NOVEC taking applications for 50th NOVEC Youth Tour

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative is accepting applications from area high school and home school students for the 50th annual National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Youth Tour, June 15-19, 2014, to see government in action. Applicants must receive electric service from NOVEC.

Five selected sophomore and junior high school students will join more than 1,500 students from across the nation in the all-expenses-paid tour. They will visit Capitol Hill, museums, memorials, and historic landmarks. To top off the tour, students will enjoy a special evening event.

Donna Snellings, the NOVEC chaperone, was quoted as saying, “This year will mark 50 years of the Youth Tour Program, which began in 1964 with approximately 400 students. Students will meet student leaders from nearly every state and hear dynamic leaders. Bottom line, they will make friendships that will last a lifetime and be part of a group that has more than 50,000 alumni in every walk of life, including U.S. Senators and CEOs. ”

In February 2015, Virginia’s Youth Tour delegates will spend a day at the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. They will meet with their local legislators, attend House of Delegates and Senate sessions, and sit in on committee hearings in both chambers.

Wilke Nelson, a former NOVEC Youth Tour participant from Centreville’s Westfield High School, said, “The Youth Tour was one of the best experiences of my life….I would do it again if I had the chance.”

NOVEC will select students interested in government and history based on their grades and a written essay. Completed applications with the required essay and letters of recommendations must be received by close of business on March 10, 2014. Applications should be sent to: NOVEC, attention: Donna Snellings, P.O. Box 2710, Manassas, VA 20108. Interviews will take place in late March or early April. For more information, contact Snellings at 703-392-1511 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

President Lyndon Baines Johnson inspired the tour when he encouraged electric cooperatives to send students to “the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”  Johnson’s idea grew into the NRECA Youth Tour in 1964.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, NRECA, represents more than 900 consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives in the United States. For more information about the NRECA Youth Tour Program, visit http://www.youthtour.coop  .