June 2025

Jefferson City, MO – One hundred and eight high school students participated in Missouri's 62nd annual Missouri Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., June 15-21. GEC local delegates were Kobe Hill of Mercer and Lela Hartschen of Eagleville.

Youth Tour takes the best and brightest high school students from Missouri’s rural schools on an all-expense-paid trip to our nation’s capital. The seven-day tour provides an action-filled week for the students, offering them opportunities to learn firsthand what it is like to be involved in politics, leadership positions, community service and today’s pressing issues while having fun touring the many monuments.

“The Youth Tour is the highlight of the summer for many students and we’re proud to send our best and brightest to our nation's capital to participate,” said Chris Massman, vice president of Member Services for the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. “Each of these delegates will meet someone or see something that inspires them, and in some cases will create a path to their future career.”

Highlights of the trip include visiting representatives from their congressional districts, touring monuments, the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, Arlington National Cemetery and the International Spy Museum. The group also took a sightseeing and dance cruise on the Potomac River one evening with the delegations from five other states.

Other events of the week included participation in the Electric Youth Day, during which a special program coordinated by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association brought together over 2,000 Youth Tour delegates from across the United States. The delegates enjoyed featured speeches by government leaders and motivational speakers, such as Mike Schlappi, an inspiring four-time Paralympic medalist and two-time world wheelchair basketball champion.

Since 1958, the nation’s cooperative electric utilities have sponsored more than 60,000 high school students on this trip of a lifetime. For more information about the Missouri Electric Cooperative Youth Tour program, please go to www.moyouthtour.com.