NRECA Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. (June 17-23, 2023)

Central Electric sponsors up to eight high school junior students to go to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Rural Electric Youth Tour. South Dakota’s students will team up with more than 1,000 teens from around the country. High school students learn first-hand what it is like to be involved in politics, community development and today’s social issues. Past participants have described this as “a once-in-a-lifetime” experience. Applicants must be high school juniors who permanently reside in Aurora, Brule, Buffalo, Davison, Hanson, Jerauld, Miner or Sanborn County. They do not need to be members to apply. 

Youth Tour is funded by all the rural electric cooperatives that sponsor students in the week-long event. The funding provides for each participants transportation, room and board, entertainment and sight-seeing events. Students are asked to provide their own personal spending money for items such as snacks and souvenirs.

Among the sites that are part of the tour are the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Nation Cathedral, the White House, Air and Space Museum, Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, Ford’s Theater, the Kennedy Center, Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the FDR memorial, the Smithsonian, Iwo Jima Statue, Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean war Memorial, Mount Vernon and the National Archives. Typically included on the tour is a breakfast briefing with South Dakota’s Congressional Delegation. For more information, please visit www.youthtour.org.

How to Apply

To apply, students must complete an online application. Applicants must be current high school juniors permanently residing within Aurora, Brule, Buffalo, Davison, Hanson, Jerauld, Miner, or Sanborn County of South Dakota. 

NOTE: Children and legal dependents of cooperative directors and employees are not eligible.