If you are a high school junior, you could be a winner of the Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. for a week during June. It’s free, it’s exciting and it’s fun! You’ll join some 1300 high school juniors from across the United States to learn more about government, rural electrification, leadership and electric cooperatives.

The trip begins with a “Get Acquainted Banquet” in Oklahoma City, where everyone meets, makes new acquaintances and has an evening of fun. After arriving in Washington, D.C., the tour of our nation’s capitol includes days filled with sightseeing, a riverboat trip on the Potomac and breakfast with Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation. Students also attend a series of educational seminars to learn more about government, the cooperative form of business, and the business of rural electrification.

Indian Electric sponsors an annual essay contest to select students who will represent their service area as well as the state of Oklahoma during the Youth Tour trip.

View the trip for 2006 Here at SmugMug.com

The contest will require you to prepare and submit an essay over a chosen topic. The topic for the 2008 contest is: "ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES: THE MISSION, THE MEMBERS, AND MORE. "

Four finalist are selected by an independent panel of judges to compete at the IEC Youth Tour Banquet. Scores are based on subject knowledge, originality, neatness, and grammar. Finalist are required to present their essays orally at the banquet.

Judges at the banquet award the Youth Tour Trip to the top two individuals at the conclusion of the banquet.

The Youth Tour has three main objectives:
1. To educate youths on all aspects of rural electrification in order to promote a better understanding of the value of rural electric cooperatives.

2. To provide an opportunity for youth to visit monuments, government buildings and cooperative-related organizations in order to become familiar with the historical and political environment of their nation's capital.

3. To provide an opportunity for youth to meet elected officials in order to better understand how their federal government works.

The 2008 Youth Tour will take place on June 13 through 19.

• Two juniors from IEC's service area will receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. as winners of the Youth Tour Contest.
  
• Students must currently be classified as high school juniors attending a school in IEC's service area. It is not necessary that the student's parents be members of Indian Electric Cooperative, Inc.
  
• Contestants will be required to write an essay of 500 - 1000 words in length on the topic: "ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES: THE MISSION, THE MEMBERS, AND MORE. "
  
• Essays must be typed and double spaced on only one side of the paper. Each page should be numbered in the top right corner.
  
• Attach a completed entry form to your essay. DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE ESSAY! All judging is done on an anonymous basis.
  
• IEC supplies reference materials, but encourages students to seek other sources of information, including the Internet, libraries, relatives, magazines, etc.
  
• Essays will be judged on the basis of
  • Knowledge of subject - 40%
  • Originality - 30%
  • Composition - 15%
  • Grammar, Spelling & Punctuation - 15%
    
• Deadline for all essays is Noon on Tuesday February 5, 2008. Be sure to keep a copy of your essay for your use should you be selected as a finalist.
  
• Four finalists will be selected to give oral presentations of their essays during the Youth Tour banquet in the spring. Judges will then award the Washington trip to the two highest scoring finalists.
  
• Decisions of the judges are final.
  
• Children of IEC employees and IEC Trustees are NOT eligible to participate in the Youth Tour competition.
  
• Dates for the 2008 Youth Tour are June 13-19, 2008.