GCEC vice president of marketing and communications. “Over and over again, the Youth Tour trip has been referred to as the trip of a lifetime, and we hope it truly was for these exceptional students.”