Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative Sponsors Trip for Local Students

WEWAHITCHKA – Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative recently sponsored a trip to Tallahassee for local high school juniors.  The trip was part of the Rural Electric Youth Tour Program that rural electric cooperatives across the nation participate in.

Each year, the Cooperative sponsors the program for eleventh-graders whose parents or guardians are members of GCEC.  A panel of three judges from the electric cooperative industry interviews participants, and two winners are chosen to travel on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D. C. in June, where they join other eleventh-grade students from all over the United States to tour our nation’s capital. 

Aliya Chaudhry and Lacee Rudd won the Youth Tour competition, held in February, and will represent the Cooperative during the Washington tour in June. 

However, every student nominated by a local civic organization or high school to participate in the program is invited to travel on an all-expenses-paid trip to Tallahassee, where they join approximately 100 other high school juniors representing electric cooperatives all over Florida. 

Students representing the Cooperative in Tallahassee included:  Andrew Bidwell, representing the Wewahitchka Volunteer Fire Department; Jay Bryan, representing the Scotts Ferry Volunteer Fire Department; Aliya Chaudhry, representing Wewahitchka High School; Elizabeth Gratz, representing the Mossy Pond Volunteer Fire Department; Jordan Heath, representing the Wewahitchka Woman’s Club; Randy Hightower, Jr., representing the Dalkeith Volunteer Fire Department; Jessica Jamerson, representing Wewahitchka Search and Rescue; Luke Linton, representing the Sand Hills Volunteer Fire Department; Karen Morgan, representing the Kinard Volunteer Fire Department; Samantha Nicodemus, representing the Overstreet Volunteer Fire Department; Eleni Patronis, representing A. Crawford Mosley High School; Arianna N. Paul, representing the Wewahitchka Ambulance Service; Lacee Rudd, representing Deane Bozeman School; Levi S. Strickland, representing Port St. Joe High School; and Jacob Taylor, representing the Wetappo Creek Volunteer Fire Department.  Gulf Coast Electric employees Chris Davis, Kristin Douglas, Becky Kent, and Keith Pridgeon served as chaperones for the trip.

While in Tallahassee, the students toured the Governor’s Mansion.  They also visited the Challenger Learning Center, where they saw an electromagnetic classroom demonstration and the IMAX movie Forces of Nature.  They attended a dance, witnessed an actual Supreme Court session and concluded the trip with a mock session in the House chambers, where they also heard speeches by Representatives Marti Coley, Brad Drake and Jimmy Patronis.

 “The Youth Tour program is a great opportunity for us to reward local students for being outstanding leaders in their communities,” Douglas said.

The Rural Electric Youth Tour Program has been in existence since 1957 when co-ops sent students to Washington, D. C. to work during the summer.  By 1964, the program was catching on, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association began to coordinate the efforts of the co-ops.  Since then, thousands of young people have experienced this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit our nation’s capital and learn about our government.

Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative is part of the Touchstone Energy® national alliance of local, consumer-owned electric cooperatives providing high standards of service to customers large and small.  GCEC serves approximately 20,500 consumers in Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Jackson, Walton and Washington counties and in the municipalities of Wewahitchka, Ebro, White City, Lynn Haven, Fountain and Southport.