Her mother tried each year to convince her and her brothers to apply. Her two brothers never did, she said, but Hannah Thetford said she thought this would be the year she’d roll the dice and enter United’s Youth Tour contest—even if her older brother and twin brother had nearly convinced her that she wouldn’t win.

“Every time one of us became eligible for it, my mom would say, ‘Can someone please apply for this,’” Thetford said. “My twin brother was like, ‘Oh, I’m not going to get it. I’m not going to try.’ But I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to do it, because I might as well.’ Then when I got it, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! That’s pretty much why my mom has been trying to get someone in my family to go each year, and I was just the first person to apply.’”

Thetford, who attends Huckabay High School, was one of three students from United and 143 from the state of Texas to attend the annual Government-in-Action Youth Tour, a weeklong exploration of the nation’s capital.

She was joined by Austin Rees and Jolie Cox, both students at Joshua High School. After taking in the sights and meeting other students from across the country, all three of United’s contest winners said they not only learned a lot about their country and their co-op, but also about themselves.

Getting There is Half the Fun
Thetford wasn’t the only student encouraged by a parent to apply. Rees said his mother read about Youth Tour in Texas Co-op Power magazine and has been plotting for him to enter the contest since he was a 1-year-old. 

“She had a magazine from years ago about Youth Tour,” he said. “So since my eighth-grade year, she’s been bugging me. She’s like, ‘Oh, you gotta apply. You gotta apply.’ This year I said, ‘Alright, I’ll apply.’ And what do you know? I got in. So, it was all thanks to my mom.”

Cox recalled the happy moment when her gratulatory email arrived in her inbox during art class to inform her she’d been selected for Youth Tour. She said she couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so she could run out and tell her dad, who was waiting in the parking lot to pick her up after school that day. 

However, as a self-proclaimed introvert, Cox said she was nervous about meeting new people. This also marked the first time she’d gone on a trip away from home by herself.

“Meeting people is a little difficult, because I’m more of like a quiet, shy person,” she said. “But once I found people that I could talk to, I had a really good time. We were all in it together, so it was like we were all meeting new people. So, it was good.”

Trip of a Lifetime
Every June, high school students that have been selected for Youth Tour by their electric cooperatives descend on Washington, D.C., to learn about democracy, experience the landmarks and historical sites, learn how the federal government works and make lasting friendships.

“Most kids don’t have the opportunity to take this trip to Washington, D.C. without some sort of assistance,” said Jeff Pannell vice president of business and community development. “That’s what United is here to do, as we are fully vested in the communities we serve. The students who take the initiative to participate in this contest are not your typical teens. It’s apparent that these students will someday be leaders in their communities and successful in whatever career path they choose.”

This year, almost 2,100 high school students from 45 states were selected by electric cooperatives to attend Youth Tour, which ran from June 15-22. 

Esther Dominguez, Youth Tour coordinator at Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC), described the trip as a transformative and even magical experience for the students involved. During her 30-year career at TEC, she said she has seen many students changed by the trip.

“What makes this a ‘trip of a lifetime’ is seeing history unfold before each participant’s eyes and making lifelong friends,” she said. “They always had smiles on their faces, which tells me they were having a great time. Each year’s Youth Tour has its own story. But what does not change is that each group of kids come back a little more grown up.”

A Week of Monumental Moments
Arriving in Washington, D.C. was as exciting as it was daunting for United’s Youth Tour students. Monuments abounded as far as they could see as their plane prepared to land at Washington Dulles International Airport. 

In the beginning, no one knew anyone, they said. But friendships built quickly, and fast friends grew into groups. Trading state pins with other students helped break the ice. 

In the beginning, Thetford said she wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to how her Youth Tour experience would be.

“When I first applied for this, I thought it was going to be kind of boring,” she said. “Like we were going to have to sit in meetings and listen to old people talk, and it was going to be not fun. But it actually is so much more than what you think it is. You experience so much in a week. Even the ‘boring stuff’ wasn’t boring. It was actually so interesting.”

Thetford said she had a bit of an epiphany when she met staff members of U.S. Rep. Roger Williams at the Capitol. 

“Going up there, I felt like Republicans and Democrats hated each other, and that was just how it was,” she said. “I’ve only ever seen what the media shows us. Then, being up on Capitol Hill, you realize it’s not as serious as the media makes it out to be. Everybody for the most part is cordial with each other. They’re not, like, trying to fight each other all the time.”

Rees said he found walking around Arlington National Cemetery a humbling experience to see the rows and rows of military members who had died in service of the country.

“We got to see the Kennedy grave site,” he said. “You always hear about the eternal flame, and it’s really cool to see that in person. But what really struck me, specifically, was watching the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And it’s just how much it means to so many people and what it resembles. To think, we will likely never know the names, the faces, the personalities of these soldiers who are now unknown. It’s so important that we honor them.”

His group also learned a lot about how electric cooperatives not only powered rural areas in the United States, but also in developing nations across the world.

“I met a man named Mr. Guillermo Layerenza, and he was the senior distribution engineer for international work at NRECA International,” he said. “He had tons of stories about helping people. He had a story about going down to Venezuela, and he helped power an entire city. There are other people in the world who are nowhere near as privileged as us. I really learned a lot about all these different ideas and people who come together and form a giant melting pot to help create electric cooperatives and bring power to tons of people.”

Cox said her favorite place was probably the Holocaust Museum. She found the visual displays eye-opening, she said, and the different photos and artifacts helped her to better understand this dark chapter from history.

“They had an actual train car, and we got to walk through it,” she said, referring to a box car used by Nazi Germany to transport Jews to concentration camps. “Then, to think of how many people were in there, and how cramped it was. One of the major things I learned was how some of the gas chambers worked. They went in and thought they were taking showers, but instead, the gas was hidden inside the shower heads.”

Like Thetford, Cox said she, too, had an epiphany about the way the government works. While talking to Congressional staffers, she realized that differing points of view didn’t mean government progress couldn’t be made.

“My representative’s staff person really kind of made it clear that even though there are two sides, they are all working together,” she said. “Because if they weren’t working together, then nothing would be accomplished. It’s really cool to know that even though people have opposing views on certain things, they have to come together to get to one solution.

“When people say how this is a ‘trip of a lifetime,’ they aren’t lying. There was no time for me to even think about being homesick. We did so much, which made the time fly. My advice for someone who is thinking about applying: Go for it. Apply. I met some of my best friends on this trip, and I probably wouldn’t have ever met them without going on  Youth Tour.”